Halliwick Personality Disorder Service

About

The Halliwick Personality Disorder Service, located at St. Ann's Hospital in Haringey, North London, holds a unique position in the history of psychoanalytic treatment innovation as the birthplace of mentalization-based treatment (MBT). Developed at this site by Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman, MBT represents the translation of psychoanalytic attachment theory and object relations concepts into a structured, empirically validated clinical intervention for severe personality disorders. The Halliwick Personality Disorder Pathway, now part of the North London NHS Foundation Trust following the 2026 merger with the Tavistock and Portman, offers both MBT and structured clinical management (SCM) to patients with Cluster B personality disorders. The multidisciplinary team delivers treatment that targets the core psychoanalytic concept of mentalizing — the capacity to understand one's own and others' behavior in terms of underlying mental states, affects, and intentions. This capacity, understood psychoanalytically as emerging from secure attachment relationships and disrupted in personality disorder, is systematically cultivated through the therapeutic relationship and group process. The Halliwick's historical significance as the site where psychoanalytic theory was operationalized into one of the most rigorously studied psychodynamic treatments of the twenty-first century makes it an institution of exceptional importance to the depth psychology tradition.

Depth Orientation

The Halliwick Centre in Haringey is the birthplace of mentalization-based treatment (MBT), the psychoanalytically derived intervention developed by Peter Fonagy and Anthony Bateman that has become one of the most empirically validated psychodynamic treatments for personality disorder worldwide. MBT's theoretical foundation in attachment theory, object relations, and the psychoanalytic concept of mentalizing — the capacity to understand behavior in terms of underlying mental states — makes the Halliwick a site of direct lineage from psychoanalytic theory to contemporary clinical practice. The service treats Cluster B personality disorders through this framework, applying psychoanalytic understanding of affect regulation and interpersonal functioning within a structured treatment model.

Treatment Modalities

Program Details

Best for

• Borderline personality disorder
• Emotionally unstable personality disorder
• Cluster B personality disorders
• Adults requiring structured psychoanalytic-derived treatment

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