Mentalizing

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. The act of recognizing and attributing thoughts, emotions, and beliefs to oneself and others involves understanding mental states and intentions in interpersonal contexts
2. It is the cognitive capacity to comprehend and reflect on one's own mind as well as the minds of others, encompassing the interpretation of feelings and beliefs
3. The process of interpreting and making sense of emotions, thoughts, and intentions in oneself and others

Etymology: "Mentalizing" is built from "mental" and the suffix "-ize," which turns a noun or adjective into a verb meaning "to make into" or "to treat in the manner of." So "mentalize" means, at root, to render something mental or to make it a matter of the mind. The "-ing" ending simply turns it into a continuous or gerund form, so the word names the activity itself. The word's current sense is narrower than its parts suggest. Its meaning centres on the mind's capacity to model other people's thoughts, feelings and beliefs, and to reflect on one's own mental states, rather than on anything generically mental. Psychologists and clinicians use it in this specialised sense, which is why the term carries a technical flavour even though its building blocks are ordinary English.

Synonyms: empathizing, understanding, interpreting, cognizing, perceiving

Antonyms: misunderstanding, ignoring, overlooking, disregarding, dismissing