Mentalizing Underachievement in Group Counseling: Analyzing the Relationship Between Members' Reflective Functioning and Counselors' Interventions

This study concerns an innovative group counseling method, the narrative mediation path (NMP), which aims to promote mentalization on underachievement among university students. The study analyzes a single NMP case with the aim of investigating whether a counselor's interventions influence the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological services 2021-02, Vol.18 (1), p.73-83
Main Authors: Esposito, Giovanna, Karterud, Sigmund, Freda, Maria Francesca
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Academic Underachievement
College Students
Counselors
Female
Group Counseling
Group Intervention
Human
Intervention
Male
Mentalization
Narratives
Reflectiveness
Sequences
Underachievement
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Summary:This study concerns an innovative group counseling method, the narrative mediation path (NMP), which aims to promote mentalization on underachievement among university students. The study analyzes a single NMP case with the aim of investigating whether a counselor's interventions influence the reflective functioning (RF) of the group members and their academic performance. The transcripts of 9 sessions of a single NMP were rated according to the Reflective Functioning Scale. We used a microgenetic approach to analyze the clinical sequences of the sessions, for which significant changes in the RF were observed. We identified and categorized the types of counselor's interventions that seemed to improve the students' RFs most effectively. Academic performance was measured by the Academic Performance Scale. The results indicated that most of the students improved their level of RF by mentalizing their problem of underachievement while also improving academic performance. The interventions, which reflect both the not-knowing stance and defense interpretations of the counselor, appeared to play a key role in developing the mentalizing capacities. We discuss the relevance of these findings for the more "interpretative" role of clinicians in mentalizing interventions and the need of further studies to determine whether the results are replicable.
ISSN:1541-1559
1939-148X
DOI:10.1037/ser0000350