What is Schema Therapy?

Schema Therapy is becoming increasingly popular amongst therapists and clients due to it’s wide ranging effectiveness for in the treatment of psychological concerns. In particular, it can be helpful for people who have chronic or entrenched conditions, or have found previous therapy has not been effective. 

Signs you may benefit from schema therapy: 

• You have a recurring, unhelpful patterns in your life
• Your emotional needs have been unmet 
• You feel that certain people/places or situations trigger a really powerful emotional response in you 
• Relationships are tricky at times e.g. you can get easily emotional at others or they get emotional at you 
• You have experienced chronic psychological concerns 
• Other therapy has not helped you in the way that you needed 

What is a schema and how do they develop? 

All of us have basic emotional needs. These include the need for stable attachment figures, emotional support, approval, social inclusion, protection against maltreatment and compassion. Schemas refer to a stable pattern of thinking, feeling and behaving that was developed early in life in response to unhelpful interactions with caregivers or unmet emotional needs. 

What are some common schemas? 

• People will leave or abandon me
• I am not good enough or a failure 
• I don’t belong in social groups
• People don’t care about me 
• People cannot be trusted or will hurt me 
• I need to put other people’s needs above my own 
• The world is unsafe or dangerous 

When a situation triggers a schema, people often engage in a maladaptive form of coping that they developed early in life. Unfortunately, these coping styles often serve to strengthen schemas over time. For example, a person may avoid getting into relationships for fear that people will abandon them. While this may result in temporary relief, over time it perpetuates loneliness and reinforces the belief. 

Why are schemas important to target in therapy? 

Many psychological treatments work to reduce symptoms through modifying client’s unhelpful thoughts and behaviours. If an individual has one or more early maladaptive schemas, however, they might not be able to do this. This is because their symptoms are serving a function for them. Often the function of these psychological symptoms is the avoidance of schema activation. Therefore, if an individual thought or behaviour is successfully modified, many people will develop additional symptoms which serve the same function. This can be why some people find that therapy has not helped them in the way that they needed, or the benefits have been short lived. 

For example, a depressed client with the schema that they are defective may present to therapy with self-critical thoughts, as well as the avoidance of activities that they perceive to be demanding. Without addressing the defectiveness schema, the client may not be able to engage in behavioural activities due to fear that they will activate feelings of shame, or discount evidence that disconfirms their schema during thought challenging exercises. 

Therefore, if we do not address maladaptive schemas, traditional therapy techniques may not work for some, and they might develop additional symptoms that need treating. 

How does schema therapy work? 

Schema therapy works by bypassing unhelpful coping behaviours and satisfying client’s emotional needs. This is achieved through experiential techniques (such as imagery rescripting and chair work), the therapy relationship, as well as traditional cognitive and behavioural techniques. As schemas develop over the course of an individuals life and can be quite engrained, Schema Therapy is often a longer term treatment, especially in patients with chronic conditions.

What are the positive benefits of ST? 

Schema therapy has been found to have numerous benefits for clients including: 

• Understanding and healing from lifelong patterns 
• Address unmet emotional needs, in a healthy, adaptive and constructive way
• Learning healthy ways to cope with distress 
• Developing a better relationship with self and others 
• Achieving lasting and meaningful change 
• Developing a relationship with your therapist where you feel really seen and understood 

To find out more about schema therapy and whether it might benefit you, get in touch.