Let’s explore what Schema Therapy is. Schema Therapy is a treatment developed to change core beliefs (unconscious beliefs) as described in the cognitive model of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). It was initially developed for individuals with personality disorders but is now being applied to those whose symptoms are not easily alleviated.
1. Schema Therapy
Schema Therapy is referred to as 심리도식치료 in Korea. Let’s learn about what this psychological therapy is and its background.
1) What is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy, developed by Dr. Jeffrey S. Young, is a psychological therapy that focuses on changing core beliefs (schemas). It is an advanced form of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) developed by Aaron T. Beck.
2) The Background of Schema Therapy
After the development of CBT, it showed significant effects on patients with depression, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. However, some patients did not respond well to treatment.
The reason could be that the unconscious beliefs that generate automatic thoughts were very strong, necessitating a psychological therapy that directly affects the unconscious.
Dr. Young found that existing treatments for changing the unconscious (psychoanalysis, analytical psychology) were time-consuming and had varying interpretations depending on the analyst. Therefore, he integrated CBT with psychoanalysis, Gestalt therapy, attachment theory, and constructivism to create a new theory, which is Schema Therapy.
2. Understanding Schema in Schema Therapy
Let’s explore what schemas are in Schema Therapy and the three main elements involved.
1) What is a Schema?
A schema is a way of viewing oneself, others, and the world. It is a core belief that combines beliefs, values, and biases.
Some schemas are helpful, while others are not. Schemas are learned beliefs formed based on one’s temperament, interactions with parents and significant others, and various experiences during childhood.
2) Three Elements of a Schema
① Emotional Temperament
Emotional temperament is an innate trait that can be quiet and introverted or extroverted and sociable. Depending on one’s temperament, thoughts and behaviors can differ, affecting life experiences. Psychologists focusing on temperament suggest that it accounts for 30-40% of one’s life experience.
② Early Life Experiences
Early life experiences include the fulfillment, deficiency, or over-fulfillment of core needs, and modeling experiences during childhood.
Unlike other animals, humans take about a year to walk, need care until age three, and can move freely around age seven. Due to the vulnerable and dependent nature of early human life, experiences and upbringing during this period are crucial.
Meeting core needs leads to adaptive schemas, while deficiency or over-fulfillment can result in maladaptive schemas. Additionally, children are great at imitation, making primary caregivers strong role models.
③ Core Needs
Children usually fulfill their core needs through relationships with primary caregivers, a unique human trait.
Human development is slow compared to other animals, relying heavily on primary caregivers for survival and need fulfillment. Hence, most psychotherapists, including Freud, emphasize the experiences from birth to ages 3-7, where a child’s survival and need fulfillment depend on primary caregivers.
Core needs include safety/stability, autonomy, competence, identity, freedom to express needs and emotions, spontaneity and play, realistic limitations, and self-control.
3. Understanding Core Needs
Core needs are various fundamental needs humans have from birth. Depending on whether these needs are excessively met or unmet, a person’s beliefs and perspectives can vary.
1) Safety and Stability
Safety is the feeling of being free from threats to survival. If parents constantly fight or divorce, a child may feel their survival is threatened and lose their sense of safety.
Stability is the feeling of having relatively few changes and being predictable. Frequent moving during childhood can make it difficult to make friends, leading to a loss of stability.
2) Autonomy, Competence, and Identity
Autonomy is the ability to choose and control one’s actions. Competence is the perception of being able to achieve tasks well. Identity is the process of recognizing one’s values and beliefs.
Overprotected children may have issues with autonomy, competence, and identity. Living as per the caregiver’s directives can lead to a lack of autonomy, low competence due to lack of experience, and confusion about one’s identity, living as a proxy for the caregiver.
3) Freedom to Express Needs, Opinions, and Emotions
Children raised by indifferent parents often cannot express their needs, opinions, and emotions.
With no adult to listen or help, they may become silent, and children who act like ‘little adults’ should be carefully observed. These children may suppress their tantrums and whims to receive praise and attention for acting maturely.
4) Spontaneity and Play
Spontaneity is choosing and acting freely without external interference, while playfulness involves activities for enjoyment and recreation.
Children desire age-appropriate enjoyment, and suppression of such enjoyment can lead to issues. Adults excessively controlled during childhood may turn to addictions as a result.
5) Realistic Limitations and Self-Control
Realistic limitations are setting boundaries on behaviors that are socially and realistically possible.
Self-control is the ability to regulate one’s desires, emotions, and actions. Children who lack discipline may have issues with patience, and improper boundary-setting by caregivers can cause problems as they grow.
4. Conclusion
We explored what Schema Therapy is. Schema Therapy was developed to address unconscious areas within Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Let’s review some frequently asked questions and key points.
1) What is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy is a psychological therapy aimed at changing unconscious beliefs about oneself, others, and the world. Schemas are beliefs formed based on one’s temperament, interactions with significant others, and environmental experiences from birth.
2) What are the advantages of Schema Therapy?
The advantage of Schema Therapy is that it can be highly effective for chronic or personality disorder cases, which are difficult to treat among neuroses but not as much for psychoses.
3) What are the disadvantages of Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy requires more time than short-term psychological therapies like CBT, often taking 1-3 years for personality disorder patients. The concepts can be challenging to learn, and confronting past experiences during therapy can be painful.
For more information on the characteristics and five categories of schemas, please refer to the link below!
► Source and Reference Information:
ISST (International Society of Schema Therapy)
Schema Therapy Book – Jeffrey E. Young
– Be the Titan Brain
