ABSTRACT
As we experience relationships with signi®cant others, we lay down in our memory networks of relational connections what we refer to as `relationship maps'. The central relationship pattern, called the `core interpersonal schema' (Beitman, 1992: 207), includes a network of beliefs that the person has about self, others and the nature of relationship with its own distinctive affective tone. The basic elements of the core interpersonal schema are two ®gures in relationship to each other. Usually one is dominant and the other submissive (Beitman, 1992: 207). The core interpersonal schema comprises our own unique view of ourselves as people related to our expectations of others. Ryle's discussion of `reciprocal role procedures' in cognitive-analytic therapy picks up on a similar concept of related roles in a person's internal world based in an object relations tradition. Another related concept is the `racket system' in transactional analysis (Erskine and Zalcman, 1979) which focuses on repetitive dysfunctional patterns of interaction that the person compulsively plays out. This concept of the racket system consists of three related and interacting ®elds. The ®rst is the person's internal belief system comprised of ®xed beliefs about the self, others and the quality of life with a related feeling tone. The second is the ®eld of behaviours, the ways in which the ®xed pattern is played out in the world of relationships, often in a repetitive manner. The third is the ®eld of the memories that people `collect' and store and that they `use to prove' the core beliefs. This is a repetitive circular process and when a person is caught in this cycle they will screen out any information that does not support the system.
