Mentalization-Based Group Therapy (MBT-G)

Mentalization-based treatment (MBT) has gained international acclaim as an efficient treatment for patients with borderline personality disorder. The approach is also helpful for other personality disorders and conditions that are difficult to treat, e.g. addiction and eating disorders. MBT consists of a psychoeducational, an individual, and a group therapy component.
This is the first comprehensive manual for mentalization-based group therapy. The author has developed the manual in close cooperation with Anthony Bateman and a team of group analysts. It covers all the aspects of MBT which are necessary to produce an informed and qualified group therapist.
The book covers the theory behind mentalization and borderline personality disorder (especially its evolutionary roots), the structure of MBT and a discussion of previous experiences with group psychotherapy for borderline patients. The core of the book explains the main principles of MBT-G and provides a powerful means for ensuring that therapists adhere to these principles in a qualified way. The last part contains a full transcript from a real MBT group composed of borderline patients.
As the first book dedicated to Group MBT, this book is a valuable and unique addition to the Mentalization literature.

Sigmund Karterud served as head of the Research Group for Personality Psychiatry at University of Oslo and for the Norwegian Network of Personality Oriented Treatment Programs in Norway. His Department for Personality Psychiatry includes a MBT quality laboratory and the National Competence Service for Personality Psychiatry which serves as a consultant agency for the Ministry of Health and coordinates education and training in assessment and treatment of personality disorders in Norway. He is trained in psychoanalytic psychotherapy, in particular self psychology, group analysis and mentalization-based treatment (MBT). He is head of the Norwegian Institute for Mentalization and involved in MBT training and research. He has a unique clinical background as former training group analyst and current MBT trainer, combined with extensive research experience in the field of personality disorders.

- 1: Historical and theoretical background of MBT-G - 2: Main principles of MBT-G - 3: The MBT-G adherence and quality rating scale (MBT-G-AQS) - 4: The items of MBT-G-AQS - 5: Transcript of an entire MBT-G session - References - Appendix 1 - Appendix 2