An Exploration of the Capacity to Mentalize Following an Introductory Mentalization Based Treatment Group within an Irish Prison Service

Objectives: This study explored participant experience of mentalization after the completion of an introductory MBT group within an Irish prison. Methods: Data were collected from four participants using semi-structured interviews which were analyzed according to IPA methodology. Results: Four group experiential themes were identified from the data: making sense of difficulties with emotions in the context of early life experiences, learning to feel and manage emotions, keeping other minds in mind and mentalizing in practice. Conclusions: This study adds to the wider qualitative literature on MBT and presents a unique insight into participant experiences of developing their mentalizing capacity within a prison setting.