This is what happens when Mentalization fails - usually in response to overwhelming affect (when feeling states overwhelm - referred to as Affect storms) or the activation of the Attachment system.

It is important to recognise that these states of mind are not in themselves pathological - they are just relatively 'primitive' methods of thinking. In their right place, they may be "just what is required". For instance:

• Much of a child's learning about the world is carried out through Pretend mode, i.e in make-believe;
• On being threatened by a life-or-death situation, some Psychic equivalence may improve the likelihood of my taking the threat seriously and responding appropriately, and may thereby improve my survival chances!
• ditto for Teleological thinking - there is little survival advantage in sitting and explicitly mentalizing the tiger as he prowls towards me, salivating as he comes...

Another way of putting this is to say that we should avoid "sentimentalising mentalizing".

The 3 common pre-mentalistic stances are:

Psychic equivalence - 'inside out thinking'
Pretend mode - 'elephant in the room thinking'
Teleological thinking - 'quick-fix thinking'