Life Scripts and Attachment Patterns:

Theoretical Integration and Therapeutic Involvement

Richard G. Erskine

Abstract logical survival reactions. They are the earliest

Eric Berne originally described life scripts formations of unconscious relational patterns
as being formed from the primal dramas and the internal working models that are, by devel-
implicit protocols of infancy and early child- opmental nature, exclusively physiological and
hood. John Bowlbys attachment theory and affective. Berne (1972) wrote, The first script
the supporting research provide a theoreti- programming takes place during the nursing
cal integration with script theory and sug- period, in the form of short protocols which can
gest the necessity of a developmental focus in later be worked into complicated dramas (p. 83).
psychotherapy. Secure, anxious/ambivalent, Although Cornell and Landaiche (2006) have
avoidant, disorganized, and isolated attach- drawn attention to the clinical significance of
ment patterns are described in relation to the script protocol and the psychotherapeutic
life scripts and their implications for psycho- necessity for thinking and working develop-
therapy. mentally, the transactional analysis literature
______ has not sufficiently focused on the central role
of the primal dramas that compose the script
Life scripts are unconscious systems of psy- protocol the parental misattunements and
chological organization and self-regulation de- cumulative neglects of subsymbolic/preverbal
veloped as a result of the cumulative failures in infancy and presymbolic early childhood. Ra-
significant, dependent relationships. Scripts are ther, the literature has emphasized how scripts
unconsciously formed by infants, young chil- are formed from parental messages, explicit de-
dren, and even adolescents and adults as a crea- cisions, and significant stories during the kin-
tive strategy for coping with disruptions in rela- dergarten and elementary school years, at an
tionships that repeatedly fail to satisfy crucial age when the child has the capacity for symbol-
developmental and relational needs. The un- ic mentalization (Berne, 1972; English, 1972;
conscious organizing patterns that compose a Goulding & Goulding, 1979; Steiner, 1971;
life script are often first established in infancy Stuntz, 1972; W oollams, 1973).
as subsymbolic internal relational models based This emphasis in the transactional analysis
on the quality of the infant/caretaker relation- literature on script formation occurring be-
ship. These early models are then reinforced tween 4 years old and adolescence may, in part,
and elaborated during a number of develop- be due to Bernes (1972) statement, published
mental ages. The results are the unconscious posthumously, in which he referred to script as
relational patterns that constitute a life script. a life plan based on decisions made in child-
Eric Berne (1961) originally described a script hood, reinforced by parents, justified by subse-
as an extensive unconscious life plan (p. 123) quent events and culminating in a chosen alter-
that reflects the primal dramas of childhood native (p. 446). In this comment Berne im-
(p. 116). This life plan is formed from the plied that scripts are conscious decisions that
script protocol and palimpsests, the prever- occur once the child has reached an age of lan-
bal, subsymbolic, and presymbolic procedural guage development, when symbolic reasoning,
memories that form the unconscious relational concrete operations of cause and effect, and
patterns and implicit experiential conclusions awareness of alternative choices is possible
that are the core of life scripts (Bucci, 2001; (Bucci, 2001; Piaget, 1954).
Erskine, 2008). The protocol and palimpsests The emphasis in the transactional analysis
are the preverbal, affectively charged physio- literature on scripts being formed in middle

