What is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy is an integrative approach to treatment that combines aspects of cognitive-behavioral, experiential, interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies into one unified model. Schema Therapy has shown remarkable results in helping people to change negative patterns which they have lived with for a long time, even when other methods and efforts they have tried before have been largely unsuccessful.
History of Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Young, who originally worked with Dr. Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Therapy. While treating clients at the Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Young and his colleagues identified a segment of people who had difficulty benefiting from the standard cognitive therapy approach. These people typically had long-standing patterns or themes in thinking, feeling and behaving/coping that were more entrenched and, therefore, required a different means of intervention. Dr. Young’s attention turned to ways of helping patients to address and modify these deeper patterns or themes, also known as “schemas” or “life traps.”
Core Beliefs in Schema Therapy
The schemas that are targeted in treatment are enduring and self-defeating patterns that typically begin early in life. These patterns consist of negative/dysfunctional thoughts and feelings, have been repeated and elaborated upon, and pose obstacles for accomplishing one’s goals and getting one’s needs met. Some examples of schema beliefs are: “I’m unlovable,” “I’m a failure,” “People don’t care about me,” “I’m not important,” “Something bad is going to happen,” “People will leave me,” “I will never get my needs met,” “I will never be good enough,” and so on.
How Do Schemas Develop?
Although schemas are usually developed early in life (during childhood or adolescence), they can also form later, in adulthood. These schemas are perpetuated behaviorally through the coping styles of schema maintenance, schema avoidance, and schema compensation. Schema Therapy is designed to help the person to break these negative patterns of thinking, feeling and behaving, which are often very resistant to change, and to develop healthier alternatives to replace them.
Stages of Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy consists of three stages:
Assessment phase: we will identify your schemas using questionnaires and discussion to get a clear picture of the various patterns involved.
Emotional awareness and experiential phase: you will learn to get in touch with your schemas and learn how to spot them when they are operating in your daily life.
Behavioral change stage: you will be actively involved in replacing negative, habitual thoughts and behaviors with new, healthy cognitive and behavioral options.
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