Schema Therapy

Schema Therapy
Background Notes

Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy and Life Traps
 Human beings are born vulnerable and completely unable to help
themselves. This helpless condition forces the intelligence in us to quickly
learn how to get what we need.
 To come through childhood is a very difficult, very complex and an
extremely vulnerable experience. Many things go wrong that are not
healed. The relationship with the parents and specially the mother is
fundamental in shaping the sense of identity a child forms.
 Emotional wounds accumulate as parents and children interact in a
way that is inadequate to fulfill the childs emotional needs.
 These interactions are interpreted into painful beliefs and feelings the
child has about itself which it accepts without question

Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy and Life Traps
 Unhealthy behaviors develop as a reaction to false beliefs and
form a lifetrap into adulthood, unhealthy life-strategies that
keep you dependent on others for fulfilling your core emotional
needs.
 When a schema erupts or is triggered by events, our thoughts
and feelings are dominated by these schemas. It is at these
moments that people tend to experience extreme negative
emotions and have dysfunctional thoughts.
 The result of being stuck in a life trap is that you maintain parts
of you emotionally functioning as a child.

Schema Therapy
Lifetraps Conitued
 A life trap is created when a child puts together a set of memories,
emotions, bodily sensations and cognitions as a plan for adapting
to a familiar condition. This is a reaction to the experience of abuse,
abandonment, neglect or rejection by one or both parents.
 Once this plan has been created it goes on automatic. Whenever
a person encounters situations that the unconscious mind
perceives as similar to what is known the trap gets activated
 A life trap includes everything a person does internally and
externally that keeps the plan for survival going.
 This includes all the thoughts, feelings and behaviors that reinforce
the false beliefs. The person’s self and world view becomes a self
fulfilling prophecy.

Schema Therapy
Lifetraps Conitued
 Life traps are perpetuated by three primary mechanisms:
 Cognitive (the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge
and understanding through thought, experience, and the
senses) distortions:
 the person unconsciously misperceives situations. They
exaggerate information that confirms the trap and minimize or
delete information that contradicts the trap.
 Self-defeating life patterns:
 the person unconsciously chooses and continues to participate in
situations and relationships that trigger and perpetuate the trap.
 Coping style:
 The trap is painful so the ego develops another plan to adapt. This
is a coping mechanism that when acted upon reinforces the
trap.

Schema Therapy
Definition of a Schema
 A broad, pervasive theme or pattern
 Comprised of memories, bodily sensations,
emotions & cognitions
 Regarding oneself and one's relationships with
others
 Developed during childhood or adolescence,
and elaborated throughout one's lifetime
 Dysfunctional to a significant degree

Schema Therapy
Definition of a Schema
 A theme, not just a belief
 Deeply entrenched patterns, central to one's
sense of self. Usually self-perpetuating.
 Erupt when triggered by everyday events
relevant to the schema
 Created by Toxic frustration of needs
 Traumatization, victimization, mistreatment

Schema Therapy
Core Needs of the Child
 Schemas are formed when core emotional needs are not met during childhood and then
the schema prevents similar needs from being fulfilled in adulthood
 The level of fulfillment of these core needs in your early childhood is the foundation for how
you function in life now.
 Core emotional needs
 Safety
 Predictability
 Warmth
 Affection
 Playfulness and spontaneity
 Understanding, protection and guidance
 Acceptance and praise
 Sense of belonging to a group or community
 Needs for independence or freedom
 Boundaries and limits
 Reasonable expectations

Schema Therapy
Core Needs of the Child
 A mature and healthy individual is one
who can adaptively meet their core
emotional needs in themselves.
 The interaction with parents frustrates the
child temperament when these basic
needs are not gratifying to him. The child
adapts and a trap is created.

Schema Therapy
Parents & Lifetraps
 Critical > Defectiveness
 Overprotective > Dependence
 Cold > Emotional Deprivation
 Controlling > Subjugation
 Indulgent > Entitlement

Schema Therapy
We have highest chemistry
toward...
 Partners who trigger our lifetraps
 Partners who fill in the gaps in our own
self-esteem

Schema Therapy
5 Schema Domains

Schema Therapy
Early maladaptive schemas
 EMS serve as templates for the processing of data
experiences and have certain core
characteristics:
 They have unconditional rigid beliefs and feelings
about oneself, and the world that the individual
never challenges.
 They form the core of the individual's sense of self.
 They are self perpetuating and resistant to
change.
 They operate outside individual's conscious
awareness.

Schema Therapy
 They are triggered by events relevant to
the particular schema, and associated
with extreme negative emotions.
 Behaviours in do not form part of the
schema; instead the schema drives the
behaviour.
 Schemas can be positive or negative,
can develop early or late in life, vary in
degrees of severity.

Schema Therapy
 18 EMS Identified and grouped under five
domains
 Five domains:
 1. Disconnection and rejection: the lack of
secure attachment.
 2. Impaired autonomy and performance:
the lack of competence or a sense of
identity.

Schema Therapy
 3. Impaired limits: the lack of freedom to express valid needs
and emotions.
 4. Other – Directedness: the loss of spontaneity and play.
 5. Over vigilance and inhibition: the loss of realistic limits and self
control.
 EMS vary in severity and progressiveness; can be
unconditional formed in the early as part of life and
conditional schemas which are set to develop later.
 Schema perpetuation refers to all thoughts, feelings and
behaviours which reinforce and perpetuate the schema
resulting in the maladaptive behaviour patterns seen.

