Full-blown explicit (i.e., conscious or self-aware) mentalising is a three-stage process. It is experiential in that its starting point is an ‘automatic’ affective response – a ‘thought’ often accompanied by somatic sensations and/or images. This is followed by awareness or ‘noticing’ what one is thinking. Lastly, and only in explicit as opposed to implicit mentalising, thinking about what one has found oneself thinking about (cf. Holmes, 2014b).
