AUTHOR=Wiwe Maria 

TITLE=Errare Humanum Est (To Err Is Human): A Mentalizing Breakdown in the Therapeutic Work With an Adolescent

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=12

YEAR=2021

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.789120

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2021.789120

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=<p>The therapeutic stance in therapies conceptualized by the two-person psychology (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B40">Wachtel, 2010</xref>) binds the therapist to genuine self-scrutiny. The concepts of transference and countertransference are viewed as jointly constructed endeavors between therapist and client, wherein the therapist needs to be aware of her contribution to difficulties arising in the therapeutic dyad. Different conceptualizations of this therapeutic technique have been eloquently described elsewhere throughout the years in terms of intersubjectivity (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B35">Stern, 2005</xref>; <xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B4">Aron, 2006</xref>), mentalizing (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B15">Fonagy and Bateman, 2006</xref>), mindfulness-in-action (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B33">Safran et al., 2001</xref>), rupture and repair (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B29">Newhill et al., 2003</xref>), and epistemic trust (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B14">Fonagy and Allison, 2014</xref>). These concepts will be presented interchangeably with a clinical vignette delineating a rupture in the therapeutic work with an adolescent. Finally, the article concludes with a discussion of identifying non-mentalizing modes (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B3">Allen et al., 2008</xref>) within the therapist to get back on track and restore epistemic trust (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="B22">Fonagy et al., 2014</xref>) in the therapeutic relationship.</p>