Interpersonal Beliefs And Styles

Interpersonal issues and relationship problems form an important part of what clients bring to therapy. Interpersonal difficulties might present as clients’ current concerns, unintended consequences of their coping strategies, as symptoms of another problem, or they may play out directly within the therapeutic relationship. 

Interpersonal issues can be conceptualized effectively using components of Beck’s generic cognitive model (Beck et al,1979). Beliefs about relationships (interpersonal beliefs) scaffold and influence how an individual perceives events involving other people. Interpersonal styles reflect safety behaviors that they use to protect themselves from perceived negative consequences in relationships. Other people react to these interpersonal styles, and the individual appraises these reactions: often in ways which confirm (or fail to disconfirm) the original beliefs. For example, a client who holds the assumption “I must entertain people or they will think I am boring” is likely to perceive social events as a threat. They habitually make jokes and

A good time to use this tool is when the client and therapist have identified difficulties in relationship as a presenting problem. Relevant examples may already have been discussed and at this point the therapist may have already have made a hypothesis about the client’s beliefs about other people, relationships, or about interactions with others. Use the prompts below to help complete the Interpersonal Beliefs and Styles worksheets. 

“People often experience issues repeating across different relationships. I wonder if we could use this tool to explore some of your experiences, and see if we can make sense of them?”

1. Interpersonal beliefs

Interpersonal beliefs are the thoughts, beliefs, and assumptions that we hold about other people, about relationships, and about interactions with others. Clients can find it helpful to understand that beliefs can operate at any level of cognition:

• Beliefs are often absolute statements such as “Other people are cruel”, “Relationships are dangerous”.
• Assumptions are