Mentalization-Based Treatment for Children

Foster children’s emotional resilience with mentalization-based treatment (MBT-C), a dynamic method uniting psychodynamic insights and attachment theory. Clinicians gain practical strategies to tackle anxiety, depression and behavioral challenges, enriched by innovative assessment tools and emerging research.



Transform the way children understand themselves and others.

Mentalization—the ability to make sense of one’s own mind and the minds of others—is fundamental to developing emotional resilience, self-regulation, and successful relationships. Now in its second edition, this book presents mentalization-based treatment for children (MBT-C), a transdiagnostic, time-limited therapeutic approach designed to help children and their parents navigate emotional and behavioral difficulties, from anxiety and depression to interpersonal struggles.

MBT-C blends psychodynamic principles, attachment theory, and empirical research on mentalization to provide practical, evidence-based strategies for clinicians. Written by an international team of pioneering clinician-researchers, this fully updated second edition guides practitioners through the entire process of MBT-C, from assessment and case formulation to therapy termination.

This edition contains a promising new assessment tool, new theory and research on the interrelated aspects of trauma and culture, and groundbreaking findings from the first clinical trial of time‑limited MBT‑C for children with emotional and behavioral difficulties.