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RICHARD G. ERSKINE

childhood may also be due in part to the fact Life scripts involve a complex network of
that, by this developmental stage, symbolic and neural pathways formed as thoughts, affects,
explicit memory is possible, thereby making biochemical and physiological reactions, fan-
the memory of many script decisions, parental tasy, relational patterns, and the important pro-
messages, and childhood struggles to adapt to cess of homeostatic self-regulation of the or-
family, peer, and school demands available to ganism. Scripts formed from physiological sur-
consciousness. Additionally, script decisions, vival reactions, implicit experiential conclu-
parental messages, and behavioral patterns that sions, relational failures, prolonged misattune-
are symbolic, conscious, and available to lan- ments and neglects, as well as chronic shock
guage are more amenable to cognitive explana- and acute trauma, all require a developmentally
tion, behavior modification, and brief redeci- focused psychotherapy wherein the therapeutic
sional methods of psychotherapy. relationship is central and is evident through
The clinical transactional analysis literature the respect, reliability, and the dependability of
has often neglected to emphasize the signifi- a caringly involved, skilled, real person (Ers-
cance of infancy and early childhood subsym- kine, 1993).
bolic, preverbal, physiological survival reac-
tions and implicit experiential conclusions that Overview of the Literature
form unconscious procedural maps or internal Fritz Perls described self-confirming, repeti-
working models of self-in-relationship (Ers- tive conclusions and patterns as a life script
kine, 2007). The recent literature on neurosci- (Perls, 1944; Perls & Baumgardner, 1975)
ence, child development, and early child/parent composed of both an early scene and a re-
attachment research has been a siren call reem- sulting life plan (Perls, Hefferline, & Good-
phasizing the importance of psychotherapists man, 1951, pp. 305-306). Alfred Adler referred
focusing the therapeutic relationship on the cli- to these recurring childhood patterns as life
ents early childhood preverbal relational ex- style (Ansbacher & Ansbacher, 1956), while
periences (Beebe, 2005; Cozolino, 2006; Dama- Sigmund Freud (1923/1961) used the term re-
sio, 1999; Hesse, 1999; LeDoux; 1994; Schore, petition compulsion to describe similar phe-
2002; Siegel, 1999; Weinberg & Tronick, 1998). nomena. Contemporary psychoanalytic authors
The infants and young childs physiological are referring to a similar phenomena when they
survival reactions and affective/procedural ex- write about the life-shaping influence of devel-
periences the life script protocol and palimp- opmentally formed unconscious relational pat-
sests that compose the primal dramas of terns, although they do not use the terms
childhoodform subsymbolic internal working script or life script (Arlow, 1969; Basch,
models of self-regulation and relational inter- 1988; Slap, 1987; Stolorow & Atwood, 1989).
action (Bowlby, 1973). Later in life, these un- The general psychology literature has de-
conscious subsymbolic memories of physio- scribed such unconscious relational systems as
logical reactions, affect, and procedural experi- cognitive structures that represent an individu-
ences are expressed through physiological dis- als organization of the world into a unified
comforts, escalations or minimizations of af- system of beliefs, concepts, attitudes, and ex-
fect, implicit knowing, and the transferences of pectations (Lewin, 1951) that reflect some as-
everyday life. These unconscious relational pat- pect of unconscious relational patterns or life
terns influence the reactions and expectations scripts (Andrews, 1988, 1989; Beitman, 1992;
that define for us the kind of world we live in, Kelly, 1955; Thelen & Smith, 1994).
the people we are, and the quality of interper- The transactional analysis literature on scripts
sonal relationships we will have with others. began with Berne (1961) describing the signifi-
Encoded physically in body tissues and bio- cance of the infants primal or protocol experi-
chemical events, affectively as subcortical brain ence with caretakers as the earliest version of
stimulation, and cognitively in the form of be- the script (Berne, 1972, p. 447), the original
liefs, attitudes, and values, these responses form a dramatic experiences upon which the script is
blueprint that guides the way we live our lives. based (p. 446). He devoted only a few pages

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 LIFE SCRIPTS AND ATTACHMENT PATTERNS

