This is designed to:

1. Slow down the interactions between family members, so that there is space for Mentalizing...
2. Question or express a specific interest in exactly "what person x is feeling/thinking as this interaction unfolds".

This may involve using images of DVD or video as a way of providing some emotional distance between family members and the emotional drama that is unfolding between them. By conjuring the image of their interactions being on film, the therapist offers opportunities for imagining a 'meta-position'.

If appropriate this activity can even be "dramatised", with the therapist calling "Freeze frame!" and gesturing with his or her hand to freeze the activity.

“I notice x and y when you talk – can we just pause the action here for a brief moment. Let’s pretend for a minute that we had video-recorded this exchange and that be are going to do a replay of a previous segment, to see how things developed and built up. How do you think it all started?”

This is an example of pause and review, that moves into the process of trying to Notice and Name common breaks in mentalizing:



Here is another example - the pause and rewind technique is used just at the point at which there is a high risk that non-mentalizing will escalate (as it clearly has many times before):



See Simmering Down for more dramatic examples.