Mentalizing is...A B&ll$h*t Detection Service.

More "great" advice borne of MBT therapy...

Here’s a quick and easy way to understand mentalizing. Fill an empty crayon box with birthday candles, and then ask a 3-year-old what’s inside. The child will assume crayons—until show you them the candles.

If you then ask the child what their doll thought was in the box, they’ll say the doll thought it was candles all along.

For the 3-year-old the, perception of reality is no different from the actual reality. The they know is what you know.

Don’t Believe Liars!

The child knows there are candles, thus the doll must have that same knowledge. 

Give them another year? Their understanding of the mind evolves. A four- or five-year-old will to tell you their doll thought there were crayons inside the box, too. They recognize that one person may experience things differently than another person. 

This study is called the false belief test. It is the first step towards understanding the process of mentalizing. To sum it up, mentalizing is the capacity to reflect on one’s own thoughts and feel…