to this important topic, leaving it to other trans- Although Berne and other transactional analysis
actional analysts to research, refine, and ex- authors described various ways in which a life
pand the concepts and develop the clinical acu- script may be formed, they did not provide a
men for effective life script psychotherapy. comprehensive definition. It was in a 1980 arti-
Steiner (1971) illustrated one aspect of the cle entitled Script Cure: Behavioral, Intra-
theory of scripts with his ego state matrix, psychic, and Physiological that I provided the
which diagrammed parental influence. He put first operational definition. I defined script as a
particular emphasis on the coercive power of life plan based on decisions made at any
the parents overt and ulterior messages to leth- developmental stage that inhibit spontanei-
ally shape a childs life. Robert and Mary ty and limit flexibility in problem solving
Goulding (1978) described another aspect of and in relating to people. Such script de-
the theory with a list of injunctions that formed cisions are usually made when the person
the basis of a child making script decisions. is under pressure and awareness of alterna-
Their examples of script decisions are instances tive choice is limited. The script decisions
of explicit memories wherein an actual scene emerge later in life as constricting script
from childhood is consciously remembered, a beliefs about self, others, and the quality
corresponding parental injunction is identified, of life. These script beliefs, along with the
and the childs decision to comply with the feelings repressed when the person was
injunction is articulated. under pressure, are manifested in internal
In his last writing, Berne (1972) emphasized and external behavior and, together with
three antecedents of a life script: parental pro- selected memories, form a closed system
gramming, the childs decision, and the influ- of experiencing ones life. This closed sys-
ence of stories. He described how children, tem is the script. (Erskine, 1980, p. 102)
particularly within the magic years of 4 and This definition, like the descriptions of other
7, will use fairytales and mythology as the in- transactional analysis authors, gives the impres-
spiration on which to model their lives (Frei- sion that script is formed from conscious deci-
berg, 1959). Such childhood stories are often a sions, as if the child was aware of making a
culmination and elaboration of parental mes- choice. If the term decisions refers to explicit
sages, earlier childhood experiences, and life- experience and conscious choice, then the
determining decisions. They serve to provide a script-forming effects of the subsymbolic and
sense of meaning and definition about self, implicit primal dramas of childhood, the proto-
others, and the quality of life. In his 1972 book, col and palimpsest, are not part of an explicit
written for popular rather than professional decision because they occur prior to symbolic
reading, Berne did not emphasize his view that reasoning. If, however, we use a broader defini-
the origin of life scripts was in the primal dra- tion of decisions to include the subsymbolic,
mas, protocol, and palimpsests of very early prelinguistic, and bodily reactions of infancy
childhood; rather, he provided only a partial and early childhood that are not available to
definition of script: A script is an ongoing symbolic mentalization, then the term deci-
program, developed in early childhood under sion may include these early implicit and pre-
parental influence, which directs the individu- symbolic self-regulating life experiences that
als behavior in the most important aspects of are composed of undifferentiated affects, phy-
his life (p. 418). siological reactions, and relational patterns.
It was Cornell (1988) who emphasized the Recently I elaborated on this earlier defini-
significance of the script protocol in infancy tion and provided a comprehensive definition
the physiological survival reactions and tissue of scripts that includes the profound influences
level of life scripts. Cornells article raised the of infancy and early childhood. Life Scripts
consciousness of transactional analysts to again are a complex set of unconscious relational pat-
think developmentally and to focus our psycho- terns based on physiological survival reactions,
therapy on the fundamental importance of the implicit experiential conclusions, explicit deci-
earliest relationships in life. sions, and/or self-regulating introjections, made

