Mentalization-based therapy (MBT)

MBT strengthens your ability to understand what’s happening in your own mind and in others’—so emotions feel less overwhelming, reactions slow down, and relationships become easier to navigate.

What is MBT?

“Mentalizing” means staying curious about thoughts, feelings, intentions, and beliefs— especially when emotions run high. In MBT, you and your clinician practice noticing assumptions, checking them, and rebuilding a more accurate picture of what’s going on.

When it helps

  • Intense emotions and conflict in relationships
  • Rapid shifts in mood or self-image
  • Feeling misunderstood or misreading others’ intentions
  • Borderline personality features; attachment difficulties
  • Trust/jealousy spirals and rupture-repair cycles

How sessions work

  1. Slow things down and name what seems to be happening in the moment.
  2. Explore multiple explanations—your view, the other person’s, and alternatives.
  3. Identify “mentalizing drops” (when assumptions take over) and how to recover.
  4. Translate insights into specific experiments for the week.

Skills you’ll practice

Curiosity stance Pause & check assumptions Perspective taking Emotion labeling Attachment awareness Rupture–repair

Try Mentalization-based therapy with Emma

Grounded, relationship-focused sessions that build calm and clarity in daily life.

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