{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,29]],"date-time":"2026-07-29T13:23:48Z","timestamp":1785331428807,"version":"3.55.0"},"reference-count":26,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,9]],"date-time":"2025-09-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1757376000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJERPH"],"abstract":"<jats:p>This study explores the relationship between post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the two major dimensions of mentalization (self and other-oriented) in asylum seekers resettled in Italy. It is important because it is the first study addressing the role of mentalization in asylum seekers with PTSD. Twenty asylum seekers scoring above the cut-off for the PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) were contrasted to twenty asylum seekers without PTSD on mentalization and somatization. The Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ) and the Bradford Somatic Inventory (BSI-21) were used to assess mentalization and somatization, respectively. Pearson correlations and multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the overall association between variables. Asylum seekers with PTSD had significantly higher scores than those without PTSD on somatization (p = 0.03), and significantly lower scores on self-oriented mentalization (p &lt; 0.05) than those without PTSD. These results show that asylum seekers with PTSD have reduced self-oriented mentalizing abilities, while the other-oriented component of mentalization appears less involved. This study shows that mentalization deserves more research for the possibly crucial role of reduced self-oriented mentalization in asylum seekers\u2019 suffering. If these findings are confirmed by future studies, they could be used to tailor interventions for asylum seekers and refugees with PTSD.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijerph22091405","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,9]],"date-time":"2025-09-09T19:16:17Z","timestamp":1757445377000},"page":"1405","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Mentalization in Asylum Seekers with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4841-5825","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Massimiliano","family":"Aragona","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP), 00153 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marcella","family":"Cavallo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP), 00153 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Federica","family":"Ferrari","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP), 00153 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giovanna","family":"Laurendi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP), 00153 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-0420-8282","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Gianluca","family":"Nicolella","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"National Institute for Health, Migration and Poverty (INMP), 00153 Rome, Italy"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Blackmore, R., Boyle, J.A., Fazel, M., Ranasinha, S., Gray, K.M., Fitzgerald, G., Misso, M., Gibson-Helm, M., and Spiegel, P. (2020). The prevalence of mental illness in refugees and asylum seekers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. PLoS Med., 17.","DOI":"10.1371\/journal.pmed.1003337"},{"key":"ref_2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1793","DOI":"10.1007\/s00127-014-0877-1","article-title":"Somatization in refugees: A review","volume":"49","author":"Rohlof","year":"2014","journal-title":"Soc. Psychiatry Psychiatr. Epidemiol."},{"key":"ref_3","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"102641","DOI":"10.1016\/j.janxdis.2022.102641","article-title":"A meta-analysis of mentalizing in anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive and related disorders, and trauma and stressor related disorders","volume":"92","author":"Sloover","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Anxiety Disord."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"11","DOI":"10.1002\/j.2051-5545.2010.tb00255.x","article-title":"Mentalization based treatment for borderline personality disorder","volume":"9","author":"Bateman","year":"2010","journal-title":"World Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_5","unstructured":"Fonagy, P., Gergely, G., and Jurist, E.L. (2005). Affect Regulation, Mentalization, and the Development of the Self, Over Press."},{"key":"ref_6","unstructured":"Jurist, E.L., and Meehan, K.B. (2009). Attachment, mentalization, and reflective functioning. Attachment Theory and Research in Clinical Work with Adults, Guilford Press."},{"key":"ref_7","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Wagner-Skacel, J., Riedl, D., Kampling, H., and Lampe, A. (2022). Mentalization and dissociation after adverse childhood experiences. Sci. Rep., 12.","DOI":"10.1038\/s41598-022-10787-8"},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"444","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jpsychires.2022.10.050","article-title":"Deployment-related PTSD symptomatology and social functioning: Probing the mediating roles of emotion regulation and mentalization in an outpatient veteran sample","volume":"156","author":"Janssen","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Psychiatr. Res."