Schema Therapy
5 Schema Domains
 Disconnection and rejection
 Abandonment/instability
 Mistrust/abuse
 Emotional deprivation
 Defectiveness/shame
 Social isolation/alienation
 Impaired autonomy and achievement
 Dependency/incompetency
 Vulnerability to harm and illness
 Enmeshment/undeveloped self
 Failure
 Impaired limits
 Entitlement/grandiosity
 Lack of self-control/self-discipline
 Othcr-directcdness
 Subjugation
 Self-sacrifice
 Approval-seeking
 Hypervigilance and inhibition
 Negativity/pessimism
 Emotional inhibition
 Unrelenting standards
 Punitiveness

Schema Therapy
1. Disconnection and Rejection
 This schema domain is characterized by attachment difficulties.
All schemas of this domain are in some way associated with a
lack of safety and reliability in interpersonal relationships.
 The quality of the associated feelings and emotions differs
depending on the schema—for example, the schema
“abandonment/instability” is connected to a feeling of
abandonment by significant others, due to previous
abandonment in childhood.
 Individuals with the schema “social isolation/alienation,” on the
other hand, lack a sense of belonging, as they have
experienced exclusion from peer groups in the past.
 Patients with the schema “mistrust/abuse” mainly feel
threatened by others, having been harmed by people during
their childhood.

Schema Therapy
2. Impaired Autonomy and
Performance #1
 People with these schemas perceive themselves as
dependent, feel insecure, and suffer from a lack of self-
determination.
 They are afraid that autonomous decisions might
damage important relationships and they expect to fail
in demanding situations.
 People with the schema “vulnerability to harm and
illness” may even be afraid that challenging and
changing their fate through autonomous decisions will
lead to harm to themselves and others.
 These schemas can be acquired by social learning
through models, for example from parent figures who
constantly warned against danger or illnesses, or who
suffered from an obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD)

Schema Therapy
2. Impaired Autonomy and
Performance #2
 The schema “dependency/incompetency” may develop
when parents are not confident that their child has age-
appropriate skills to cope with normal developmental
challenges.
 Schemas Can also develop when a child is confronted with
demands which are too high, when they have to become
autonomous too early and do not receive enough support to
achieve it. Thus patients with childhood neglect, who felt
extremely overstressed as children, may develop dependent
behavior patterns in order to ensure that somebody will provide
them the support they lacked earlier in life, and thus do not
learn a healthy autonomy.

Schema Therapy
3. Impaired Limits
 People with impaired limits schemas have difficulty accepting normal
 limits.
 It is hard for them to remain calm and not cross the line,
 They often lack the self-discipline to manage their day-to-day lives, studies, or
 jobs appropriately.
 People with the schema “entitlement/grandiosity” mainly feel entitled and tend
to self-aggrandize.
 The schema “lack of self-control/self-discipline” is principally associated with
impaired discipline and delay of gratification.
 These schemas are learnt by direct modeling and social learning. Often
patients were spoiled as children, or their parents were themselves spoiled in
their childhoods and/or had problems accepting normal limits.
 These schemas can also develop when parents are too strict, when they inflict
too much discipline, and when limits are too narrow. In such situations, these
schemas develop as a kind of a rebellion against limits and discipline in
general.

Schema Therapy
4. Other-Directedness #1
 People with other-directedness schemas typically put the
needs, wishes, and desires of others before their own. Most of
their efforts are directed towards meeting the needs of others.
 Individuals with a strong “subjugation” schema always try to
adapt their behavior in a way which best accommodates the
ideas and needs of others.
 In the schema “self-sacrifice,” the focus is more on an extreme
feeling of responsibility for solving everyone else’s problems;
typically feel that it is their job to make everybody feel good.
 Schema “approval-seeking” have as a sole purpose pleasing
others; thus all their actions and efforts reflect that desire, rather
than their own wishes.

Schema Therapy
4. Other-Directedness #2
 With regard to the biographical background and development
during childhood, these schemas are often secondary.
 The primary schemas are often those from the domain
“disconnection and rejection”. I.e., schemas in the domain
“other-directedness” may have developed to cope with
schemas of disconnection and rejection..

Schema Therapy
5. Overvigilance and Inhibition
#1
 People with Overvigilance and Inhibition schemas avoid the experience and
expression of spontaneous emotions and needs.
 People with the schema “emotional inhibition” devalue inner experiences
such as emotions, spontaneous fun, and childlike needs as stupid,
unnecessary, or immature.
 The schema “negativity/pessimism” corresponds with a very negative view of
the world; people with this schema are always preoccupied with the negative
side of things.
 Schema “unrelenting standards” constantly feel high pressure to achieve;
they do not feel satisfied even when they achieve a lot, as their standards are
extremely high.
 The “punitiveness” schema incorporates moral codes and attitudes that are
very punitive whenever a mistake is made, regardless of reason.

Schema Therapy
5. Overvigilance and Inhibition #2
 These schemas are acquired by reinforcement and social modeling,
for example when parent figures mocked the spontaneous
expression of feelings, thus teaching their children to be ashamed of
being emotional.
 This can also take place indirectly, for example when parents
reinforce only achievement and success, and devalue or ignore
other important aspects of life such as fun and spontaneity.
 Some patients with these schemas report mainly negative
experiences regarding intense emotions in their childhood. They
started to avoid intense emotional experiences in order to protect
themselves against these aversive stimuli.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
1. ABANDONMENT / INSTABILITY (AB)
The perceived instability or unreliability of those available for support and
connection. Involves the sense that significant others will not be able to
continue providing emotional support, connection, strength, or practical
protection because they are emotionally unstable and unpredictable (e.g.,
angry outbursts), unreliable, or erratically present; because they will die
imminently; or because they will abandon the patient in favor of someone
better.
2. MISTRUST / ABUSE (MA)
The expectation that others will hurt, abuse, humiliate, cheat, lie,
manipulate, or take advantage. Usually involves the perception that the
harm is intentional or the result of unjustified and extreme negligence. May
include the sense that one always ends up being cheated relative to others
or "getting the short end of the stick.“
Disconnection and rejection

