What is schema therapy?

Schema therapy is a deep therapy that enables long lasting change. It relates your past to your present and helps you evaluate whether there are patterns from your past that you want to change. Schemas operate as blueprints to help us understand the world. They influence how we see, feel and behave in the world. Schemas develop in childhood or adolescence. In childhood, we all had core needs. If we mostly had our needs met then we feel safe, loved and important. However, if we had negative experiences, we may feel unloved, unsafe and unwanted. When schemas are triggered, we experience a threat, so our reaction can be to freeze, flight or fight. In childhood we needed to have a coping mechanism to manage when our needs were not met. This coping style may have helped us in childhood but may no longer serve as an adult. To give some examples of this: if you have an emotional deprivation schema, you may feel lonely and unlovable. If you surrender to this schema, you may discount any warm behaviour directed towards you and you may come across as withdrawn, which reinforces the schema. If you have an abandonment schema you may avoid dating because you fear the emotions that a separation may cause (avoidant coping style). This keeps abandonment fears going and does not meet your need for a relationship. Schema therapy uses cognitive, behavioural and experiential methods to help you to meet your needs as an adult.