As such, I believe it is essential our clients are consciously aware of those insecurities and the behaviour they drive.  Failure to get clients to make that connection leaves them looking in the wrong places for solutions – either blaming their partner or collapsing into shame and self-blame – neither of which will solve their relationship issues.

Since writing that blog, I have had many conversations with colleagues discussing how hard it is to accurately identify core insecurities, especially when clients are reluctant to accept the impact of their upbringing on their present-day behaviour.  Where their answers to my final four questions in the previous blog are superficial or dismissive. Many clients seem offended or contemptuous if you suggest they are still being affected by less-than-ideal circumstances in their childhood (probably as sign they feel ashamed or exposed by your suggestion). 

Their tone and manner suggests they regard still being under the influence of childhood events as a moral failing rather than an inevitable truth of the human condition.  Ironically, this is often a reflection of, or result of, the kinds of core insecurities their upbringing created. The strong emotional reaction they are having is probably rooted in exactly the shame that you are trying to get them to track (and that is causing difficulty in their relationships). There is often also a sense that being open to the idea that their childhood was anything less than “fine”, “normal” or “good” is being unappreciative and disloyal to their parents or family.

Reflecting on those conversations, I realised I have a four-pronged approach to clients like this

• Psychoeducation about the neuroscience of the developing brain (esp pre-adolescence), emphasising how self-centred kid’s minds are because of their cognitive limitations
• Exploration of their childhood with me highlighting how seemingly unimportant or “normal” events might have had more impact than they realise.  Showing them how the theoretical concepts I have discussed in #1 might have played out in practice in their life.  Sometimes this is done in the face of great scepticism from clients (often hiding their fear of exposure).  But I am setting the scene for…
• Stressing the reflexive ways they are protecting themselves in the present (ineffective self-protective behaviour) and demonstrating how those behaviours were adaptive in the context of their upbringing but are damaging to their current relationship(s).
• Accompanying this all the way through is an emphasis on self-compassion.  Clients need to understand that, while they are responsible for their behaviour as adults, they were NOT responsible for the events that shaped them in childhood.  That when we recognise that we are reflexively doing unhelpful things, the useful response is to be kind to ourselves and try and attend with love to the parts of ourselves that are still hurting because of what we came to fear all those decades ago.

I think the key is persisting in showing them how this way of understanding themselves opens up new possibilities for changing things.  How being vulnerable instead of shut down draws their partner closer.  How being assertive instead of appeasing allows their partner to become more attuned to them.

Many people will not easily follow your lead – you will have to be tenacious and back your knowledge and experience.  A lot of clients equate self-compassion with self-indulgence and vulnerability with weakness.  Others have been trained to blame themselves and take responsibility for things that are not their fault.  Those clients need help in understanding where they learned such unkind and self-destructive beliefs.  It’s vital that we don’t let those beliefs stand unchallenged in our therapy. 

It is a situation where we need to lead, not follow, our clients.  To have the confidence that, in this respect, we therapists see more broadly and deeply than they do, because their core insecurities blind them to seeing their true worth. Hence, our perspective is much more likely to give them hope and a path towards achieving the intimate relationship they crave.

Before employing this tool, you may need to reflect on whether it’s okay for you to make your clients uncomfortable.   Some clients find an exercise like this very exposing.  It gives you invaluable information about the way they operate in a very short space of time, so it’s in your client’s interest – it will save them time and money.  However, the therapist has to have a level of Differentiation to tolerate their discomfort with being asked to expose themselves in this way.  Make sure you get their consent to experiment with something different.

It’s a good idea when you do this exercise to warn people that you are going to be giving them some specific instructions and then you’re NOT going to explain any more, so they need to listen carefully.  In the beginning, to help you analyse the exercise, you might want to record the conversation (with your client’s permission).  Makes for great reflection in supervision!

The format

Taking a blank piece of A4 paper you turn to one person, hold up the piece of paper, look them in the eyes and say “This piece of paper represents something important to you. I’d like you to take a minute and think about what this piece of paper represents to you. You can pick anything that’s important to you except for your kids and your relationship.”  That is, you are asking them to imagine that the piece of paper IS the important issue.