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
3. EMOTIONAL DEPRIVATION (ED)
Expectation that one's desire for a normal degree of
emotional support will not be adequately met by
others. The three major forms of deprivation are:
 A. Deprivation of Nurturance: Absence of
attention, affection, warmth, or companionship.
 B. Deprivation of Empathy: Absence of
understanding, listening, self-disclosure, or
mutual sharing of feelings from others.
 C. Deprivation of Protection: Absence of
strength, direction, or guidance from others.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
4. DEFECTIVENESS / SHAME (DS)
The feeling that one is defective, bad, unwanted, inferior, or invalid in important
respects; or that one would be unlovable to significant others if exposed. May involve
hypersensitivity to criticism, rejection, and blame; self-consciousness, comparisons, and
insecurity around others; or a sense of shame regarding one's perceived flaws. These
flaws may be private (e.g., selfishness, angry impulses, unacceptable sexual desires) or
public (e.g., undesirable physical appearance, social awkwardness).
5. SOCIAL ISOLATION / ALIENATION (SI)
The feeling that one is isolated from the rest of the world, different from other people,
and/or not part of any group or community.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
6. DEPENDENCE / INCOMPETENCE (DI)
Belief that one is unable to handle one's everyday responsibilities in a competent
manner, without considerable help from others (e.g., take care of oneself, solve daily
problems, exercise good judgment, tackle new tasks, make good decisions). Often
presents as helplessness.
7. VULNERABILITY TO HARM OR ILLNESS (VH)
Exaggerated fear that imminent catastrophe will strike at any time and that one will be
unable to prevent it. Fears focus on one or more of the following:
(A) Medical Catastrophes: e.g., heart attacks, AIDS;
(B) (B) Emotional Catastrophes: e.g., going crazy;
(C) (C): External Catastrophes: e.g., elevators collapsing, victimized by criminals,
airplane crashes, earthquakes.
Impaired autonomy and achievement

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
8. ENMESHMENT / UNDEVELOPED SELF (EM)
Excessive emotional involvement and closeness with
one or more significant others (often parents), at the
expense of full individuation or normal social
development. Often involves the belief that at least
one of the enmeshed individuals cannot survive or
be happy without the constant support of the other.
May also include feelings of being smothered by, or
fused with, others OR insufficient individual identity.
Often experienced as a feeling of emptiness and
floundering, having no direction, or in extreme cases
questioning one's existence.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
9. FAILURE TO ACHIEVE (FA)
The belief that one has failed, will inevitably fail, or is fundamentally inadequate
relative to one's peers, in areas of achievement (school, career, sports, etc.).
Often involves beliefs that one is stupid, inept, untalented, ignorant, lower in
status, less successful than others, etc.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
10. ENTITLEMENT / GRANDIOSITY (ET)
The belief that one is superior to other people; entitled to special
rights and privileges; or not bound by the rules of reciprocity that
guide normal social interaction. Often involves insistence that one
should be able to do or have whatever one wants, regardless of
what is realistic, what others consider reasonable, or the cost to
others; OR an exaggerated focus on superiority (e.g., being
among the most successful, famous, wealthy) -- in order to
achieve power or control (not primarily for attention or approval).
Sometimes includes excessive competitiveness toward, or
domination of, others: asserting one's power, forcing one's point of
view, or controlling the behavior of others in line with one's own
desires---without empathy or concern for others' needs or feelings.
Impaired limits

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
11. INSUFFICIENT SELF-CONTROL / SELF-DISCIPLINE (IS)
Pervasive difficulty or refusal to exercise sufficient
self-control and frustration tolerance to achieve
one's personal goals, or to restrain the excessive
expression of one's emotions and impulses. In its
milder form, patient presents with an exaggerated
emphasis on discomfort-avoidance: avoiding pain,
conflict, confrontation, responsibility, or overexertion-
--at the expense of personal fulfillment, commitment,
or integrity.
Impaired limits

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
12. SUBJUGATION (SB)
Excessive surrendering of control to others because one feels coerced - -
usually to avoid anger, retaliation, or abandonment. The two major forms of
subjugation are:
 A. Subjugation of Needs: Suppression of one's preferences, decisions,
and desires.
 B. Subjugation of Emotions: Suppression of emotional expression,
especially anger.
Usually involves the perception that one's own desires, opinions, and
feelings are not valid or important to others. Frequently presents as
excessive compliance, combined with hypersensitivity to feeling trapped.
Generally leads to a build up of anger, manifested in maladaptive
symptoms (e.g., passive-aggressive behavior, uncontrolled outbursts of
temper, psychosomatic symptoms, withdrawal of affection, "acting out",
substance abuse).
Othcr-directcdness

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
13. SELF-SACRIFICE (SS)
Excessive focus on voluntarily meeting the needs of others in
daily situations, at the expense of one's own gratification.
The most common reasons are: to prevent causing pain to
others; to avoid guilt from feeling selfish; or to maintain the
connection with others perceived as needy . Often results
from an acute sensitivity to the pain of others. Sometimes
leads to a sense that one's own needs are not being
adequately met and to resentment of those who are taken
care of. (Overlaps with concept of codependency.)
Othcr-directcdness

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
14. APPROVAL-SEEKING / RECOGNITION-SEEKING (AS)
Excessive emphasis on gaining approval, recognition, or attention
from other people, or fitting in, at the expense of developing a
secure and true sense of self. One's sense of esteem is dependent
primarily on the reactions of others rather than on one's own
natural inclinations. Sometimes includes an overemphasis on
status, appearance, social acceptance, money, or achievement
-- as means of gaining approval, admiration, or attention (not
primarily for power or control). Frequently results in major life
decisions that are inauthentic or unsatisfying; or in hypersensitivity
to rejection.
Othcr-directcdness

