What Is Mentalization-Based Therapy (MBT)?
Mentalization-Based Therapy, often called MBT, is a form of therapy that helps people slow down enough to understand what they are feeling and why, especially in moments when emotions rise quickly. It is especially helpful in treating mental health conditions with emotional disconnection or heightened emotional sensitivity. When emotions are high it can be reflexive to react before fully understanding what is happening inside or what someone else might be going through internally. MBT helps create a bit of space in those moments so reactions feel less overwhelming and relationships feel more steady and stable.
How Mentalization Works
Mentalization is the ability to reflect on what is going on in your own mind, while also staying aware that other people have their own thoughts, needs, and feelings too. It can be as simple as pausing to ask:
What am I actually feeling right now?
What might the other person be feeling?
This small shift often changes conversations, especially when feeling stressed or disconnected.
When Mentalization Slips
Everyone loses the ability to mentalize sometimes. Moments of conflict, stress, or old emotional patterns can make things feel urgent or one-sided. It can become easy to assume you already know what the other person meant, or to feel certain that your emotional reaction reflects the full truth of the situation.
MBT helps a person return to curiosity instead of certainty. It supports approaching emotional moments with openness rather than shutting down or reacting quickly.
What MBT Sessions Are Like
Sessions tend to be calm, thoughtful, and grounded in the present. The therapist and patient pay close attention to what is happening in a person’s life in the present and, emotionally, what is happening in the room. MBT focuses on slowing down conversations so there is room to notice feelings before reacting to them. The work does not require analyzing the past in great depth. Instead, it focuses on understanding experiences as they happen.
Over time, this approach can:
Reduce emotional overwhelm
Improve communication patterns
Strengthen a sense of inner stability
Support healthier, more secure relationships
Who MBT Can Be Helpful For
MBT may be a good fit for people who:
Experience strong or quickly shifting emotions
Often feel misunderstood or disconnected in relationships
Have histories of relational stress or trauma
Want to feel more grounded and confident in emotional situations
MBT helps with deepening understanding of one’s own internal world and the worlds of others.
MBT With Dr. Adam Henderson
Dr. Henderson offers Mentalization-Based Therapy in Boston for individuals and couples. His approach emphasizes steadiness, collaboration, and making sense of emotional experience in real time.