Then pause and keep looking at them to give them a moment to process and take in your request.  You can ask “Have you got something?” or “Can you think of something like that?”.  When they have thought of something then you turn to their partner and repeat the exact same process with the exact same words.

Once they both have thought of something that the paper can represent that is important to them, then you ask each of them to hold onto one end of the piece of paper and say  “I’d like you to hold this paper between you and I’m going to give you up to five minutes to decide who gets this paper without ripping or tearing it. You can do it verbally or non-verbally. You can do it any way you like, but at the end of the five minutes, I’d like you to decide who gets the paper without ripping or tearing it.” It’s important to note there is nothing in these instructions preventing people from saying what they want and why.

I will usually also add that I’m going to give them a one minute warning before the five minutes is up and repeat that I’m not going to give them any further instructions or answer questions, that I want to see how they deal with the situation I have set up for them without me interfering further. 

Some people will really try and engage you with questions because you’ve created a projective type of situation that’s unsettling for them and they’re going to want you to structure it for them.  It will undermine the value of the exercise if you give in to the pressure of their anxiety. I keep saying back to them, “You can do it any way you choose and you have up to five minutes to decide who gets the paper without ripping or tearing it.”

Then you sit back and watch what they do.  You can literally move your chair back to indicate they are on their own with this.

After the 5 minutes is up make sure you thank them and give them positive feedback about doing the exercise. Ask them how they are feeling having done it.   It’s always good to ask them if what happened is typical of how they deal with conflict at home.  If it’s not typical, then explore why they behaved differently in this session than they usually do.

The asessment

You will get very different behaviour depending on the developmental level of the couple.  With some very symbiotic people, this is a very quick exercise because they are so panicked at the thought of a conflict one of them immediately gives the other the paper, without any discussion. 

Below are 6 questions you can ask yourself about what your clients did.  Each question points to a different aspect of the developmental stages.

1. Do the partners self-define?

The first thing is are they able to say what they want?   Very Symbiotic people won’t say or be really vague about what the paper represents to them.  Expect Symbiotic clients to blame you when you point out they didn’t say what they wanted – they will say you implied they shouldn’t say what they wanted (this is part of why sticking to the carefully ambiguous script when introducing the exercise is so important). Others will be very defensive or apologetic about saying what the paper represents.

• How do they manage boundaries? Are their boundaries rigid or overly permeable?

Once someone defines themselves by saying what they want, what happens?  Do they rigidly defend or collapse & give up easily??  Do they merge (I change what I want to join with what my partner selected)?  Do they look angry or upset that their partner wants something different from them?  It tells us about the level of Differentiation and also will be congruent with the Attachment Style.

• Do they show awareness that their partner is separate and different from them?

Shown in asking a lot of questions about what the other person picked – why is that important to you? Why does that matter to you?  If you took it could I ever share it back? Those who don’t engage at all tend not to have much awareness that the partner is separate and different from them

• How do they manage conflict? Is it avoided, escalated or acknowledged and handled?

If one collapses and the other accepts this then they’re both avoiding the conflict.  If they do have the conflict,  how  do they have it.  What is the emotional tone of the conversation – can they stay open, friendly and collaborative or does the presence of conflict make one or both of them closed, hostile, anxious etc?  Are they willing to hang in there even though the time is nearly up or do they foreclose on the conflict. A lot of people who are quite solid in their development won’t be able to resolve the conflict in 5 minutes and this is an indication that they are able to tolerate conflict productively and manage their anxieties.

• Do they have the capacity to move the conflict forward?

If they avoid it you won’t see this but if they are at the rapprochement stage you would expect them to be exploring options to see if there is a way they can resolve this without either of them giving up what they want.  As a rule of thumb, the more developed, the more creative and collaborative they’ll be in their exporation of potential solutions.

• Is each partner able to give and/or receive?

Interestingly people who are in the Rapprochement or Synergy stages are likely to end up doing something that Symbiotic people do, with one of them giving up the paper for the other.  However the pacing, tone and meaning of this is VERY different. It’s not done quickly to avoid anxiety, but after lengthy discussion where one of them decides “Hearing what it means to you I’m happy for you to have it”.

