Forfatternavn:Anna Sønderskov Mikkelsen

This article describes a 12 session parenting intervention for mothers with abuse. The focus of the intervention is to support the mothers’ mentalization ability and to create a less hard and less disturbed upbringing. The intervention was compared to a control group that got a traditional parenting program. Compared with the control group, these mothers […]

At Center for Mentalization we are interested in how parents’ own childhood affects their parenthood. In this video, Siegel outlines the importance of having courage to look at one’s own childhood in order to find a new meaning in it – thus changing how it affects the interaction with one’s child.

A couple of fascinating classical studies that relate to the development of the mentalization ability.  

The Anna Freud National Centre has produced a small universe with a lot of exciting material to talk about mental health in schools. In the video, Peter Fonagy explains how many hours children use in school and how important it is to use this arena to talk about mental health.   The material from the

If you need some literature for the August summer nights, we can recommend Irvin D. Yalom’s book “Becoming Myself”. Yalom writes about therapy and existence, and his understanding of the human mind and therapy has so much in common with the mentalization approach. In his latest book “Becoming Myself ” he tells about his own

Center for Mentalization has visited the Faroe Islands many times. We love teaching on the beautiful islands and enjoy sharing the mentalization concepts with the Faroe Islanders.

Some of the most terrifying and scary things are school shootings. In this TED talk, a mother to one of the murderers of Columbine High tells about being the mother of a killer (and suicidal). Listening to her perspective is in its own way frightening because you intuitively want to shut up for your mentalization

Janne Østergaard Hagelquist, toghether with Sheila Redfern, had the great pleasure of teaching this lovely group at the Anna Freud Centre about foster and adopted children ?

No human being is an island… Perhaps something to think about during the summer? In the link below, you can hear more about Daniel Siegel’s more spiritual version of mentalization: no human being is an island. According to him, we experience ourselves through others and are largely a product of our relationships.

The first part of the article gives a fine review about the importance of mentalization and affiliation for foster children and foster parents. In the article, two intervention programs for foster parents are analyzed. The traditional program contains lessons about foster children’s special challenges, traumas and affiliation. This is compared to foster parents who receives