Mentalizing has some similarities to reflective thinking in that both are processes in which a person is engaged in trying to make sense of things. However, mentalizing refers to a wider range of internal processes than reflective thinking.

Explicit mentalizing in which a person makes a conscious effort to make sense of his/her state of mind or the state of mind of another person may be the closest to reflective thinking but a great deal of mentalizing goes on implicitly, partly in awareness and partly outside of conscious awareness.

Secondly, mentalizing is the awareness of states of mind and should not be restricted to more narrowly defined cognitive functioning or 'thinking'. For example, to be mentalizing another person is not restricted to being curious about what he/she may be thinking in a conscious way at a particular time point (although it may include this) but is trying to make sense of a person's overall state of mind which is likely to include less conscious aspects of the person's experience. In this way, explicit mentalizing may be considered a process of extending awareness as well as a process of reflective thinking.

Thirdly, the theory of mentalizing gives greater emphasis that mentalizing takes place in the context of relationships i.e. that the capacity to mentalize can be enhanced or diminished by quality of the relationships with others. in adults, these relationships are both real (take place in the external world) and internalized so that a person may imagine how a third person may view one's own or another's state of mind.

The AMBIT approach encourages curiosity about the states of mind of both the worker and the client and aims to adopt a team culture of acceptance and trust in sharing states of mind within a contained team process.