Mentalizing Bodies: Explicit Mentalizing Without Words in Psychotherapy

Area of Science:

• Psychology
• Cognitive Science
• Psychotherapy Research

Background:

• Mentalization involves understanding actions via intentional mental states.
• The traditional view contrasts implicit (automatic, non-verbal) with explicit (conscious, verbal) mentalization.
• This study questions the necessity of verbal language for explicit mentalization.

Purpose of the Study:

• To challenge the standard distinction between implicit and explicit mentalization.
• To explore how explicit mentalization can occur through embodied, non-verbal actions.
• To analyze real-life psychotherapy interactions to understand embodied mentalization processes.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative analysis of four real-life psychotherapy sessions.
• Utilized embodied cognition and multimodal interaction analysis.
• Data included video recordings and anonymized drawings from a cognitive ethnography study.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a gradual shift from implicit to explicit mentalizing.
• Showcased explicit mentalization initiated on an embodied level without verbal language.
• Highlighted therapist-initiated embodied actions indicating complex awareness and reflection.

Conclusions:

• Online implicit and explicit mentalization are gradual and intertwined with embodied dynamics.
• Embodied non-verbal behavior is crucial in psychotherapy for mentalization.
• The concept of affordance-space offers new perspectives on embodied cognition in understanding others.