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RICHARD G. ERSKINE

under stress, at any developmental age, that in- involves some combination of analysis, inter-
hibit spontaneity and limit flexibility in problem- pretation, explanation, interpersonal related-
solving, health maintenance and in relationship ness, and/or behavioral change. It is my opin-
with people (Erskine, 2007, p. 1). The physio- ion that to do a thorough life script cure, it is
logical survival reactions and implicit experi- necessary to provide a developmentally fo-
ential conclusions that I describe are the childs cused relational psychotherapy that integrates
subsymbolic and presymbolic attempts to man- affective, behavioral, cognitive, and physio-
age the misattunements, cumulative neglects, logical dimensions of psychotherapy while pay-
traumas, and family dramas of infancy and pre- ing particular attention to the clients uncon-
conceptual early childhood. scious communication of subsymbolic and pre-
Bowlby (1969, 1973, 1980) also wrote about symbolic relational experiences that are re-
unconscious relational patterns and described vealed through their style of self-regulation,
the biological imperative of prolonged physical core beliefs, metaphors, avoidances, stories and
and affective bonding in the creation of a vis- narrative style, and transferences both with the
ceral core from which all experiences of self psychotherapist and in everyday life. It is the
and others emerge. He referred to these pat- therapists task to decode the clients infant and
terns as internal working models that are early childhood physiological and affective
generalized from experiences in infancy and experiences and to facilitate the clients becom-
early childhood. Bowlby proposed that healthy ing conscious of implicit relational patterns.
development emerged from the mutuality of
both a childs and a caretakers reciprocal en- Attachment Patterns
joyment in their physical connection and affec- The literature on psychological attachment is
tive relationship. His research collaborators relevant to understanding life scripts in that it
(Ainsworth, Behar, W aters, & W all, 1978) provides an alternative perspective on how ear-
found that the mothers of secure infants were ly childhood patterns of coping with relation-
attuned to the affect and rhythms of their ba- ships may be active years later in adult life
bies, sensitive to misattunements, and quick to (Hesse, 1999). Each persons internal working
correct their errors in attunement. It is these model of attachment (i.e., script pattern) is re-
qualities of reparation, interpersonal contact, vealed in his or her characteristic patterns of
and communication of affect that are of utmost behavior and transactions with others, core be-
importance in forming secure relationships, a liefs, fantasies, and personal narrative about his
sense of mastery, and resilience in later life. or her life. Bowlby (1973) described how a
Bowlby went on to describe insecure attach- childs internal working model provides a
ments as the psychological result of disruptions sense of how acceptable or unacceptable he
in bonding within dependent relationships. His himself is in the eyes of attachment figures (p.
ideas influenced a number of researchers and 203). These internal working models determine
developmentally focused writers who further anticipation, emotional and behavioral respon-
identified specific patterns of insecure attach- ses to others, the nature of fantasy, and the
ment that were the result of repeated disrup- quality of interpersonal transactions. They are
tions in dependent relationships. They refer to subtly evident in conversations and narrative,
these insecure patterns as ambivalent, avoidant, often as either prefix or suffix to a story or as a
disorganized, or isolated attachment styles parenthetical phrase such as, You wont be-
(Ainsworth et al., 1978; Doctors, 2007; Main, lieve me but . . . or Theres no use trying . . .
1995; OReilly-Knapp, 2001). Bowlbys theory or W hat can you expect from people?
provides an understanding of how an infants Fear-induced physiological survival reac-
or young childs physiological survival reac- tions, prolonged neglect of relational needs, cu-
tions and implicit experiential conclusions may mulative trauma, and unconscious conclusions
form internal working models, the antecedents are all recorded in the brainstem as procedural
of an unconscious life script. memories of self-in-relationship (Damasio, 1999).
Each author just cited suggests a therapy that Attachment patternswhat Bowlby (1973) re-

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 LIFE SCRIPTS AND ATTACHMENT PATTERNS

ferred to as internal working models provide ambivalence or attachment avoidance both de-
a reflection of the script protocol, the procedur- velop in response to infant and childhood care-
al memories that form the core of a life script: takers who are unavailable or insensitive. Chil-
Internal working models organize the childs dren who develop anxious ambivalent attach-
cognitions, affects and expectations about at- ment patterns usually have parents who were
tachment relationships (Howell, 2005, p. 150). unpredictably responsive, whereas those with
These internal working models emerge from a avoidant attachment patterns had parents who
composite of implicit experiential conclusions, were predictably unresponsive (Main, 1995).
affective reactions, and unconscious procedures Other authors indicate that avoidant attachment
of relationship in response to repetitive interac- results when a child (and perhaps even an ado-
tions between child and caretaker(s). They are lescent or an adult) perceives the primary at-
an adaptation and accommodation to the rela- tachment figure(s) as rejecting and punitive
tional styles of significant others to ensure that (Cozolino, 2006; W allin, 2007). In each of
a semblance of needs is met. Attachment pat- these situations, it is the quality of the early
terns are composed of unconscious subsymbol- childhood relationships that affects the persons
ic procedural forms of memory based on early capacity to reflect on lifes experiences and to
self-protective physiological and affective reac- put such emotional experiences into a coherent
tions (Bowlby, 1988). narrative.
Secure attachment patterns provide affect Anxiously ambivalent attached individuals
regulation, reduce anxiety, and enhance feel- express intense affect and distress in a hyper-
ings of well-being. They develop when care- vigilant and/or preoccupied manner. They tend
takers are consistently attuned, available, and to form dependent and clingy relationships and
responsive to the young child (Doctors, 2007). make unreasonable emotional demands for se-
Security is developed in the youngster through curity, reassurance, and nurturance (Bartholo-
the caretakers ongoing availability and emo- mew & Horowitz, 1991) while also being either
tional responsiveness, consistency, and depen- passive or overwhelmed in intimate relation-
dability, where such caretakers are experienced ships. If, in early development, significant oth-
as stronger and/or wiser (Bowlby, 1988, p. ers are experienced as inconsistent or unpredic-
12). Securely attached children and adults deal tably responsive, an excessive focus on cling-
with emotional disruption and distress by ex- ing dependency and physical attachment may
pressing and/or acknowledging it as it is emerg- ensue. Their relationships may become over-
ing and then reaching out for comfort (Mikulin- valued, and the person may be overadapted to
cer, Florian, & Tolmatz, 1990). Securely at- others as a result of an anxious ambivalent
tached children develop the ability to self- attachment pattern (M ain, 1990). The life
reflect, to remember their personal history, and scripts of such individuals involve an uncon-
to comment on their own process of thinking scious escalating and/or minimizing of both
(Main, Kaplan, & Cassidy, 1985). Fonagy and awareness and expression of relational needs
his colleagues (1996) report that securely at- and feelings of attachment (Main, 1995).
tached children make spontaneous, self-reflec- Hesses (1999) research revealed that adults
tive comments and have complex and coherent with ambivalent attachment patterns may alter-
narratives. They can judge their impact on oth- nate between affective expressions of confused/
ers and evaluate their own behavior. passive and fearful/overwhelmed narratives
In summarizing their research on attachment about the course of their lives. They use psy-
patterns, Ainsworth and her colleagues (1978) chological jargon, vague phrases, or irrelevan-
concluded that the young childs security or cies to describe their life experiences. Hysteric
lack thereof is generally determined by the or histrionic relational patterns reflect an am-
quality of emotional, physical, and nonverbal bivalent attachment style (Schore, 2002). In my
communication in primary dependent relation- clinical practice, I have found that clients with
ships. Tasca, B alfour, Ritchie, and Bissada a life script based on ambivalent attachment
(2007) report that patterns of insecure anxious patterns are highly adaptive within important

