This is the 'second order' of mentalizing, in what could be seen as a hierachy (Mentalizing levels), each higher order relying on the presence of lower orders before it can be sustained:

1. Implicit mentalization
2. Explicit mentalization
3. Affective mentalization

Explicit Mentalization refers to thinking reflectively about the actions of others and ourselves.

This occurs typically when something goes awry on the implicit level that challenges our usual interpretation of action. Whilst Implicit mentalization is non-conscious, unreflective and procedural, explicit mentalizing is relatively conscious, reflective and deliberate.

In therapy:

The therapist of any orientation engages in the act of explicating states of mind and their meaning with most client groups. Such explicit mentalizing brings the advantages of reflective consciousness in encouraging self monitoring, adapting to novelty and engaging in flexible problem solving.

The medium is language, which enables us to represent and adopt multiple mental perspectives on the same reality. Developing a language of minds enables us to be systematic about mental states and to organise these into coherent narratives, creating stories of what happened to us and how. This is the organizational work which psychotherapy at its best can excel at.

The content of explicit mentalization may vary according to the theoretical focus of the therapist, from unconscious defences and transference reactions (Psychodynamic theory) to automatic negative thoughts (Cognitive Behavioural), to recurrent relationship patterns (SystemicTherapy). Therapeutic explication serves as a highlighter drawing joint attention to one facet or another of the implicit process. Over time the patient is drawn into this process as an active collaborator in the explication. Conversing about an adolescent in crisis and the family's reaction to it forces the participants to integrate implicit and explicit mentalization and use language to draw attention to a range of perspectives that can exist in relation to individual action.

The creation of a coherent narrative, a systematic way of understanding the family's circumstances and the young person's predicament, deriving a causal, mentalistic account of how such a situation might have arisen, regenerates a sense of 'autobiographical agency'.