It’s a matter of clinical judgement how much of what you observe you feed back to your clients and when.  This exercise can be a good opportunity to explain the notion of Developmental Stages and indicate to each of them where you think they are at and what the developmental tasks are they have in front of them.

Clients will choose to make themselves vulnerable if they believe that the rewards are worth it. Emotional vulnerability is an essential part of intimacy and feeling truly loved. Everyone has ways to reflexively protect themselves from emotional hurt. For example, your client might be smiley and pleasing (so they don’t offer any threat), or they might be stony-faced and grumpy (so they look tough and dangerous). They are hiding their deeper thoughts, feelings and desires from view so that people can’t use those thoughts, feelings or desires to manipulate or hurt them. They feel vulnerable, so they act defensively.

Remember, the more important someone is to you, the easier it is for you to feel hurt by them. When a stranger ignores, rejects or attacks you, that’s bad enough; but when an Attachment figure does, the pain is so much worse. That pain causes your amygdala to see your loved one as a threat. In a committed relationship, you organise your life around an Attachment figure. A rupture in that relationship threatens not just your feelings but also your living arrangements, your financial security, and your connection with your children (if you have them).

So, when their partner is upset, insincere, grumpy or withdrawn, your client may feel very vulnerable to hurt. Their instinctive response is to protect themselves. But when your client puts up their walls and acts defensively in turn, this is an ineffective way to try to care for themselves. It destabilises the Attachment relationship, making them more open to significant hurt in the long run.

To maintain their connection, they must accept their vulnerability to their significant other rather than fight it. Being vulnerable is part of acting with integrity. Consciously sharing what’s happening inside you does give their partner information they could use to hurt them. It’s a risk. But they are far better to take that risk and find out whether their partner can meet them, as well as whether they can look after themselves when their partner is unavailable.

Being vulnerable requires being Differentiated — knowing and showing how it is for you at the same time as being accepting of and interested in how it is for your partner. Being vulnerable also requires effective management of your neurobiology, i.e. good self-regulation. Your client’s impulse to protect themselves will arise and require managing. Remember, tolerating vulnerability is a hallmark of those who are Securely Attached. If they’re just ‘acting Secure’, then learning how to be vulnerable, rather than focusing on the anxiety of how vulnerable they feel, is a crucial component. The script below offers your clients a structured pathway to being vulnerable with their partner. Feel free to use it in your practice.

Here is a step-by-step guide for how to respond when you feel vulnerable or hurt.

I feel VULNERABLE
(maybe because I have been hurt)

↓

Triggers reflexive impulse to self-protect or act out, distract, feel numb, etc.

↓

Recognise the impulse for what it is, allow self to feel the VULNERABILITY and don’t let yourself act impulsively

↓

Go slow and self-soothe — attend to VULNERABLE or hurt feelings (including reaching out to friends and other supports)

↓

Organise your thinking — maybe write some notes, or practise talking out loud to yourself or a friend, so that you have clear, non-judgemental language to describe what’s going on for you

↓

Be VULNERABLE
Open up to partner about the original VULNERABLE or hurt feelings (use non-blaming descriptions)

↓

Compassionately explore and discuss the VULNERABILITY, focusing on meanings you make, your interpretations and insecurities (not the same as justifying self-protective behaviour)

↓

Be sure to talk about how much VULNERABILITY and hurt is from your upbringing rather than focusing on what your partner did

»»»

When I have made a mistake, got something wrong, or behaved in ways that are hurtful to my partner, my self-protective impulses often prompt me to talk about why I behaved that way. Usually, this involves an attempt to minimise my responsibility. The most common way to do this is to try and excuse and justify my behaviour.  For example, “I only shouted at you because you were being so rude”. 

That focus on what my partner did to “cause” my behaviour usually comes because I struggle to feel OK about myself, so recognising and accepting that I have got it wrong can feel devastating; like I am confirming what a bad person I am.  For example, I unconsciously fear that when I am aggressive I am like my domineering father.

