Body-oriented mentalization based therapy in severe somatic symptom disorder, 2023, Feldmann-Sinnige et al

Abstract

Background: Body-oriented mentalization based therapy (L-MBT) is used in specialist mental health care for the treatment of patients with somatic symptom disorder or functional neurological disorder. L-MBT focuses on increasing awareness of bodily sensations and integrating them with psychological functions such as thinking, feeling or remembering. The goal of L-MBT is that patients with somatic symptom disorders learn to mentalize their body signals and the associated inner experiences. There are favorable experiences in clinical practice, but to date the mechanism of change and the effectiveness of treatment with L-MBT has not yet been sufficiently scientifically demonstrated.

Aim: To investigate whether patients with severe somatic symptom disorders improve their body awareness and mentalizing capacity during an intensive treatment program based on L-MBT.

Method: Body awareness and mentalizing capacity were assessed in patients following intensive treatment at Altrecht Psychosomatics Eikenboom, a highly specialized treatment center for adults with a severe somatic symptom disorder or functional neurological disorder Patients’ body awareness was assessed with the Multidimensional Assessment of Interoceptive Awareness (MAIA-2), mentalizing capacity with the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ). Questionnaires were filled in at the start, halfway and at the end of treatment.

Results: Both body awareness and mentalizing ability improved significantly during the intensive L-MBT-based treatment with generally a large effect size.

Conclusion: During an intensive treatment program based on L-MBT, there is an increase in body awareness and mentalizing capacity in patients diagnosed with a severe somatic symptom disorder.

Only PubMed abstract available, https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37947464/

 

Not just a parody of science, but an actual parody of pseudoscience. Doctors used to laugh at this stuff. Now they embrace it. What a weird turn of events for what is supposed to be a serious profession.

 

This seems to coming from a wired scientist.
Everytime someone has a symptom we are mentalising some inner mental state To produce some certain symptoms how bizarre

 

Suppose I step on a nail which penetrates my footwear, I need to be aware of it. If I'm touching something that will burn or scald me I need to know about it.

One group of psychs want us to ignore bodily sensations, and another group wants us to be aware of our bodies.

Are we supposed to start keeping notebooks, and write things like

1) My foot hurts but I must ignore it. What if I'm developing diabetes which needs treatment and could cause damage which could kill me over the next six months, two years, or ten years. If I have a nail in my foot it can't be ignored because it could cause a dangerous infection within hours.

2) My hand hurts and I might be burning so I need to check it out.

It's all total nonsense which is also completely inconsistent and it completely ignores instinct which people react to in seconds, almost without thought. People and animals feel pain for a reason - it keeps them alive in the face of something endangering their body.