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RICHARD G. ERSKINE

relationships, such as in a marriage or a close tionships (Horowitz, Rosenberg, & Bartholo-

friendship. They often feel unhappy with the mew, 1993).
other persons lack of emotional acknowledg- Schore (2002) has suggested that avoidant
ment and care, yet they remain uncomfortably attachment styles are evident in the quality of
dependent in the relationship, always attached interpersonal contact made by people who en-
to the others misattunements yet unable to gage in either obsession or narcissistic self-
separate. Perhaps rather than thinking of such enhancement. People who obsess are deeply
individuals as ambivalent, it would be useful lonely because of their avoidant attachment pat-
to think of them as desperate for connection terns. They fill the relationship void with habit-
and anxious about loss. They have an implicit ual worry and repetitive fantasizing. Those who
fear of abandonment. are narcissistically self-aggrandizing or self-
Individuals with avoidant attachment patterns depreciating are also deeply lonely as a result
express their distress by dismissing or under- of their avoidant attachment patterns, but they
valuing the importance of relationships, either distract themselves temporarily through their
inhibiting or exaggerating emotional expression self-focus and their demands for attention. In
and avoiding intimacy (Kobak & Sceery, 1988; my own psychotherapy practice I have found
Main, 1990). They may be disdainful of vulner- that clients who operate primarily from an
ability and tender expressions of affection and/ avoidant attachment pattern disavow their af-
or prone to anger. Mains (1995) research indi- fect and are usually desensitized from their
cates that mothers of infants with an avoidant bodily sensations. They may focus on how their
attachment style were emotionally unavailable; body looks from the outside, but they lack a
they tended to withdraw when the child was sad sense of feeling internal sensations and internal
and were uncomfortable with physical touch. physiological communication. Effective psy-
As an adaptive survival reaction to the care- chotherapy usually involves helping them to
takers predictable unresponsiveness to the in- identify and own their body sensations and re-
fants affects and relational needs, the child lated affect. They have an implicit fear of vul-
learned to inhibit his or her communication of nerability.
emotions, needs, and internal experiences. As Disorganized attachment patterns reveal the
a result, people with a history of avoidant at- profound psychological disorientation caused
tachment patterns unconsciously create a life by unresolved trauma and significant loss of
script wherein they anticipate rejection. They reparative relational contact. In response to a
form strategies of interpersonal relatedness in sense of relational disruption, young children
which they do not express, or may not even be will engage in the self-protective behaviors of
conscious of, their attachment-related feelings freezing, flailing, turning away, and transposing
and needs. affect (Fraiberg, 1982). With repeated use, these
Hesses (1999) Adult Attachment Interview self-protective maneuvers may become fixated
reveals that avoidant patterns of attachment in and form, in part, specific attachment patterns
adults (and therefore a possible indication of a that contribute to the disorganization of the sense
troubling life script) are evident in adults con- of self. Disorganized attachment patterns emerge
tradictory statements about their childhood ex- when caretakers are experienced as the only
periences and the quality of contact with their source of needs satisfaction and simultaneously
parents or in other significant relationships. as a source of danger. Children with disorgan-
They engage in denial and disavowal of nega- ized attachment pattern perceive their caretak-
tive relational experiences, and they lack mem- ers as predictably neglectful and/or punishing.
ory about dependent relational interactions. Infant disorganization is the result not only
They diminish the significance of punishment of profound psychological disruptions with par-
and rejection in their lives and insist on the im- ents whose anger or abuse is frightening, but
portance of self-reliance. In adulthood, they also with parents who are themselves frigh-
may express this avoidant attachment style by tened. Disorganized relational patterns are
being dominant or cold in interpersonal rela- thought also to arise and become fixated in

