I am starting to appreciate a new term (for me) “organizing principle” that Shapiro (1995) uses in his book Talking With Patients: A Self Psychological View. I believe it is closely related to, but not quite the same as mantra, schema, pattern, and script … all words used to describe how we understand our experience and then use that understanding to guide future action.

One of my clients used the word mantra and I liked the way it worked. I understand mantra as a personal statement of purpose to be carried out, possibly at any cost. I can imagine a client, or me, saying a mantra to our self repeatedly, an injunction to act or defend. For example, the mantra “I must be right” would say work hard to correctly interpreted reality. The Mantra, “I must be right” could also lead to isolation so that “nobody can find me wrong.” It could lead to major disputes and defensiveness if a partner disagreed with our opinions, decisions, direction, etc. So a particular mantra would need to be evaluated based on how well it works. Understanding and working with a mantra in that way could be therapeutic.

If schema is the term, then the image comes to mind of a map or of an assembly diagram. A schema would display the parts and tell us how to assemble them into the whole. With our personal interactions it would take one incident, event, or interaction and tell us how to assemble that into the rest of our world. While mantra is a personal instruction for action or reaction, schema seems to be more of an interpretive filter. My schema determines how I “see” the individual components of my interactions. My partner takes an opposing view, I must be right… therefore, she must be wrong, my schema says so. I can see a lot of arguments coming from a schema that says anything coming out of my mouth is right.

Pattern for me is similar to schema but with the connotation of observation over time. As a therapist I look for patterns. In particular when using a brief-dynamic approach, I am looking for “cyclical maladaptive patterns.” If someone “must be right”, do I see that in the current response. Is there a connection between the current discussion, argument, incident, and the pattern of always having to be right? If that patter is recurring, gets in the way, and otherwise does not work, then it is a cyclical-maladaptive-pattern.

I have also used the term script when trying to help a client understand why they do what they do. If a person has a script, forgetting for the moment where that script came from, then the person knows what to do when a certain situation arises. A fireman script might be: When the alarm rings get to the fire as quickly as possible. When the “I must be right script” is activated, the responses are similar to those I described with mantra and schema. The difference is that the script is more of an activating device. If I am in a one-act-play, when the signal is given I carry out my script. When my turn to speak comes, I say something that indicates I am right. This might be highly annoying for everyone around me, but then, this play has only one act.

Going back to Shapiro and organizing principle, it seems that the term gets to the root of how we experience life and then use our experience to guide our future actions. As I understand the term, we gain experience and then make sense out of that experience by developing a principle. For example, when I was wrong, or even unsure, I received criticism or was ignored. Perhaps my parent, because of their own issues, did not respond well to my need to explore and try different options, even if what I tried didn’t work at first. In my confusion, I sought reassurance from my parent, but there was anxiety in the face of my confusion. To please my parent I put on a face of “knowing” even when I was confused, and they were please that I did not need help. My organizing-principle then is that by “being right” I will be acceptable and feel accepted. I will then use the principle continuously as a way to being valued. I will “always be right” since that is the only way I can be accepted. I will be puzzled when people react negatively to me for being right, given that my parent insisted I be right. The self sealing component is that my principle must be right as well, it is the only one my parent would accept.

There are subtle differences between mantra, schema, pattern, script and organizing-principle. Maybe they are all describing the sides of a multi-sided truth. In any case, I intend to add “organizing-principle” to my understanding and see where it takes me.