The concluding chapter of the book by NYU Psychoanalyst Philip M. Bromberg takes on the movie Analyze This in a section titled, appropriately enough, “Mentalize This!” Bromberg sees the Billy Crystal and Robert DeNiro movie as an example of the potential dangers that occur in mentalization therapy: in DeNiro’s case, a mafia don doesn’t want to show any signs of vulnerability or worse, weakness over his father’s death. For Crystal’s character, the shrink runs a risk too, as Crystal’s mere association with the inner workings of a mobster’s mind can put his own life in danger.
Bromberg poignantly concludes that to obtain a true breakthrough in therapy, and in mentalization psychotherapy especially, often therapy requires both the therapist and patient to enter emotional and inner psychological territory that they both fear going. Bromberg’s conclusion speaks to the dangers of becoming aware of your motivations, as naked and often negative as they can be. To paraphrase a man who understood human psychology well before Freud, most of all, it's important to thine own mind be true.
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