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response to repeated physical or sexual abuse Our therapeutic task is to provide a quality of
or to caretakers who are themselves dissociated professional involvement that gives such clients
or having psychotic episodes (Bloom, 1997). a sense of safety, stability, and dependability in
W hen infants or young children are in the mid- relationship. Such consistency often helps the
dle of ongoing violent arguments within a fami- emotionally disorganized client to know the
ly, they become emotionally confused and their story that is being conveyed by the pain, ten-
loyalties are torn; their affects and relational sion, or restlessness. Disorganized attachment
attachments may become disorganized. In my patterns can change as a result of an ongoing
clinical experience I have found that clients attuned and reliably involved therapeutic rela-
with disorganized insecure attachment patterns tionship (Cozolino, 2006).
may dissociate when under stress and may frag- Isolated attachment results from a series of
ment into alter ego states or personalities. Each experiences wherein the caretakers are experi-
ego state or personality may express one of the enced as repeatedly neglectful, untrustworthy,
other insecure attachment patterns, such as am- and/or invasive (OReilly-Knapp, 2001). The
bivalent, avoidant, or isolated (Doctors, 2007). childs natural dependency on parents is met
W ith many borderline individuals, their emo- with an accumulation of rhythmic misattune-
tionally confused narratives about their early ments and, alternately, invasive and/or neglect-
relational experiences reflect a history of dis- ful caretaking. To be vulnerable is sensed as
organized attachment (Schore, 2002). In my dangerous. The child may then develop pat-
experience, an empathetic way to understand terns of relationship marked by a social faade,
borderline clients is to think of them as very psychological withdrawal, intense internal criti-
young children suffering from an early relation- cism, and the absence of emotional expression
al and emotional confusion that is profoundly (Erskine, 2001). An isolated attachment style is
disorganizing. They lack the capacity to find revealed in the quality of interpersonal contact
consistent affect regulation, comfort, stabiliza- made by individuals who use schizoid with-
tion, or enhancement in intimate relationships. drawal to manage relationships. In my thera-
They require psychotherapy that provides a peutic practice I have found that clients who
calming regulation of affect and consistency in use emotional withdrawal to manage relation-
relationship. ships report that significant caretakers were
Some writers have demonstrated that disor- consistently misattuned to their physiological
ganized attachment is a crucial factor in the de- rhythms, misinterpreted their emotional expres-
velopment of dissociation in children and adults sions, and were controlling or invasive of the
(Blizard, 2003; Liotti, 1999; Lyons-Ruth, Du- clients sense of identity. In some cases, their
tra, Schuder, & Bianchi, 2006; Muller, Sicoli, caretakers were themselves withdrawn and emo-
& Lemieux, 2000). Some clients with disorgan- tionally unavailable. Clients with an isolated
ized attachment patterns, when not using disso- attachment pattern have an implicit fear of
ciation as a self-regulating process, seem over- invasion.
whelmed by painful bodily reactions. This is General Considerations. Children may de-
particularly evident in my clients who have ex- velop more than one attachment pattern. In re-
perienced physical and sexual trauma. Their lationship with mothers, specific patterns of
emotional memories are conveyed by pain, attachment may be formed that are uniquely
physical tension, and intense restlessness. When different from patterns formed through interac-
these physiological memories are too intense, tions with fathers. If another dependent rela-
such clients may either desensitize their body tionship is available to a child (such as a grand-
or dissociate entirely as a way to escape the parent, aunt or uncle, older sibling, or nanny),
emotional and body memories. Putnam (1992) alternative patterns of self-in-relationship may
describes such dissociation as the escape when emerge and be significant in establishing and
there is no escape (p. 104). Clients with dis- maintaining relationships throughout life. For
organized attachment have a physiologically in- example, individuals may have one relationship
tense, implicit fear of violation. pattern with women and a distinctly different

