Abstract

CARVALHO, Cibele; ROVINSKI, Sonia Liane Reichert; FIORINI, Guilherme Pacheco  and  RAMIRES, Vera Regina Röhnelt. Changes in mentalization ability in child psychodynamic psychotherapy. Psicol. clin. [online]. 2020, vol.32, n.1, pp. 35-57. ISSN 0103-5665.  http://dx.doi.org/10.33208/PC1980-5438v0032n01A02.

Mentalization has been considered an important element in the process of change in psychodynamic psychotherapy. However, there is a shortage of available instruments to assess the construct in children. The Rorschach Method has been suggested as a procedure capable of evaluating mentalization. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze possible changes in the global psychic functioning and in mentalization ability in child psychodynamic psychotherapy, according to the Rorschach Method (Exner System). A descriptive and longitudinal study based on the Systematic Case Study procedure was performed, in which three school-age children took part. The Rorschach Method was applied at the beginning and at the end of the treatment. The children presented impairments in their ability to mentalize at the beginning of the treatment, and it was possible to identify changes in this ability at the end of the psychotherapy. In addition, there was an association between deficits in mentalization and impairments in global psychic functioning. The changes in psychotherapy did not show a steady progress, but were marked by advances and setbacks. The Rorschach Method proved able to detect changes in the mentalization ability of the children.

Keywords : psychodynamic psychotherapy; mentalization; outcome research; children; Rorschach.

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