Contempt in the Macho Script

• Surprise-Startle, The Macho Script and Nothing by Jim Duffy, 10/12/97
  
  

I'm glad you called this part of the Macho script to our attention. There are a few men in my practice who had confused me during couples sessions because they insisted on shouting at their wives at the top of their lungs whenever they complained. In none of these cases was I a bit effective. In retrospect, this was a macho constellation that presented a pattern of affects as an attitude or approach to life quite similar to the Tomkins-Mosher work, but which confused me because the men were also able to speak in loving, endearing terms when indicated, and to indicate sincere affection at other times. As I put it together today, I suspect that the macho script may be brought into play at varying degrees of power.

I would add, however, that the callous disregard of any situation may be considered a form of contempt, that powerful fusion of dissmell and anger through which we inform another person that they are not worth our attention. To an individual who uses contempt as a major way of dealing with the world, we therapists come across as almost incomprehensible because we tend to treat nearly anything said by a patient as worthy of friendly interest.

All of which goes to show that our study of individual affects leads inexorably to the study of scripts, and as therapists, to careful consideration of methods of script alteration.

• I'm Glad You Mentioned That by Jim Duffy, 10/15/97