Schema Therapy is based on theories of Attachment, INSERT others….CH
In Schema Therapy*, we assume that everyone is born with a set of ‘non-negotiable’ emotional needs (needs, which if not met, will lead us to feel distressed). These emotional needs include:
· Attachment and safety (the need to have safety, stability and security in our environment and close relationships, and to receive attention, love, and acceptance from others)
· Independence, competence, identity (the need to know who we are and what we are good at)
· Freedom of expression (the need to share our important needs and feelings)
· Realistic boundaries (the need to know what our limits are, and to be able to tolerate reasonable boundaries)
· Spontaneity, playfulness (the need to have fun and live in the moment)
During childhood, if these core emotional needs are not met, a child will feel distressed. Ideally, the main carers in a child’s life will respond to a child’s distress by helping the child meet their emotional needs and by soothing the child’s distress. However, if a child’s emotional needs are not met and their distress is not soothed, problematic patterns of thinking, feeling, and behaving are likely to emerge. In Schema Therapy, we think about these problematic patterns in terms of Schemas and Modes.
INSERT example here
zz(for example, if a child is unsafe, they will fear fearful).
(fear)
(protect the child from danger, help them overcome fear-inducing situations)
(e.g., comfort and reassure them).
(the child is not protected from a bully at school)
(the child’s fear is ignored, no one is there to protect the child, or, the child is punished for feeling fear ‘you’re a cry-baby’),
(Why did no-one protect me? Why am I in trouble for feeling scared?).
(If no one protected me, I must not be important, or I should be able to cope on my own. If I got in trouble for feeling scared, then there must be something wrong with me for feeling this way, I must be weak).
In the example included here, a client might develop an Abandonment Schema (no-one will be there for me when I need them, they feel lonely and scared), or a Defectiveness Schema (I must not be important, they then feel ashamed), or a Mistrust-Abuse Schema (people will always hurt me or put me down).
What is a Schema and how does it develop?
If a child is exposed to an adverse (difficult) or traumatic (highly distressing) event and their emotional needs are not met, they naturally try to make sense of why the event occurred, and why others responded to the event and to them as they did. When a child is repeatedly exposed to adverse and traumatic events, they develop their own ‘truth’ about why difficult, distressing things keep happening, why others tend to respond as they have, and why their emotional needs have not been met.
In Schema Therapy, we talk about the understandings that develop in response to repeated adversity and trauma in terms of Early Maladaptive Schemas (or Schemas). A Schema can be described as a deeply held understanding, story, narrative, truth, or script that a person develops about themselves, others, relationships, and the world, because of their early adverse and traumatic experiences. For each Schema that develops, there are associated emotions, predictions, and action tendencies.
INSERT example here
There are X Schemas, which are listed below:
Why are Schemas problematic?
The content of Schemas is based on adverse and traumatic experiences that occur in childhood, at a time when we naturally have a very limited capacity to understand and influence events, communicate our needs, or manage our emotions by ourselves.
In adulthood, if a Schema has not been ‘updated’ or ‘healed’, it will get in the way of us seeing ourselves and things as they actually are. Instead, we will experience things through the lens of the Schema, which distorts reality, triggers acute feelings of distress, and drives us towards maladaptive ways of coping (see below for more about maladaptive coping modes).
Schema activation?
Schemas develop in childhood and persist into adulthood. However, they are not always ‘active’. They often lay dormant or sit quietly in the background until they are ‘activated’ or ‘switched on’. Schemas get activated when someone is faced with a situation that ‘looks’ or ‘feels’ like or similar to a situation from their childhood, when their core emotional needs were not met.
At these times, the meaning of a situation is understood through a client’s Schema(s), and all the associated emotions, expectations, and action tendencies connected to that Schema are automatically activated.
What is a Maladaptive Coping Mode?
In addition to developing Schemas (Remove)..When carers do not meet the normal emotional needs of a child or help the child manage normal emotional reactions (e.g., fear), the child must work out ways to either ‘force’ carers to attend to their emotional needs, get their emotional needs met themselves, or, find ways to soothe their distress on their own. It is at this time that clients develop what is referred to in Schema Therapy as ‘Maladaptive Coping Modes’.
Maladaptive Coping Modes are enduring patterns of behaviours that clients have developed in childhood to cope with adversity and trauma when carers did not meet their normal emotional needs or help them cope with their normal emotional reactions to difficult events. The coping modes that a child develops in response to adversity and trauma may well have been highly adaptive and effective, and protected them during difficult times in their childhood. Because of their protective value, these coping modes become an important means of self-protection for clients, and they tend to hold onto them tightly in adulthood.
Unfortunately, because these coping modes were developed by a child in adverse situations, they tend to be quite inflexible, overly simplistic, black-and-white, only temporarily beneficial, or, unsuitable for an adult to use in day-to-day situations. As such, maladaptive coping modes don’t really allow adults to manage and adapt to complex situations in adulthood. Instead, these coping modes tend to cause more problems than they solve and tend to increase rather than soothe painful feelings. Overall, maladaptive coping modes, while seemingly protective, actually make it difficult for people to feel positively towards themselves and others, and don’t allow them to function effectively in their relationships, work, and other life domains.
There are lots of different coping modes including:
How can Schema Therapy help?
Schema Therapy initially involves helping clients to develop an awareness of the origins of their Schemas and Coping Modes. This awareness is often therapeutic in of itself because, when clients come to understand how and why their Schemas and Modes developed, they are less judgemental and more compassionate towards themselves (no wonder I fear being abandoned, no wonder I doubt my worth).
Clients are also encouraged to become aware of what activates their Schemas, how it feels when a Schema is ‘switched on’ and what Coping Modes they are most likely to employ once a Schema has been activated. (Ah, ha, that’s why when my partner doesn’t call me at the time she said she would, I feel so anxious and think she wants to end the relationship, and that I’m not good enough for her).
Once good self-awareness of Schemas and Modes has been achieved, Schema Therapy then involves helping clients to modify their Schemas so they can develop a more accurate healthy script about themselves, others, relationships, and the world. (This can involve imagery work – to ‘rescript’ learnings from childhood; chair work – looking at things from multiple perspectives and trialling new perspectives that are more adaptive, accurate, and emotionally soothing; behavioural pattern changing – practicing new, more adaptive ways of responding to situations that trigger painful schemas; and limited reparenting – hearing a new, more compassionate, supportive, soothing reaction from the therapist in response to enduring problems.
Schema also involves helping clients to develop more adaptive ways of relating to, and coping with difficult situations, thoughts, and feelings, so that they can let go of unhelpful coping modes, feel less distressed, and live a more fulfilling, authentic, peaceful life. (Insert example here)…. Could be simple behavioural coping
Because Schema Therapy involves addressing longstanding difficulties, it tends to be a long-term therapy (although short-term work can also have benefit for many).
* Sources: Artnz & Jacob, 2016; Jacob, van Genderen, & Seebauer, 2017; Young, Klosko, & Weishaar, 2003.