Treatment of Unconscious Relational Patterns. Pablo’s case: Involvement and Attunement in Psychotherapy

Abstract

This article describes the psychotherapy process of Unconscious Relational Patterns from a developmentally-based, relationally-focused Integrative Psychotherapy perspective. Pablo’s case illustrates how unconscious relational patterns are formed and how they are expressed in the present. Relational patterns represent a client’s desperate and archaic attempt to self-stabilize and self-regulate to compensate for the pain of his or her life’s story. This article provides an insight into the complexity and uniqueness of unconscious relational patterns, and the genuine interest and deep respect they require. As psychotherapists, it is essential to get involved and offer different and attuned responses to clients’ relational patterns. Establishing a full-contact therapeutic relationship allows clients to make sense and reorganize their experiences, not use their old relational patterns, meet their relational needs, and integrate their experiences into a cohesive sense of self.