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RICHARD G. ERSKINE

one with men. Or, a person may have one pat- therapy and daily life, and the physiological
tern with those who are the in the same age and affective response engendered in the psy-
range and a remarkably different pattern with chotherapist.
someone who is much older. More than one An attachment disorder refers to the con-
relational or attachment pattern may be en- tinual reliance on early childhood internal work-
coded in a clients stories or fantasies about ing models of relationship and archaic methods
family members, friends, or coworkers. These of coping with relational disruptions. An indi-
multiple patterns may also be enacted or engen- viduals archaic form of self-regulation and
dered in the therapeutic relationship. coping is pervasive in nearly every relationship
Throughout this article I have been using the with people and in nearly every aspect of the
generalizing term attachment patterns. In persons life. Clients with an attachment dis-
both my clinical practice and in my teaching of order will often dramatically enact some ele-
psychotherapy, I make a distinction between at- ment of their life script in their first and subse-
tachment style, attachment patterns, and attach- quent sessions. Evidence of the severity of the
ment disorder. I relate these three categories to script may be embedded in their presenting
the extent, pervasiveness, and quality of rela- problem, embodied in their physical gestures,
tional encounters inherent in a clients life script. and engendered in a strong physical and emo-
I think of these three categories on a continuum tional reaction from the psychotherapist.
from a mild to a moderate to a severe expres-
sion of an early childhood-influenced life script. Therapeutic Involvement
Attachment style refers to a general way in Each of the four insecure attachment patterns
which an insecure attachment from early child- ambivalent, avoidant, disorganized, and
hood may affect the clients way of being in the isolatedresults in an accumulation of emo-
world. A style is not particularly problematic tional experiences and the creation of script be-
to the individual or to others except when that liefs about self and others and the quality of life
individual is under extreme stress and may re- that serve to shape ensuing perceptions and af-
vert to childlike patterns of self-regulation. Cli- fect about relationships. Siegel (1999) suggests
ents will reveal this level of their life script in that a childs attachment relationship to some-
their descriptions of how they managed a crisis one other than the parentssuch as a grandpar-
or a family reunion, through dreams or an en- ent, aunt, older sibling, teacher, or adult friend
visioned future, and through subtle transferen- provides an alternative attachment pattern to
tial enactments. ones that may develop with parents who are
Attachment pattern refers to a more prob- frightening, neglecting, depressed, abusive, or
lematic level of functioning on a day-by-day invasive. An affectively and rhythmically at-
basis in relationships with others. An individu- tuned psychotherapist provides the person with
als repetitive attachment pattern is often more that other who is sensitive, respectful, valida-
uncomfortable to family members and close ting, consistent, and dependable. The psycho-
associates than to the individual, who often therapists attunement provides the client with
sees his or her own behavior as natural and the security of affect-regulating transactions
ordinary. As tiredness or stress increases, these (Erskine, Moursund, & Trautmann, 1999).
individuals are likely to revert to archaic pat- Such affect regulation is then within a sensitive,
terns of clinging, avoidance, disorganization, or caring relationship rather than in the clients
isolation. W hen the internal stress becomes too archaic attempts at self-regulation through cling-
great, they will seek psychotherapy in the hope ing and overadaptation, physical and emotional
of finding relief from the symptoms of depres- distancing, emotional confusion and fragmenta-
sion, anxiety, relational conflicts and failures, tion, or social faade and emotional withdraw-
low self-esteem, and physiological tensions. al. Insecure attachment patterns can become se-
Attachment patterns become evident early in cure through a caring therapeutic relationship.
psychotherapy through the clients encoded While practicing psychotherapy, I often work
stories, overt transferences enacted in both through therapeutic inference, a decoding of