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
15. NEGATIVITY / PESSIMISM (NP)
A pervasive, lifelong focus on the negative aspects of life (pain,
death, loss, disappointment, conflict, guilt, resentment, unsolved
problems, potential mistakes, betrayal, things that could go
wrong, etc.) while minimizing or neglecting the positive or
optimistic aspects. Usually includes an exaggerated expectation--
in a wide range of work, financial, or interpersonal situations -- that
things will eventually go seriously wrong, or that aspects of one's
life that seem to be going well will ultimately fall apart. Usually
involves an inordinate fear of making mistakes that might lead to:
financial collapse, loss, humiliation, or being trapped in a bad
situation. Because potential negative outcomes are exaggerated,
these patients are frequently characterized by chronic worry,
vigilance, complaining, or indecision.
Hypervigilance and inhibition

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
17. UNRELENTING STANDARDS / HYPERCRITICALNESS (US)
The underlying belief that one must strive to meet very high internalized
standards of behavior and performance, usually to avoid criticism. Typically
results in feelings of pressure or difficulty slowing down; and in
hypercriticalness toward oneself and others. Must involve significant
impairment in: pleasure, relaxation, health, self-esteem, sense of
accomplishment, or satisfying relationships.
Unrelenting standards typically present as: (a) perfectionism, inordinate
attention to detail, or an underestimate of how good one's own
performance is relative to the norm; (b) rigid rules and “shoulds” in many
areas of life, including unrealistically high moral, ethical, cultural, or religious
precepts; or (c) preoccupation with time and efficiency, so that more can
be accomplished.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
16. EMOTIONAL INHIBITION (EI)
The excessive inhibition of spontaneous action, feeling, or communication --
usually to avoid disapproval by others, feelings of shame, or losing control of
one's impulses. The most common areas of inhibition involve: (a) inhibition of
anger & aggression; (b) inhibition of positive impulses (e.g., joy, affection,
sexual excitement, play); (c) difficulty expressing vulnerability or
communicating freely about one's feelings, needs, etc.; or (d) excessive
emphasis on rationality while disregarding emotions.

Schema Therapy
18 SCHEMAS
18. PUNITIVENESS (PU)
The belief that people should be harshly punished for
making mistakes. Involves the tendency to be angry,
intolerant, punitive, and impatient with those people
(including oneself) who do not meet one's
expectations or standards.
Usually includes difficulty forgiving mistakes in oneself
or others, because of a reluctance to consider
extenuating circumstances, allow for human
imperfection, or empathize with feelings.

Schema Therapy
Lifetrap Coping Styles
 In order to get out of your life traps you need to identify the trap, become
familiar with your stile of attention so you can realize when you are using
cognitive distortions, are engaged in an unhealthy pattern and what copying
style you are engaged in.
 The coping style of each child depends on their unique temperament and
the life trap it is reacting to.
 A coping style is developed to avoid experiencing the more intense,
overwhelming and painful life trap. It consists of emotions, cognitions and
behaviors that while distracting attention from the deeper pain they end up
reinforcing it.
 For example, the life trap that you are inherently defective can have three
different coping mechanisms for different situations at different stages of life.
You can look for critical partners and friends, you can avoid getting close to
others or you can have a superior attitude towards others. All these coping
mechanism help suppress the more painful belief of being defective

Schema Therapy
Schema Coping Styles
 Broad maladaptive schema coping styles
1. Surrender
 2. Avoidance
 3. Overcompensation

Schema Therapy
Common Coping Responses
 Aggression
 Hostility
 Manipulation
 Exploitation
 Dominance
 Overcompensation
 Recognition-Seeking
 Stimulation-Seeking
 Impulsivity
 Substance abuse.
 Compliance
 Dependence
 Excessive Self-Reliance
 Compulsivity, Inhibition
 Psychological Withdrawal
 Social isolation
 Avoidance

Schema Therapy
Surrender Coping Style
 Schema surrender refers to ways in which people passively
give in to the schema. They accept the schema as truth and
then act in ways that confirm the schema
 For instance, a young man with an Abandonment/Instability
schema might choose partners who are unable to commit to
long-term relationships.
 He might then react to even minor signsindications of
abandonment, such as spending short times without his partner, in
an exaggerated way and feel excessive negative emotion.
 Despite the emotional pain of the situation, he might also
passively remain in the relationship because he sees no other
possible way to connect with women.

Schema Therapy
Compliant Surrenderer:
 Acts in a passive, subservient, submissive,
reassurance-seeking, or self-deprecating way
towards others out of fear of conflict or rejection.
 Passively allows him/herself To be mistreated, or does
not take steps to get healthy needs met. Selects
people or engages in other behaviour that directly
maintains the self-defeating schema-driven pattern.
 Surrender to damaged child modes:
 In these modes individuals behave as if they are like the
child, with the same beliefs, emotions and behaviours as
when the childhood pattern was set up.

