A Tale of Two Farms (of Template Discordance and Shame)

ABSTRACT

Therapists are regularly exposed to verbal memories in the clinical setting, but the automatic behavior of patients can provide an additional window into the past. Template theory uses the concept of a relational template to aid us in tracking back from observable behavior in the consultation room, to developmental events that, through repetition, have encoded those behaviors the patient now automatically exhibits, sometimes out of awareness. A relational template is comprised of three elements: 1) observable automatic behavior, 2) automatic expectancies of others, and 3) relational premises, or beliefs. Any of the multiple relational templates residing in both patient and therapist can be activated in treatment; synchronous pairings blend, while discordant templates create conflict, which may manifest in the therapist’s affect. A clinical tale of two disparate experiences involving the topic of “farming” is recounted to demonstrate how an awareness of discordant templates between therapist and patient can expand the understanding of a patient’s history. Exploration of differences in behavior and worldview in the analytic pair led to increased understanding of past histories of shame, which helped to resolve a therapeutic impasse. Therapists who understand the origins of their own attitudes, can intuit a different developmental history that gave rise to contrasting beliefs and behaviors in their patients. In this way, observation of automatic non-verbal behavior can be used to deepen our understanding of the patient’s developmental history, facilitating insight and the therapeutic process.

KEYWORDS:

• Relational template
• automatic behavior
• discordant
• expectancies
• premises
• shame
• impass
• farm

Notes

¹ Orange (2001) has discussed the complexities of doing psychoanalytic work with people who have significantly differing worldviews.

² We also had our fair share of “synchronous templates”: templates that matched, sometimes seamlessly enough to place them out of awareness. For example, although we didn’t explicitly compare notes, she and I held similar views of the importance and pleasure of spending time with one’s children. She was as aware as I was of that synchrony between us.

³ Pun intended.

⁴ Challenging, or confounding entrenched relational templates can be an effective therapeutic event (Herzog, 2014) that helps establish an alternate, more functional template. I recommend therapist behavior be considered in light of whether or not it is confirming dysfunctional relational templates, or whether it is contributing to a healthier alternative.

⁵ My introduction of the therapist’s shame is in keeping with the work of Morrison (1984, 2008), who has eloquently discussed shame in both patient and therapist, demonstrating its importance in the therapeutic endeavor.

⁶ This suggests that relational templates can be transmitted across generations. The cross generational transmission of trauma has been extensively explored by Yabsley (1994), Bohleber (2014), and Silverman (2015), amongst many others, and includes work on children of holocaust survivors—see Sigal (1998) and Faye (2001), for example.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Bruce Herzog

Bruce Herzog MD, FRCP(C), is a faculty member at the Toronto Institute of Contemporary Psychoanalysis and the Toronto Institute for the Advancement of Self Psychology. He is a member of the International Council for the Association of Psychoanalytic Self Psychology, and serves as Associate Editor of Psychoanalysis, Self and Context. He presently works as a psychoanalyst in private practice in Toronto, Canada.