Forms of non-mentalizing

Abstract

Fonagy and colleagues have described three forms of non-mentalizing: pretend mode, psychic equivalence, and teleological mode. Sometimes they have implied that these are just three kinds of non-mentalizing that they have happened to stumble upon, and that they have no particular importance beyond other forms of non-mentalizing, which could readily be identified. More frequently, however, pretend mode, psychic equivalence, and teleological mode are described definitively as ‘the’ forms of non-mentalizing. The characterization of the three modes of non-mentalizing by Fonagy and colleagues is among the most potentially insightful contributions of their work. Nonetheless, Fonagy and colleagues have not attempted to operationalize the specific modes of non-mentalizing, with the exception of hypermentalizing, leaving their reflections speculative and obstructing further development of the theory. This chapter will characterize the three modes of non-mentalizing. Finally, we will examine why it might be that no further forms have been identified in the past 20 years.