[Mentalizing as Psychosocial Vaccination in Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy]. / Mentalisieren als psychosoziale Impfung in der Kinder- und Jugendlichenpsychotherapie.

Based on the psychological stress caused by theCovid 19 pandemic in families, this article explores the fundamental question of how the psychological process of mentalizing - metaphorically speaking - can act as a psychosocial vaccination in stressful times. To this end, we look at the developments in the psychosocial context under the conditions of the pandemic and consider the effects on child and adolescent psychotherapy on the basis of a vignette of a group therapy session.

Editorial Perspective: The digital divide - inequalities in remote therapy for children and adolescents.

COVID-19 has triggered a shift towards remote delivery of therapy and, despite a number of benefits, it risks discriminating against young people already marginalised due to adverse early life experiences, poverty or ethnicity. This editorial perspective considers challenges for remote therapy, focusing on: the financial burden of telehealth; the necessity of safety to speak; and, how telehealth may exacerbate difficulties in therapeutic alliance formation by interfering with epistemic trust and mentalising. As well as compounding the inaccessibility for children who are subject to abuse, the implicit assumptions behind telehealth risk disproportionately excluding from therapy those from a low socioeconomic status, and who are from ethnic minorities. Suggestions are made for how these challenges may be addressed. It is argued that service design and delivery should seek to proceed with the practicalities and principles of engagement in mind and use this as an opportunity to improve parity of access, rather than risk further entrenching inequalities.