South Africa: Learn about mentalising, attachment, and personality development in mental health courses. Understand MBT and DBT applications.
The final course in this three-part series shows South African psychologists how disrupted early attachment can hinder affect regulation, attention control and mentalising. Clinical psychologist Dr Ella Brent uses case examples to explore how inconsistent, misattuned or invalidating caregiving may lead to maladaptive personality development. She traces the path from early relational disruption to personality vulnerabilities and disorders, linking impaired mentalising to borderline, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, schizoid and antisocial presentations. She also distinguishes MBT from DBT. The course is accredited by the HPCSA for CPD points and offers tools for assessing and responding to clients with impaired mentalisation.
In the concluding talk of this three-part series, clinical psychologist Dr. Ella Brent examines how disruptions in early attachment relationships can hinder the development of key psychological capacities, including affect regulation, attention control, and mentalising. Building on foundational material presented in Parts 1 and 2, this session focuses on the consequences of insecure attachment in the caregiver-child dyad and how these relational patterns may impair mentalising development.
Through illustrative case examples, Dr. Brent explores how inconsistent, misattuned, or invalidating caregiving may result in maladaptive personality development. The talk outlines the continuum from early relational disruptions to the emergence of personality vulnerabilities and disorders, drawing connections between impaired mentalising and common personality organisation clusters, including borderline, dependent, histrionic, narcissistic, schizoid, and antisocial presentations.
This talk further differentiates Mentalization-Based Treatment (MBT), developed by Anthony Bateman and Peter Fonagy, from but aligned with Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT), developed by Marsha Linehan. Clinicians will gain practical and theoretical tools to recognise, assess, and respond to clients with impaired mentalisation capacities in both adult and adolescent populations.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this talk, participants will be able to:
Identify the developmental impact of insecure attachment on mentalising and personality formation
Describe how early relational experiences contribute to a range of personality organisations
Distinguish between personality disorder clusters using a mentalisation framework
Understand the clinical applications of MBT and its relationship to DBT
Integrate attachment and mentalisation models into assessment and treatment planning