},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"35","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jad.2021.09.082","article-title":"Social cognitive performance in posttraumatic stress disorder: A meta-analysis","volume":"297","author":"Janssen","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Affect. Disord."},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"477","DOI":"10.1080\/13557858.2012.661406","article-title":"Somatization in a primary care service for immigrants","volume":"17","author":"Aragona","year":"2012","journal-title":"Ethn. Health"},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"399","DOI":"10.1159\/000538460","article-title":"Phenomenology of Somatization in Immigrants: An Idealtypical Approach","volume":"57","author":"Aragona","year":"2024","journal-title":"Psychopathology"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"615","DOI":"10.1002\/jts.20571","article-title":"The relationship between somatization and posttraumatic symptoms among immigrants receiving primary care services*","volume":"23","author":"Aragona","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Trauma. Stress"},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"911","DOI":"10.1097\/NMD.0000000000001399","article-title":"Theory of Mind in Somatization and Depression: Is It Cause or Phenomenon?","volume":"209","author":"Cetin","year":"2021","journal-title":"J. Nerv. Ment. Dis."},{"key":"ref_14","unstructured":"Weathers, F.W., Litz, B.T., Keane, T.M., Palmieri, P.A., Marx, B.P., and Schnurr, P.P. (2024, September 16). The PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) In: The National Center for PTSD, Available online: https:\/\/www.ptsd.va.gov\/professional\/assessment\/adult-sr\/ptsd-checklist.asp."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"American Psychiatric Association (2013). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, American Psychiatric Publishing.","DOI":"10.1176\/appi.books.9780890425596"},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"379","DOI":"10.1192\/bjp.158.3.379","article-title":"The Bradford Somatic Inventory: A multi-ethnic inventory of somatic symptoms reported by anxious and depressed patients in Britain and the Indo-Pakistan subcontinent","volume":"158","author":"Mumford","year":"1991","journal-title":"Br. J. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"651","article-title":"Development and Validation of the Certainty About Mental States Questionnaire (CAMSQ): A Self-Report Measure of Mentalizing Oneself and Others","volume":"30","author":"Wendt","year":"2021","journal-title":"Assessment"},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"243","DOI":"10.1002\/jts.20320","article-title":"Meta-analysis of alexithymia in posttraumatic stress disorder","volume":"21","author":"Frewen","year":"2008","journal-title":"J. Trauma. Stress."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"185","DOI":"10.1080\/08039480410006214","article-title":"Alexithymia, emotions and PTSD; findings from a longitudinal study of refugees","volume":"58","author":"Theorell","year":"2004","journal-title":"Nord. J. Psychiatry"},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"644","DOI":"10.1002\/jclp.22732","article-title":"A systematic review of the psychosocial impact of emotional numbing in US combat veterans","volume":"75","author":"Schuman","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Clin. Psychol."},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fonagy, P., Campbell, C., and Luyten, P. (2023). Attachment, Mentalizing and Trauma: Then (1992) and Now (2022). Brain Sci., 13.","DOI":"10.3390\/brainsci13030459"},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"54","article-title":"The empathic migrant: Empathy is preserved in African refugees with PTSD","volume":"13","author":"Aragona","year":"2020","journal-title":"Dial. Phil Ment. Neuro Sci."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"30","DOI":"10.1037\/tra0001328","article-title":"Prevalence and correlates of mental health difficulties following the beirut port explosion: The roles of mentalizing and resilience","volume":"16","author":"Tohme","year":"2024","journal-title":"Psychol. Trauma Theory Res. Pr. Policy"},{"key":"ref_24","unstructured":"Caretti, V., Craparo, G., and Schimmenti, A. (2013). Memorie Traumatiche e Mentalizzazione Teoria, Astrolabio."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Smits, M.L., de Vos, J., R\u00fcfenacht, E., Nijssens, L., Shaverin, L., Nolte, T., Luyten, P., Fonagy, P., and Bateman, A. (2024). Breaking the cycle with trauma-focused mentalization-based treatment: Theory and practice of a trauma-focused group intervention. Front. Psychol., 15.","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2024.1426092"},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"595","DOI":"10.1080\/07351690.2013.835170","article-title":"Mentalization-Based Treatment","volume":"33","author":"Bateman","year":"2013","journal-title":"Psychoanal. Inq."}],"container-title":["International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/22\/9\/1405\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,9]],"date-time":"2025-10-09T18:42:40Z","timestamp":1760035360000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/1660-4601\/22\/9\/1405"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,9]]},"references-count":26,"journal-issue":{"issue":"9","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,9]]}},"alternative-id":["ijerph22091405"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/ijerph22091405","relation":{},"ISSN":["1660-4601"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1660-4601","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2025,9,9]]}}}