Abstract
The psychological mechanism of role reversal was examined in the context of a combined social cognition and psychodynamic model. The model postulates that traumatized individuals possess a repertoire of self and relationship schemas, some of which may be used to avoid anxiety associated with others. One mechanism for controlling anxiety is to assume the role of the other and to assign the role of self to others. This paper also presents a method for quantitative analysis of the complex, individual schematic representations presumed to organize role reversal. A traumatized adult male sorted 36 idiographically derived dichotomous descriptors for 13 “selves.” Results from principal components analysis applied at the intraindividual level of inquiry indicate a prototypic interpersonal relationship pattern that is repetitive, thematically relates to an early trauma, and in which roles of self and others are interchanged. In intimate relationships especially, the subject either feels committed and responsible t...
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