What are Schemas?
Schemas are maladaptive thoughts that generally develop in childhood. For example, fear of abandonment, fear of trusting people, feeling entitled to things, feeling like a failure or defective, etc. As we adopt them as ‘truths’, once we become adults, these are generally pretty solid in our realities, impacting on our relationships and day to day life.
How do we react to the schemas?
We have a few ways our brains manage our maladaptive schemas. See the worksheet below. In short, we may become a vulnerable or angry child, we may find our protector not letting anyone in, or may comply with everything and everyone as a way to cope with our bad the schema makes us feel.
There’s three ways we tackle a schema (maladaptively). We avoid it (ie drugs or social avoidance), we subjugate to it (seeking abusive relationships or being an abuser ourselves as a way of ‘maintaining’ the schema), or we overcompensate for it (overachieving to compensate for our chronic sense of failure). Schema therapy addresses all of the above.
Great… but HOW do you treat these schemas?
There are a few ways we treat our maladative schemas. This include the schema itself, the modes we are falling into, and whether we are maintaining, avoiding, or subjugating to the schema. Some of the therapeutic approaches you may recognise in schema therapy include;
1- Limited reparenting
This is when the therapist, during the sessions, provide limited reparenting to identify trauma, validate them and assist the person in learning healthy ways to cope with them. To the eye, it looks like plain “talk therapy”, and I guess it is, but it’s more than that. It is about meeting the inner child’s need where it’s most useful in an empathetic, honest, and supportive way.
2- Guided imagery
This is a practical approach where the therapist assists the person in imagining a trauma scene but in a way where the child had power, control and safety. The trauma is “rescripted” essentially, to meet the needs of the child at that time.
3- Empty chair work
During chair work, the therapist and patient work together in identifying and addressing different modes (see below for info on what modes are). The therapist may be talking to the “protector” mode or the “vulnerable child” mode, next to the patient, as to help them see the tension and contradictions in their inner narratives.
4- Cognitive strategies
This involves reality testing some of the schemas and heavily influencing the person in looking at ‘stuck’ thoughts and beliefs without evidence. It may involve discussions on pros and cons of modes as well as intellectualising coping mechanisms.
5- Behavioural strategies
This is designed to transform patters of behaviours with the help of homework, role play, flashcards etc. This is very practical compared to the other techniques to treat our schemas.
Schema therapy works brilliantly with EMDR and vice versa, and as trained in both, I do believe that these can-do great work for people wanting to heal from trauma and adverse childhood events. For more info in simple language, check out this article from Psychology Today.
If you think I can help you, and I would love to, contact me. While schema therapy required a commitment to attend regular sessions and probably at least 10, the results speaks for themselves!
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