In Cognitive Analytic Therapy, the next important key idea to Reciprocal Roles (RRs) is procedures. These are the patterns we currently use, that we have personally developed over time, to cope with the impact and influence of our relationships upon us – on our identities, emotions and how we relate ourselves and others. Our past and subsequent relationships can also inform our expectations of others and the world.
To stay with my botanical metaphor from before, these relationship experiences each sprout personally unique, seedling Reciprocal Roles (RRs) or templates in our minds, identities and memories, eventually growing a series of unique plants. These plants are navigation templates for life and connections, based on what we have learned and internalised from past relationships.
If we again consider our lives as gardens, then procedures are the gardening tools and methods we have learned, often inherited throughout childhood and then later adapted as adults, that we use to tend our gardens.
In essence, procedures are the range of ways and patterns we have perfected to survive life, attempting to maintain our fauna. But sometimes our knowledge and tools are no longer effective or relevant, due to new environmental conditions.
This is how we become stuck as horticulturalists and may need help to become more familiar with the most suitable methods and tools to apply to each of the various conditions each area of our gardens.
The weather and climate of our life circumstances create the sunny and shady spots, the moist, dry or waterlogged soil types and the areas that need pruning or weeding.
Without realising, we may be stuck due to unhelpfully applying a blanket or (a) default method/s to deal with each of these vastly different conditions. These could have influenced us and our gardens as the seasons change, past and present.
Exploring the conditions in one or more area in our gardens in therapy and so learning how to adapt our methods and tools more discerningly, may lay a sounder foundation for healthier horticulture. We may even be able to discard or lessen the gardening techniques that harm us and our relationships, in favour of gentler, more compassionate or effective ones.
In CAT, there are several common potential gardening tools and methods that we call ‘procedures’, that have been researched. These commonly fall into several patterns when mapped out on paper:
Snag (A self-negating action in relation to a goal)
Trap (A vicious cycle), or…
Dilemma (A seemingly narrow choice of action or possibility, often linked to a black-and-white or all-or-nothing thinking style).
(See the figure below):
The following sorts of patterns, and the resulting sequence of impacts they have on you, your emotions and relationships (which I have not elaborated on in the following list), will transpire differently for each of us personally, tending to keep us stuck.
They however tend to follow certain themes according to the shape of the patterns above. You may have one or a few limited key procedures, or a wider range. Some may present only according to different circumstances you are in. They can sometimes tend to reinforce negative feelings or, at least, unwittingly perpetuate actions that do. Longstanding patterns such as:-
- People pleasing
- Bottling up anger and resentment, hiding it from others
- Perfectionism, controlling, fantasising or idealising
- Negative thinking, often yes but…
- Criticising myself, feeding low self-esteem
- Rebelling against things I’m told I must or must not do
- Struggling to see the whole picture of me, a situation or someone else due to inexplicably getting into certain, or various interchangeable mindsets, strong emotional states and beliefs
- Cutting off, shutting down, numbing or dissociating in conscious or automatic ways
- Withdrawing from others
- Neglecting myself
- Keeping too busy to think, feel or process
You may see these or similar procedures worded slightly differently on various CAT tools (commonly a questionnaire may be offered of which there are many different versions, called the Psychotherapy File), or described differently by each CAT therapist.
The wording to describe your patterns is not prescriptive when in therapy. It is usually decided together with your therapist. The wording in this article or in the questionnaires is only important insofar as it feels relevant to you to represent the sequences of what happens to you and your experiences.
Making a personal map together with your therapist of these sequences and how your RRs connect to and drive them, is a key part of Cognitive Analytic Therapy, intended as a visual tool to help you see and remember patterns, then apply them to the here and now, rather than trying to hold them all in your head.
How many ways do you recognise you tend your garden? Is there a particular way you tend to get stuck in?
Until next time, happy gardening!
© 2026 Lorraine Welch. All rights reserved
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