Just the first few paragraphs of this article do two things to me - make me mad, and make me hopeful.

The more I learn about the benefits of full inpatient treatment, the madder I get about what my mother experienced during her THREE hospitalizations (ranging from two to four weeks long) There was NEVER any family involvement. No family therapy, no opportunity for us to be informed, etc. Maybe my dad had some sort of in, but I was in my 20s during her last hospitalization and would have most definitely learned from a family setting. Grrr...

The hopeful part though comes from the fact that there are articles like this that do detail the importance of in-depth and holistic approach to mentalization and it's importance in mental health and well-being.

Thanks for the link Liese!

I do find it interesting that the two things that have helped me most aside from therapy, namely mindfulness practice and Nonviolent Communication, are both largely about mentalization. Thich Nhat Hanh, who has been my main teacher about mindfulness, suggests a lot of exercises like saying "Breathing in, I am aware that I am (angry, sad, happy, whatever). Breathing out, I smile to my (anger, sadness, whatever)." That is mentalizing in its essence.

Nonviolent Communication brings in other people. In NVC, you might say something like "are you angry because you are needing more respect?" Again, awareness of mental states.

Those things are not expensive to learn. You can find books on NVC or mindfulness at your library, and videos on youtube also. Going on a full-time mindfulness retreat costs as little as $50/day. Good adjuncts to therapy in my opinion!

Wow. That was amazing.