Schema Therapy
Avoidance Coping Style
 Schema avoidance refers to the ways in which people avoid activating schemas,
when schemas are activated, they cause extreme negative emotion and pain.
 There are three types of schema avoidance: cognitive, emotional and behavioral.
 Cognitive avoidance refers to efforts that people make not to think about upsetting
events. These efforts may be either voluntary or automatic. People may voluntarily choose
not to focus on an aspect of their personality or an event, which they find disturbing.
There are also unconscious processes which help people to shut out information which
would be too upsetting to confront. People often forget particularly painful events.
 Emotional avoidance refers to automatic or voluntary attempts to block painful emotion.
Often when people have painful emotional experiences, they numb themselves to the
feelings in order to minimize the pain. Some people drink or abuse drugs to numb feelings
generated by schemas. Ways of avoiding the trap include having promiscuous sex, over eat,
compulsively clean, seek stimulation or become workaholics.
 Behavioral avoidance. People often act in such a way as to avoid situations that trigger
schemas, and thus avoid psychological pain. For instance, a woman with a Failure schema
might avoid taking a difficult new job which would be very good for her. By avoiding the
challenging situation, she avoids any pain, such as intense anxiety, which could be generated
by the schema.

Schema Therapy
Avoidance:-Detached protector
Withdraws psychologically from the pain of
the schemas by emotionally detaching. The
patient shuts off all emotions, disconnects
from others and rejects their help, and
functions in an almost robotic manner. May
remain quite functional

Schema Therapy
Shuts off emotions by going numb or
spacing out. Can give rise to an Experience
of being foggy or even unreal and gives rise
to states of depersonalization and cognitive
slowing which are dysfunctional.
Avoidance:-Spaced out protector

Schema Therapy
 Shut off their emotions by engaging in activities
that will somehow soothe,stimulate or distract
them from feeling.
 These behaviours are usually undertaken in an
addictive or compulsive way,and can include
workaholism, gambling, dangerous sports,
promiscuous sex, or drug abuse.
 Another group of patients compulsively engages
in solitary interests that are more self-soothing than
self-stimulating, such as playing computer games,
overeating, watching television, or fantasizing.
Avoidance:-Detached Self Soother

Schema Therapy
Avoidance:- Avoidant protector & Angry
protector
 Avoidant protector: Avoids triggering by
behavioural avoidance - keeps away
from situations of cue that my trigger
distress.
 Angry protector: Uses a ‘wall of anger' to
protect him/herself from others who are
perceived as threatening. Displays of
anger serve to keep others at a safe
distance to protect against being hurt.

Schema Therapy
Overcompensation Coping
Style
 Schema overcompensation. The individual behaves in a
manner which appears to be the opposite of what the
schema suggests in order to avoid triggering the schema. On
the surface, it may appear that the overcompensators are
behaving in a healthy manner, by standing up for
themselves.
 But when they overshoot the mark they cause more
problem patterns, which then perpetuate the schema. For
instance, a young man with a Defectiveness schema
might overcompensate by presenting himself as perfect
and being critical of others. This would likely lead others to
criticize him in turn, thereby confirming his belief that he is
defective.

Schema Therapy
Overcompensation:-Attention
and approval seeker
 Tries to get other people's attention and
approval by extravagant, inappropriate
and exaggerated behaviour. Usually
compensates for underlying loneliness.

Schema Therapy
Overcompensation:- Self-aggrandiser
 Behaves in an entitled, competitive, grandiose,
abusive, or status-seeking way in order to have
whatever they want. They are almost completely
self-absorbed, and show little empathy for the
needs or feelings of others.
 They demonstrate superiority and expect to be
treated as special and do not believe they should
have to follow the rules that apply to every one
else. They crave for admiration and frequently
brag or behave in a self-aggrandizing manner to
inflate their sense of self.

Schema Therapy
Overcompensation:- Overcontroller:
 Attempts to protect self from a perceived or real
threat by focusing attention, ruminating, and
exercising extreme control.
• Perfectionistic Overcontroller: Focuses on perfectionism
to attain control and prevent misfortune and criticism.
• Suspicious Overcontroller: Focuses on vigilance, scanning
other people for signs of malevolence, and controls others'
behaviour out of suspiciousness.
• Scolding Overcontroller: Controls the behaviour of others
by blaming, criticizing, and telling them how to do things in
a dictatorial and scolding manner.

Schema Therapy
Schema Modes
 A “schema mode” is defined as a current
emotional state which is associated with a given
schema.
 Schema modes can either change frequently or
be very persistent.
 In patients with many different schemas and
intense schema modes, it is often much easier to
address these modes than to refer to the schemas
behind them.
 Schema modes are divided into modes
associated with mostly negative emotions and
modes used to cope with these emotions.

Schema Therapy
Schema Modes
“Those schemas, coping responses, or
healthy reactions that are currently active
for an individual”
The predominant state that we’re in at a
given point in time

Schema Therapy
Schema Modes
 There are 4 broad Mode Domain
 1. Child Mode
 2. Dysfunctional Coping Modes
 3. Dysfunctional Parent Modes
 4. Healthy Adult Modes

Schema Therapy
1. Child Modes
 Child modes are associated with intense
negative emotions such as rage, sadness, and
abandonment.
 They resemble the concept of the “inner child,”
which is used in many therapies
 A patient with a mistrust/abuse schema, for
example, may feel threatened and at the
mercy of others when they are in the abused
child mode

Schema Therapy
2. Dysfunctional Coping modes
 Dysfunctional coping modes are related to
avoidant, surrendering, or overcompensating
schema coping.
 In avoidant coping modes, people avoid
emotions and other inner experiences, or
avoid social contact altogether.
 In overcompensating coping modes, people
stimulate or aggrandize themselves in order to
experience the opposite of the actual
schema-associated emotions.

Schema Therapy
3. Dysfunctional Parent Modes
 The other category of highly emotional
modes is the dysfunctional parent modes.
 they are viewed as internalizations of
dysfunctional parental responses to the child.
 In dysfunctional parent modes, people keep
putting pressure on themselves or hate
themselves.
 Patients with a mistrust/abuse schema, de-
value and hate themselves when they are in
the punitive parent mode.