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 LIFE SCRIPTS AND ATTACHMENT PATTERNS

the minute and subtle client/therapist transfer- countertransference relationship provides a win-
ential affects and enactments, interruptions to dow of opportunity to view the family interac-
contact, and body sensations and movements as tions that may constitute the primal dramas
well as the clients reported stories that reflect and early emotional experiences of the clients
his or her transferences with other people. A life script. There are several ways in which the
sensitive phenomenological and historical in- primal protocol is unconsciously expressed
quiry often reveals an outline of the clients while involving intimate others, including the
early relational experiences. Examples of such psychotherapist. I am continually curious as to
an inquiry include: W hat was your experience what the clients unconscious early childhood
when your mother or father tucked you in bed story is.
at night? Imagine what it was like for you to 1. Enacted in the clients behavior: W hat
be spoon fed by your mother; W hat was the primal dramas of early childhood such
quality of care your received when you where as emotional abandonment, neglect, abuse,
sick or injured? W hat kind of greeting did ridicule, fear, rage, or despair are pos-
you receive when you returned home from sibly being lived out in the clients be-
school? Although this inquiry may not evoke havior and transactions with the therapist
explicit memories, almost every client has an and/or other people?
emotional reaction that reveals procedural 2. Entrenched in the clients affect: W hat
memories and provides some indication of the deprivation of attunement is expressed in
quality of his or her early relational experi- the clients escalation or immunization of
ences. The response to each inquiry may lead emotions?
to further inquiry into the quality of the current 3. Embodied in the clients physiology:
relationship between the therapist and client W hat is the client experiencing within his
and then return to further inquiry into the cli- or her body? W hat is the clients body
ents early physiological survival reactions and revealing about his or her relational his-
implicit procedural ways of relating. tory?
Unconscious relational patterns may be 4. Encoded in the clients stories and meta-
sensed by the client as physiological ten- phors: W hat relational experiences are
sions, confusing affects, longings, and repul- being revealed through the content and
sions. The unconscious memories of previous style of the clients narrative?
relationships may shape a persons interpreta- 5. Envisioned in the clients fantasies,
tion of current events, orient or distract from hopes, and dreams: W hat developmental
what is occurring now, and form either antici- and relational needs were unrequited and
pations or inhibitions of future events. The sub- may require therapeutic responsiveness
symbolic procedural memories that form attach- and/or validation?
ment patterns may be revealed either through 6. Embedded in the clients internal and ex-
exaggerations or minimizations of affect, in ternal interruptions to contact: At what
stories or metaphors, in fantasy and dreams, developmental stage would this interrup-
and/or in emotional responses in others. Each tion to contact be a normal way to man-
of these aspects of the transference/counter- age the cumulative failures in significant,
transference dyad is an unconscious unfolding dependent relationships?
of two intersubjective life stories and a window 7. Engendered in anothers emotional re-
of opportunity into both the clients and the sponse: W hat physiological and affective
psychotherapists unconscious experiences. responses, concordant or complementary,
In an attempt to understand the script dynam- are stimulated within me or other people
ics that are preverbal, subsymbolic, and impli- in this clients life?
cit, I attend to the various ways the infantile Attachment patterns the protocol and pa-
and early childhood dramas or script protocols limpsest of a life script are not conscious in
are lived in current relationships. Each of the that they are not transposed to thought, con-
questions that follow here about the transference/ cept, social language, or narrative and therefore

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RICHARD G. ERSKINE

remain as unformulated experiences. It is our the writings of 14 transactional analysts on

task as psychotherapists to attune to the clients script theory and therapeutic methods (pub-
affects, rhythms, developmental levels of func- lished in 2010 by Karnac Books). He may be
tioning, and relational needs while attending to reached by e-mail at [email protected]
the clients narrative. The clients narrative or by phone at 212.734.5291.
provides the basis for further inquiry about his
or her phenomenological experiences. As psy- REFERENCES
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