Mentalization-Based Treatment in Groups for Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Katharina Krämer,Ulrich Schultz-Venrath,Sophia Reul,Kai Vogeley,Annekatrin Vetter

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.708557

Abstract

In order to successfully interact with others in social encounters, we have to be attentive to their mental states. This means, we have to implicitly and explicitly interpret our own actions as well as the actions of others as meaningful on the basis of the ascription of intentional mental states. However, this ability, often referred to as mentalizing, seems to be impaired in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Individuals with ADS show specific deficits relating to the representation of mental states of others. Especially, the spontaneous, intuitive attribution of and reaction to others' mental states seem to be impaired. Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT) is a form of psychotherapy in individual and group settings that focuses on the education and enhancement of mentalizing. Although the scope of MBT is broad and MBT has been already proven to be useful in a variety of mental disorders, no attempt has been made to apply MBT in patients with ASD. In our study, we adapted MBT for adults with ASD in a therapeutic group setting to examine the feasibility as well as the effectiveness of the treatment in this patient group. During 15–20 weeks of weekly group therapy, we surveyed the patients' acceptability of the intervention. Additionally, changes in mentalizing difficulties were measured before and after treatment. Results show a high acceptance of the treatment and an improvement in the patients' mentalizing abilities, presenting MBT as a promising treatment option for ASD.

Highlights

The ability to implicitly and explicitly interpret our own actions as well as the actions of others as meaningful on the basis of the ascription of intentional mental states is crucial for successful social encounters
At the end of the treatment, participants indicated whether they were interested in further participation of MBTASD, if it would be continued as a treatment option at the autism outpatient clinic
Almost all participants (n = 15) indicated that they were interested in further participation of Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT)-Autism spectrum disorder (ASD), if it would be continued as a treatment option at the autism outpatient clinic

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The ability to implicitly and explicitly interpret our own actions as well as the actions of others as meaningful on the basis of the ascription of intentional mental states is crucial for successful social encounters. Mentalization-Based Treatment for Autism patients without cognitive impairment often develop strategies to compensate for their deficits and to manage social interactions (David et al, 2010), even adults with ASD without intellectual impairment still show specific deficits in spontaneous, intuitive attribution of and reaction to others’ mental states in complex everyday situations (Frith, 2003; Kuzmanovic et al, 2011). These mentalizing deficits might further contribute to the disproportionate risk for developing mental health comorbidities in ASD, such as anxiety and depression (Hollocks et al, 2019). AQ, EQ, and SQ scores of one participant are missing

Participants

Procedure

RESULTS

LIMITATIONS

CONCLUSION

ETHICS STATEMENT