Schema Therapy
4. Healthy Adult Modes
 Healthy modes are the modes of the healthy adult
and the happy child.
 In the healthy adult mode, patients are able to view
their life and their self in a realistic way.
 They are able to fulfill their obligations, but at the
same
 time can care for their own needs and well-being.
 This mode has conceptual overlap with the
psychodynamic concept of “healthy ego
functioning.”
 The mode of the happy child is particularly related to
fun, joy, and play.
 Don’t we all want to be like this!

Schema Therapy
Vulnerable child modes Lonely Child
 Feels like a lonely child that is valued only
in so far as (s)he can aggrandise his/her
parents. Because the most important
emotional needs of the child have
generally not been met, the patient
usually feels empty, alone, socially
unacceptable, undeserving of love,
unloved and unlovable
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Vulnerable child modes Abandoned
and Abused Child
 Feels the enormous emotional pain and fear of
abandonment, which has a direct link with the abuse
history. Has the affect of a lost child: sad, frightened,
vulnerable, defenceless, hopeless, needy,victimised,
worthless and lost. Patients appear fragile and
childlike.
 They feel helpless and utterly alone and are obsessed
with finding a parent figure who will take care of
them. Humiliated/Inferior Child. A subtype of the
Abandoned and Abused Child mode, in which
patients experience humiliation and inferiority related
to childhood experiences within and outside the
family.
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Vulnerable child modes
Dependent Child
 Feels incapable and overwhelmed by
adult responsibilities. Shows strong
regressive tendencies and wants to be
taken care of. Related to the lack of
development of autonomy and self-
reliance, often caused by authoritarian
upbringing.
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Angry/unsocialized child modes
Angry child
 Angry child: Feels intensely angry,
enraged, infuriated, frustrated or
inpatient, because the core emotional (or
physical)needs of the vulnerable child are
not being met.
 They vent their suppressed anger in in
appropriate ways. May make demands
that seem entitled or spoiled and that
alienate others.
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Enraged child
 Experiences intense feelings of anger that
results in hurting or damaging people or
objects.
 The displayed anger is out of control, and has
the goal of destroying the aggressor,
sometimes literally.
 Has the affect of an enraged or uncontrollable
child, screaming or acting out impulsively to an
(alleged)perpetrator
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Impulsive Child
 Acts on non-core desires or impulses from
moment to moment in a selfish or
uncontrolled manner to get his or her own
way, with out regard to possible
consequences for the self
 Or others. Often has difficulty delaying
short-time gratification and may appear
`spoiled`.
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Undisciplined child
 Cannot force him/herself to finish routine
or boring tasks, gets quickly frustrated and
gives up soon.
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Happy/Contented Child Mode
 Feels at peace because core emotional
needs are currently met. Feels loved,
contented, connected, satisfied, fulfilled,
protected, praised, worthwhile, nurtured,
guided, understood, validated,
 self-confident, competent, appropriately
autonomous or self-reliant, safe, resilient,
strong, in control, adaptable, optimistic
and spontaneous.
Child Modes

Schema Therapy
Dysfunctional Parent
Modes

Schema Therapy
Punitive Parent:
 The internalized voice of the parent, criticizing
and punishing the patient. They become
angry with themselves and feel that they
deserve punishment for having or showing
normal
 Needs that their parents did not allow them to
express. The tone of this mode is harsh, critical,
and unforgiving. Sings and symptoms include
self-loathing, self-criticism, self-denial, self-
mutilation, suicidal fantasies, and self-
destructive behaviour.
Parent Modes

Schema Therapy
Demanding Parent
 Continually pushes and pressures the child to
meet excessively high standards.
 Feels that the`right` way to be is to be perfect
or achieve at a very high level, to keep
everything in order, to strive for high status, to
be humble, to put other needs before one's
own or to be efficient Or avoid wasting time.
 The person feels that it is wrong to express
feelings or to act spontaneously
Parent Modes

Schema Therapy
Healthy Adult Modes

Schema Therapy
Healthy Adult
 This mode performs appropriate adult
functions such as obtaining information,
evaluating, problem-solving, working,
parenting. Takes responsibility for choices
and actions, and makes and
 keeps to commitments. In a balanced way,
pursues activities that are likely to be
fulfilling in work,
 intimate and social relationships, sporting,
cultural and service-related activities.
Healthy Modes

Schema Therapy
Schema Triggers

Schema Therapy
Schema Triggering
 Schemas may lie dormant until triggered by
particular events or situations. For example, in
relationships, a critical or dismissive remark from a
friend or intimate partner may trigger schemas
associated with rejection, abandonment, or abuse.
Hearing about an accident or misfortune may trigger
a schema associated with lack of safety or security.
 A disappointment or lack of achievement may
trigger schemas associated with defectiveness,
failure, or pessimism. A schema can be triggeredby
watching a scene from movie or reading a story in a
magazine that is thematically related to the schema.

Schema Therapy
Schema Triggering
 Activation of a schema that is usually dormant can trigger
a sudden rush of intense and confusing feelings. Other
schemas present themselves less intensely. However, once
a schema is active, it strongly shapes our patterns of
perception, interpretation, feeling and behaviour. When
faced with a threat, there are three characteristic patterns
of response which are found in humans and animals.
 These are the three Fs: flight, fight and freeze. Thus, if an
animal is attacked by a predator it can try to escape
(flight), try to fight back (fight), or go limp and play dead
(freeze). These three kinds of response can be seen in the
way people respond to cope with the triggering of
schemas.

Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy
TherapistsClients

Schema Therapy
Healing the Vulnerable Child
 Most EMSs are embedded in childhood experiences which
were emotionally painful. These patterns continue into the
future, driven by memories of critical experiences from long
ago.
 As EMSs are activated, they allow us to get in touch with the
memories from the past events that hurt us, and seemed to be
impossible to resolve. It can be helpful to see how present-day
feelings are actually memories of what happened in the past.
In addition, the painful memories can, themselves, be
addressed by way of rescripting them.
 This involves working with the Vulnerable Child, empathizing
with him/her, and symbolically providing ways in which he/she
can have these needs met that were not met at in the past.

Schema Therapy
Reducing the power of dysfunctional
coping and parent modes
 Coping modes prevent access to the child modes which
are the source of spontaneity, authenticity and the
capacity for meaningful interpersonal contact. They also
create additional problems by gMng rise to self-limiting,
self-defeating, and self-destructive behaviors.
 These modes need to be identified and replaced with
more effective and non-harmful ways of coping. Schema
therapists help their clients to challenge avoidances. This
will involve exposing yourself to situations, thoughts and
feelings that you normally and automatically avoid. Your
therapist will help you to plan this in a graded manner so
that you can learn to tolerate uncomfortable feelings that
might be evoked. Often these are feelings from childhood
that can be worked with in therapy.

Schema Therapy
Reducing the power of dysfunctional
coping and parent modes
 They also help clients to relinquish over
compensatory behaviours because, although these
may be adaptive to some extent, they also have the
negative effect of distancing us from our genuine
experience, and this can have a negative impact on
interpersonal relationships. By giving up
compensations, we will expose ourselves to EMSs
which we have not wanted to experience.
 As these EMSs come into focus, they can be worked
on and resolved in therapy (see Healing the
Vulnerable child above). This can lead to learning to
interact in a more authentic and satisfying way.

Schema Therapy
Reducing the power of
dysfunctional coping
 Dysfunctional parent modes are also problematic. At the outset,
they might appear to help to motivate you to get things done. But,
on closer inspection, they have the opposite effect. A critical voice
that constantly repeats demeaning messages and undermines your
self-esteem makes it difficult to enjoy everyday activities and
relationships.
 A demanding voice that keeps imposing rigid standards in the form
of rules and “shoulds” creates chronic tension and dissatisfaction.
Both these voices can activate an angry or rebellious child mode
that refuses to be pushed around, resulting in procrastination or
alack of motivation. To identify these parent modes, the messages
they give need to be closely scrutinized, and where deemed
unhelpful, need to be stopped and banished.

Schema Therapy
Reducing the power of
dysfunctional coping
 Often the effect of vulnerable child states and the
avoidances and compensations that are adopted
to hide them is that individuals find it difficult to
remain in a balanced state.
 But we need to be in a balanced state where we
can exercise good judgment and have an
accurate perception of our own and others’
behavior if we are to engage in relationships that
are mutually respectful and effectively solve every
day problems. Building this balanced Healthy
Adult state can be an important focus of therapy.
This might involve:

Schema Therapy
Building the healthy adult
 Building self-awareness and cultivating mindfulness:
to stay balanced we need to have an ongoing
awareness of our emotional states and how they are
activated in different situations. At the same time we
need to be able to distance from these states like an
observer who can see and not what they are without
getting caught up in them and carried away.
 Building an understanding of how EMSs and schema
modes work: This will help you step back and see
clearly what you need to do to break out of the
patterns, and how the various aspects of schema
therapy can contribute to empowering you to do
this.

Schema Therapy
Building the healthy adult
 Addressing cognitive distortions: involves identifying beliefs,
assumptions, and every day thoughts that are inaccurate and
serve to maintain the schema. You can actively challenging the
distortions on the basis of reason and examination of evidence in
real-life situations.L]
 Behavioural experiments/behavioural pattern-breaking: involves
experimenting with new ways of behaving to replace your current
self-defeating behaviours. In behavioural experiments, you will learn
what works for you by trying out new behaviours which are likely to
be more effective, and by examining the effects of these new
behaviours. Through pattern-breaking, we work to break the power
of self-defeating patterns, and replace them with new ones that
will help you to lead a more satisfying life.

Schema Therapy
Building the healthy adult:-
Assessment and Education
 Identify and educate patient about
central life schemas
 Link schemas to presenting problems & life
history; explore origins of schemas
 Bring patient in touch with emotions
surrounding schemas
 Identify dysfunctional coping styles

Schema Therapy
 Pattern identification: Link presenting
problems with life history and early origins
 Educate patients about schemas:
“Reinventing Your Life”
 Review schema inventories
 Trigger schemas through imagery, dialogues,
and inner child exercises
 Observe patterns in the therapy relationship
 Integrate with Schema Conceptualization
Form

Schema Therapy
 Cognitive: Restructure thinking related to schemas;
develop healthy voice to create distance.
 Experiential: Practice experiential exercises to vent
anger &grieve for early pain, to empower patient.
 Therapy Relationship: Focus on therapy relationship
to provide limited reparenting, and to heal schemas
& coping styles triggered in sessions.
 Behavioral Pattern-Breaking: Assign and rehearse
behavioral and interpersonal changes related to
presenting problem break dysfunctional life patterns

Schema Therapy
Aim for Emotional Maturity
 Autonomy (the ability of the person to make his or her own
decisions ) is a sign of emotional maturity.
 When a person has healed enough of their past they are
able to access their latent (capable of becoming
active)potentials.
 For example, learning to focus your awareness inwardly to
access the capacity to become what you need
emotionally and beyond.
 When you mature you become loving towards you and
others, you learn to focus your attention in the here and
now and you are confident in your capacity to function

Schema Therapy
Pattern-Identification
 Focused Life History Interview
 Link presenting problems to life pattern
 Find emotional links
 Discuss patient’s memories from
childhood
 Link to current problems when possible
 Link parenting behaviors with specific
schemas

