Is part of normal development, adverse experiences often limit a person’s capacity for regulation. Indeed, many of the individuals targeted by the interventions described here struggle to regulate their affects, impulses, and sense of self and, thus, RF. Regulation and RF are highly interconnected, and indeed as RF improves, so do self and affect regulation. In this way, regulation ?while optimally an antecedent of the development of mentalization ?may in fact be an outgrowth of enhanced capacities for reflection. Parents’ capacity to mentalize or reflect about other key relationships in their lives (e.g. their relationship with their parents) prior to child H 4065 price rearing also influences their ability to mentalize about the child (Fonagy et al., 1995; Slade, Grienenberger, et al., 2005). Two key components of mentalization are an awareness of the nature of mental states and the capacity to connect feelings to behavior (Slade, 2005). These components must be present together as the capacity for RF involves the ability to recognize mental states and link mental states to behavior in meaningful and accurate ways (Slade, 2005). Empathy, which can be thought of simply as the capacity to feel what someone is feeling, is an aspect of RF. But RF also refers to the capacity to make inferences about mental states, thus not only feel what someone is feeling, but also to think about what they are feeling and its potential effects (on behavior, other feelings, etc.). Consequences A parent’s capacity to reflect on their children’s mental states plays an important role in the children’s formation of a secure attachment and ultimately to the child’s capacity to mentalize (Fonagy, 2000; Fonagy et al., 1995; Slade, Grienenberger, et al., 2005). In addition, the enhancement of parental RF has been associated with improved parent-child relations in interventions developed for high risk mothers (Sadler et al., 2013), drug-addicted mothers (Suchman et al., 2010), and incarcerated mothers (Baradon et al., 2008; Sleed et al., 2013). Parental RF has also been described as a supportive factor for violence-exposed mothers in the formation of more balanced and integrated maternal mental representations of their children (Schechter et al., 2005), a protective factor in the development of children’s eating disorders (Rothschild-Yakar, Levy-Shiff, Fridman-Balaban, Gur, Stein, 2010), and a facilitating factor in mothers’ sensitivity towards their child (Borelli, West, Decoste, Suchman, 2012; Fonagy ML390 web Target, 1997). In a study by Grienenberger and colleagues (2005) that examined the relationship between maternal RF, mother-infant affective communication, and infant attachment the researchers found an inverse relationship between maternal RF and maternal-infant disruptive communication. A critically important negative outcome of poor parental RF is the formation of insecure infant attachment (Slade, Grienenberger, et al., 2005). Additional negative consequences include a child’s experiencing unmet needs and feelings of not being understood. A parent who acts on false assumptions about the child’s mental states will cause confusion for the child and is not likely to be able to understand and meet the child’s needs. Additionally, a child may become aversive, withdrawn, hostile, or coercive as a result of the intense emotion resulting from the child’s feeling misunderstood by his or her parent (Fearon et al.,J Clin Nurs. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 December 01.N.Is part of normal development, adverse experiences often limit a person’s capacity for regulation. Indeed, many of the individuals targeted by the interventions described here struggle to regulate their affects, impulses, and sense of self and, thus, RF. Regulation and RF are highly interconnected, and indeed as RF improves, so do self and affect regulation. In this way, regulation ?while optimally an antecedent of the development of mentalization ?may in fact be an outgrowth of enhanced capacities for reflection. Parents’ capacity to mentalize or reflect about other key relationships in their lives (e.g. their relationship with their parents) prior to child rearing also influences their ability to mentalize about the child (Fonagy et al., 1995; Slade, Grienenberger, et al., 2005). Two key components of mentalization are an awareness of the nature of mental states and the capacity to connect feelings to behavior (Slade, 2005). These components must be present together as the capacity for RF involves the ability to recognize mental states and link mental states to behavior in meaningful and accurate ways (Slade, 2005). Empathy, which can be thought of simply as the capacity to feel what someone is feeling, is an aspect of RF. But RF also refers to the capacity to make inferences about mental states, thus not only feel what someone is feeling, but also to think about what they are feeling and its potential effects (on behavior, other feelings, etc.). Consequences A parent’s capacity to reflect on their children’s mental states plays an important role in the children’s formation of a secure attachment and ultimately to the child’s capacity to mentalize (Fonagy, 2000; Fonagy et al., 1995; Slade, Grienenberger, et al., 2005). In addition, the enhancement of parental RF has been associated with improved parent-child relations in interventions developed for high risk mothers (Sadler et al., 2013), drug-addicted mothers (Suchman et al., 2010), and incarcerated mothers (Baradon et al., 2008; Sleed et al., 2013). Parental RF has also been described as a supportive factor for violence-exposed mothers in the formation of more balanced and integrated maternal mental representations of their children (Schechter et al., 2005), a protective factor in the development of children’s eating disorders (Rothschild-Yakar, Levy-Shiff, Fridman-Balaban, Gur, Stein, 2010), and a facilitating factor in mothers’ sensitivity towards their child (Borelli, West, Decoste, Suchman, 2012; Fonagy Target, 1997). In a study by Grienenberger and colleagues (2005) that examined the relationship between maternal RF, mother-infant affective communication, and infant attachment the researchers found an inverse relationship between maternal RF and maternal-infant disruptive communication. A critically important negative outcome of poor parental RF is the formation of insecure infant attachment (Slade, Grienenberger, et al., 2005). Additional negative consequences include a child’s experiencing unmet needs and feelings of not being understood. A parent who acts on false assumptions about the child’s mental states will cause confusion for the child and is not likely to be able to understand and meet the child’s needs. Additionally, a child may become aversive, withdrawn, hostile, or coercive as a result of the intense emotion resulting from the child’s feeling misunderstood by his or her parent (Fearon et al.,J Clin Nurs. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2015 December 01.N.