Schema therapy can help lots of people suffering with their mental health, as it is a multi-faceted therapeutic approach that helps to treat deep-rooted issues.
What is its aim?
Schema therapy was developed by Jeffrey Young in 1990, with therapists working with patients on their schemas, which are belief systems that form in childhood.
If certain emotional needs are not met as a child, people develop unhelpful patterns of thinking that can affect them later in life and cause them great distress.
The fundamental emotional needs of a child include a sense of safety; self-identity and autonomy; freedom to express emotions and ask for what they need; being able to play; and having age-appropriate boundaries.
These needs might not be met if they suffer trauma or victimisation as a child, if they are overindulged or do not have limits, and if they are not encouraged to share their emotions or do not feel safe within their homes.
As a result, schemas are developed that can lead to poor mental health, and in some cases, personality disorders.
What different schemas are there?
There are lots of different schemas that might need readjusting. For instance, a patient might suffer from emotional deprivation, abandonment, mistrust or abuse, feelings of being flawed, social isolation, vulnerability or dependence.
Alternatively, they might not have self-identity; they might feel like a failure; they might be self-sacrificial; seek approval; inhibit their emotions; and always strive for perfection.
Others might constantly feel negative; believe people should be harshly punished; have insufficient self-control; or have an unjustified sense of self-entitlement.
Without discussing these schemas with a trained therapist, these beliefs can lead to issues with relationships, self-esteem, and in the workplace.
Those with malaligned schemas are at a greater risk of chronic depression or anxiety, substance abuse, eating disorders, or even post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive compulsive disorder. Therefore, addressing these thought patterns can have a positive impact, helping to avoid harmful and life-limiting habits or put an end to them.
How does schema therapy work?
Schema therapy combines cognitive behavioural therapy, attachment theory, gestalt, constructivism, object relations, psychoanalysis and emotion-focused therapy for an integrative approach.
After identifying which malapted schemas the patient has developed since a child, the therapist uses these techniques to change their way of thinking so they do not find certain life events triggering.
By understanding the origins of the schemas, a schema therapist can get to the root cause of the thought patterns and help to change the patient’s way of thinking to facilitate change.
The job of the therapist is to teach how emotional needs can be met in a healthy way, no longer bound by their childhood and the events that occurred when they were young.
Not only do they offer guidance on how to manage their thoughts and reactions to certain events, but they offer patients validation for their feelings. This helps them feel safe and secure, so they can move on from their past trauma and lean towards more positive behaviours in the future.