Schema Therapy
Experiential Techniques for Assessment
 Get upsetting childhood images of
mother, father & other significant people
 Set up dialogues
 Ask patients what they need in the image
 Link emotions from childhood images with
current life circumstances

Schema Therapy
Techniques
 Techniques for tackling Schemas can be
broken down into four categories:
 Emotive,
 Interpersonal
 Cognitive
 Behavioral

Schema Therapy
Emotive Technique
 Emotive techniques encourage clients to experience and express the
emotional aspects of their problem. One way this is done is by having clients
close their eyes and imagine they are having a conversation with the person
to whom the emotion is directed. They are then encouraged to express
the emotions as completely as possible in the imaginary dialogue.
 One woman whose core schema was Emotional Deprivation had several
such sessions in which she had an opportunity to express her anger at
her parents for not being there enough for her emotionally.
 Each time she expressed these feelings, she was able to distance herself
further from the schema. She was able to see that her parents had their
own problems which kept them from providing her with adequate
nurturance, and that she was not always destined to be deprived.
 Or they may write a letter to the other person, which they have no intention of
mailing, so that they can express their feelings without inhibition.

Schema Therapy
Interpersonal Technique
 Interpersonal techniques highlight the client’s interactions with other people
so that the role of the schemas can be exposed. One way is by focusing on
the relationship with
the therapist.
 Frequently, clients with a Subjugation schema go along with everything the
therapist wants, even when they do not consider the assignment or activity
relevant.
 They then feel resentment towards the therapist which they display indirectly.
 This pattern of compliance and indirect expression of resentment can then be
explored to the client’s benefit.
 This may lead to a useful exploration of other instances in which the client
complies with others and later resents it, and how they might better cope at
those times.

Schema Therapy
Cognitive Technique
 Cognitive techniques are those in which the schema-driven
cognitive distortions are challenged. As in short-term cognitive
therapy, the dysfunctional thoughts are identified and the
evidence for and against them is considered. Then new thoughts
and beliefs are substituted. These techniques help the client see
alternative ways to view situations.
 The first step in dealing with schemas cognitively is to examine the
evidence for and against the specific schema which is being
examined.
 This involves looking at the client’s life and experiences and
considering all the evidence which appears to support or refute the
schema. The evidence ¡s then examined critically to see if it does, in
fact, provide support for the schema. Usually the evidence
produced will be shown to be in error, and not really supportive of
the schema.

Schema Therapy
Cognitive technique
 After having several of these dialogues the client and therapist can
then construct a flashcard for the client, which contains a concise
statement of the evidence against the
schema.
 A typical flashcard for a client with a Defectiveness/Shame
schema reads: “I know that I feel that there is something wrong with
me but the healthy side of me knows that I’m OK. There have been
several people who have known me very well and stayed with me
for a long time. I know that I can pursue friendships with many
people in whom I have an interest.”
 The client is instructed to keep the flashcard available at all times
and to read it whenever the relevant problem starts to occur. By
persistent practice at this, and other cognitive techniques, the
client’s belief in the schema will gradually weaken.

Schema Therapy
Behavioral Technique
 Behavioral techniques are those in which the therapist assists the client in changing
long-term behavior patterns, so that schema surrender behaviors are reduced and
healthy coping responses are strengthened.
 One behavioral strategy is to help clients choose partners who are appropriate for them
and capable of engaging in healthy relationships. Clients with the Emotional
Deprivation schema tend to choose partners who are not emotionally giving. A
therapist working with such clients would help them through the process of evaluating and
selecting new partners.
 Another behavioral technique consists of teaching clients better communication skills.
For instance, a woman with a Subjugation schema believes that she deserves a raise at
work but does not know how to ask for it. One technique her therapist uses to teach her
how to speak to her supervisor is role-playing. First, the therapist takes the role of the client
and the client takes the role of the supervisor. This allows the therapist to
demonstrate how to make the request appropriately.
 Then the client gets an opportunity to practice the new behaviors, and to get
feedback from the therapist before changing the behavior in real life situations.

Schema Therapy
Summary
 Life traps are unhealthy beliefs that served as adaptations to early painful circumstances in
childhood. These mental traps were created when emotional core needs were not met
appropriately.
 A life trap consists of memories, emotions, cognitions and bodily sensations.
 These are formed so early in life that they are taken as accurate and truthful ways of seeing
one self and the world.
 They consist of broad themes, repeating patterns regarding yourself and your relationship to
life, these are dysfunctional in nature and they keep repeating.
 When a person chooses and commits to become increasingly more self aware they realize
their traps and that they arefalse. People notice that they are not inherently defective,
worthless, incompetent failures etc.
 As long as a person keeps their life traps as true and accurate representations of themselves
and the world they will not be able to change, heal and become a greater potential of
themselves. This is understandable since the trap was taught to the child through a long
process of indoctrination. (set of beliefs)

Schema Therapy
Summary 2
 Once a trap is formed a coping style is also created to avoid experiencing the emotional
pain inside the trap.
 The coping styles are many and eventually they group into the familiar sense of self a person
identifies with.
 These include all familiar thoughts, emotions, behaviors, kinds of people and circumstances
that they know how to deal with.
 The aim of therapy is first of all to introduce psychological awareness of the traps and the
coping styles.
 Then add an elaborate understanding of the history that created the trap and the
development of attention and observation skills.
 These are necessary to interrupt the automatic trap- the automatic adaptation and the
automatic behavior.
 The work to free your awareness from life traps demands committed discipline, skillful support
and an unwavering love for life in its fullest potential

Schema Therapy

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