Jon Allen, PhD delivers Last Talk in ‘Great Teacher Series’

By John Graham

May 18th, 2012

Jon Allen, PhD, from the Menninger Clinic delivered the last of our Great Teacher Series talks at ISH for this year.  A rapt audience filled the lecture hall and loved what they heard.  Among those in attendance were Dr. Jim Lomax, Dr. Ken Pargament, Rabbi Sam Karff, and Amanda Yoder, LCSW.  Dr. Allen is humble and said he knew nothing about the subject, then poured out armloads of wisdom from his work with Mentalization in Psychotherapy.  Mentalization basically is holding in awareness the mental states of yourself/therapist and the person you are speaking to/patient.  And, it involves not just listening passively but requires actively reflecting on what is being said, thought, felt, and experienced.  And, this applies according to attachment theory to our relationship with our mother who provided a holding envirnoment for us.  If that holding environment was “good enough” we developed into adulthood normally.  If not, we may have gaps in our psyche that need psychotherapy.  In any case, we can also mentalize considering our relationship with the sacred, the divine, God.  Very stimulating thoughts.  A great way to end our Great Teacher series.