Mentalization and depressive symptoms in a clinical sample of adolescents and young adults

Background Increasing evidence supports that mentalization deficits may have a role in the genesis of young age depression; however, few studies examined this issue in clinical populations. Methods Outpatients aged 14–21, suffering from various psychiatric disorders, were assessed using the Mentalization Questionnaire (MZQ), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), using data from age‐matched healthy students for comparison. The relationship between CTQ, MZQ, and BDI scores was examined at the cross‐sectional level, including mediation analyses, and longitudinally, in a subsample who underwent a psychotherapy intervention. Results Of 83 subjects, 33 (39.8%) had mentalization levels that were 1 standard deviation below those of comparison subjects. In the whole sample, the levels of mentalization were inversely associated with BDI (r = −.68, p