VICIOUS RELATIONAL CYCLES: A METHOD FOR ASSESSING COUPLES FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CONTROL MASTERY THEORY

Control Mastery Theory (CMT) is a cognitive-psychodynamic theory of psychological functioning and psychopathology (Weiss, 1993; Gazzillo, 2016). A central tenet of CMT is that human beings are guided by unconscious plans to achieve normal and adaptive goals obstructed by pathogenic beliefs that have their origins in traumatic childhood experiences. Human beings have innate strivings toward adaptation, growth and mastery and, in their important relationships (like with an intimate partner or a therapist), try to overcome their pathogenic beliefs and work to disconfirm them and feel safe. Human beings try to disconfirm their pathogenic beliefs by unconsciously testing them. Couples utilize these tests both in their everyday lives and in therapy (Zeitlin, 1991), and if a partner doesn’t pass the test, the risk is that a relational vicious cycle will come up with the partners feeling bad, afflicted or angry. This work presents a clinical method aimed at assessing the partners and identifying the relational vicious cycles of a couple relationship that often impede them from achieving healthy goals. This assessment procedure consists of: (1) a first couple session aimed to identify the central problem; (2) one/two individual sessions oriented to the Plan Formulation Method; (3) the administration of the Interpersonal Guilt Questionnaire-67 (IGQ-67; O'Connor et al; 1997), the Interpersonal Guilt Rating Scale-15 (IGRS-15; Gazzillo et al., 2017), the Pathogenic/Problematic Beliefs Scale (PBS; Silberschatz, 2016), clinician e self-report versions, and the Shedler Westen Assessment Procedure-200 (SWAP-200; Shedler, Westen, Lingiardi; 2003). At the end of the assessment, the clinician may propose a case-specific treatment.