BEHAVIOR IS MEMORY: TEMPLATE THEORY, A NEW DIRECTION IN PSYCHODYNAMIC PSYCHOTHERAPY

Repeated caregiver responses in childhood get laid down in the child as automatic presumptions about relatedness, an internalized function I call the relational template.In future, interactive behavior can activate that established relational template, with its automatic behaviors becoming manifest.Relational templates originate in repeated relational events that are 1) directly experienced, 2) observed, or 3) fantasized (in opposition to traumatic interactions).The therapist can become aware of an activated relational template through observing the automatic relational 1) behavior, 2) expectancies and 3) premises a patient exhibit in the consultation room.That which is not remembered explicitly can be shown through such reflexive behavior, often outside of one's own awareness.This is how behavior is memory.