Schema Therapy

Schema Therapy is a composite model that combines CBT with elements from other approaches. It is recommended when we need therapy to help us improve our relationships and address chronic challenges that we struggle with preventing.

The model relies on recognizing and addressing the triptych schema-coping styles-modes. Those elements are rooted in childhood or adolescence and follow us into adulthood, forming the core of our issue or condition.

Schemas are core emotions and notions that affect how we perceive ourselves and interact with the world around us. That happens because schemas:

• Appear at the beginning of our lives and recur as we grow.
• Activate maladaptive coping styles such as surrender, avoidance, and overcompensation.
• Create complex behavioral patterns (modes) that persist and disrupt our development.

Schema Therapy is a medium to long-term therapy model. Its goal is to identify our past unfulfilled emotional needs and eventually fulfill them so we can build healthy relationships and functional coping strategies.

By developing effective antidotes to the unhelpful schemas of our childhood years, we can gradually prevent them from adversely affecting our adult lives, our emotions, and our actions.