Mentalizing, Epistemic Trust and the Phenomenology of Psychotherapy

Abstract

This paper seeks to elucidate the phenomenological experience of psychotherapy in the context of the theory of mentalizing and epistemic trust. We describe two related phenomenological experiences that are the domain of psychotherapeutic work. The first is the patient's direct experience of their own personal narrative being recognized, marked and reflected back to them by the therapist. Secondly, this intersubjective recognition makes possible the regulation and alignment of the patient's imaginative capacity in relation to phenomenological experiences. In describing three aspects of the communication process that unfold in effective psychotherapeutic interventions - (1) the epistemic match, (2) improving mentalizing and (3) the re-emergence of social learning - the way in which any effective treatment is embedded in metacognitive processes about the self in relation to perceptual social reality is explained. In particular, attention is drawn to wider social determinants of psychopathology. We discuss the possible mechanism for the relationship between the socioeconomic environment and psychopathology, and the implications of this for psychotherapeutic treatment.

Keywords: Epistemic trust; Mentalizing; Phenomenology; Psychotherapy.