A stronger capacity for mentalizing is protective and that the ability to mentalize a trauma could be a resilience factor.

Empathy (= cognitive empathy + affective empathy) and mentalizing (= cognitive empathy ) are related but different constructs.

Relationship between empathy and symptoms are complex. Undue weight on affective empathy might manifest clinically as maladaptively high levels of sensitivity (e.g. borderline personality disorder)