In those moments when I am making excuses for myself, I am more in relationship with my insecurities than I am with my partner. My distress at the triggering of my fears about myself makes it hard for me to recognise, let alone accept and respond to the impact of my behaviour on them.  My partner is likely to feel twice wounded if I come across as justifying the behaviour that hurt them

If being a good partner is my top priority, then I need to aim to repair the “rupture” to the relationship caused by my ineffective self-protective behaviours asap.   Remember that John Gottman’s research showed us it’s the speed and effectiveness of relationship repair that separates the happy from the unhappy couples.  Explanation is often part of repair, but the timing of it matters. This is what our clients so often get wrong!

When I accept that I have done something unhelpful or hurtful then I will first acknowledge that without justification.  I will take responsibilty for my behaviour and focus first on repairing my connection with you; things like apologising and doing what I can to make things right.  “Sorry, I came on way too strong there.  I didn’t need to shout like that.  That must have been scary for you”.

Somewhere in that process it is likely to be useful for me to be able to understand why I acted in ways that were contrary to my values and against my intentions to be loving, kind, supportive etc to my partner.  My focus will be on myself, my insecurities, my upbringing and training around intimacy, and my present circumstances.

Working out what was going on inside me, why I interpreted my partner’s behaviour the way I did, is important for me to make effective plans for acting differently next time something like this happens.  “What I think happened for me was…”          

When clients offer this kind of in-depth, self-exploratory explanation of why they did something unhelpful it is going to make any assurances they offer about not doing it again much more believable for their partner.  It also is an example of the sort of intimate, vulnerable communication that builds trust and respect. 

So next time you are trying to help a couple resolve a conflict where one person was trying to explain why they behaved the way they did, make sure they focus on taking responsibility and repairing the relationship before they worry about “why”?  Make sure they are not looking for shame-driven excuses but, instead, are able to find a deep and self-aware explanation that will help them change their behaviour and build their partner’s trust and respect.

Once they can do that, talking about the reasons behind their behaviour becomes an explanation, not a justification.   It becomes an opportunity for intimate reflection and connection that helps both of them understand what makes one person “tick”.  It’s also a chance for both of them to show some compassion for what drives that person to be self-protective.  Processing ruptures this way is a vital plank in building a relationship that both people will want to be in.

»»»

Like a business or a garden or a vintage car, relationships need constant maintenance; frequent and consistent attending to. If your clients are not attending to their relationship by investing time and effort in it, they can’t expect it to work well.

Even if your clients are on board with this idea that it’s important to schedule couple time into their busy lives.  That still leaves the issue of HOW they use the time. We often find that couples make an appointment but don’t talk about what the time is FOR. This means that they each arrive at the appointment with very different expectations of what’s going to happen.

To help them plan their couple time, tt can be useful to think about three key categories of communication that couples need to put time into:

1. PRAGMATICS AND LOGISTICS

Coordinating the functioning of the household and family.  Dividing up the tasks that need to be done and making sure you both know who is doing what and when.

2. CLOSENESS

Taking the time to enjoy being in a relationship – relaxing together, doing mutually enjoyable activities, focusing on the positives.  Close time usually means avoiding difficult topics and conflicts, keeping things reasonably superficial and comfortable.  Time spent like this is the pay-off or reward for doing all the work involved in being in a long-term, intimate relationship.  This is usually what people have in mind when they suggest a “date night”.

3.INTIMACY

Having the vulnerable and often difficult conversations and interactions that allow you to connect on a deep level.  Intimate time needs to include dealing with differences (i.e. healthy conflict) as well as talking about aspirations, hopes and dreams, fears, doubts and insecurities.  Not always comfortable, but when done productively makes closeness feel easy and real (when intimacy is avoided, our closeness ends up feeling forced and fragile). Tolerating intimacy of this kind requires people have started moving out of the “symbiosis” (or bonding) stage of relationship and are beginning to engage productively around differences (i.e. “differentiating”)

(Please note we don’t use “intimacy” as a euphemism for sex. For most people, their sexual relationship moves between 1, 2 & 3 at different times, so talking about making time for sex is a different, but also important, conversation)

SO by all means encourage your couples to plan some couple time – but make sure that they are A) covering all bases of what your relationship needs and B) that they are on the same page about what category any given appointment is for.