Schema Therapy was
developed by Jeffrey Young, to treat individuals with Borderline Personality
Disorder, but can also be used with other presentations caused by difficult
childhood experiences. Schemas can be described as our belief systems or 'lifetraps'.
The theory on which Schema Therapy is based has four main concepts:
Early Maladaptive
Schemas
Schema Domains
Coping Styles
Schema Modes
Early Maladaptive Schemas
are our core patterns or behaviours that we tend to repeatedly use throughout
our lives.
Schema Domains
relate to the emotional needs of a child. If these needs were not met
during our childhoods, unhealthy schemas develop, which then result in unhealthy
patterns of behaviour.
Coping Styles
are the way we adapt to schemas and early life experiences. These are
often unhealthy and tend to maintain or worsen the problems.
Modes
are emotional states that we all use from time to time. They can sometimes
lie dormant for a long time, being activated by certain triggers. Whilst
we can be in a dominant state or mode for some time, we can flip over into other
modes. The different modes are listed below.
Schema Therapy is based
upon CBT, but it is focused much more on early childhood experiences which have
caused lifelong difficulties. Assessment includes the use of
questionnaires (available at
www.schematherapy.com) to identify the individual's schemas, coping styles
and preferred modes, enabling the client to understand and develop an abilty to
change their unhelpful thinking styles and patterns of behaviour. See
links below for more information.
2. Angry Child:feels
intensely angry, enraged, infuriated, frustrated, impatient because thecore
emotional(or physical)needsof
the vulnerable child are not being met
3. Impulsive/Undisciplined Child:acts
onnon-core desires or impulsesin
a selfish or uncontrolled manner to get his or her own way and often has
difficulty delaying short-term gratification; often feels intensely angry,
enraged, infuriated, frustrated, impatient when these non-core desires or
impulses cannot be met.; may appear “spoiled”
5. Compliant Surrenderer:acts
in a passive, subservient, submissive, approval-seeking, or self-deprecating way
around others out of fear of conflict or rejection; tolerates abuse and/or bad
treatment; does not express healthy needs or desires to others; selects people
or engages in other behaviour that directly maintains the self-defeating
schema-driven pattern
6. Detached Protector:cuts
off needs and feelings; detaches emotionally from people and rejects their
help; feels withdrawn, spacey, distracted, disconnected, depersonalized, empty
or bored; pursues distracting, self-soothing, or self-stimulating activities
in a compulsive way or to excess; may adopt a cynical, aloof or pessimistic
stance to avoid investing in people or activities
7. Over-compensator:feels
and behaves in an inordinately grandiose, aggressive, dominant, competitive,
arrogant, haughty, condescending, devaluing, overcontrolled, controlling,
rebellious, manipulative, exploitative, attention-seeking, or status-seeking
way. These feelings or behaviours must originally have developed to compensate
for or gratify unmet core needs
MALADAPTIVE PARENT MODES
8. Punitive Parent:feels
that oneself or others deserves punishment or blame and often acts on these
feelings by being blaming, punishing, or abusive towards self (e.g.,
self-mutilation) or others. This mode refers to thestylewith
which rules are enforced rather than thenatureof
the rules
9.Demanding
Parent: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 puts others needs before
one's own or to be efficient or avoid wasting time; or the person feels that it
iswrongto
express feelings or to act spontaneously. This mode refer to thenatureof
the internalized high standards and strict rules, rather than thestylewith
which these rules are enforced; these rules are not compensatory in their
function.
HEALTHY ADULT MODE
10. Healthy Adult:nurtures,
validates and affirms the vulnerable child mode; sets limits for the angry and
impulsive child modes; promotes and supports the healthy child mode; combats
and eventually replaces the maladaptive coping modes; neutralizes or moderates
the maladaptive parent modes. This mode also performs appropriate adult
functions such as working, parenting, taking responsibility, and committing;
pursues pleasurable adult activities such as sex; intellectual, aesthetic, and
cultural interests; health maintenance; and athletic activities.