Schema Therapy in Sydney

Sometimes we feel stuck. For years. The same old negative thoughts and problems just keep popping up, no matter what. That’s where schema therapy could be helpful. It’s a way of understanding and changing those super-deep patterns (schemas) of thinking and feeling that got set in early in our lives.

Schema Therapy, started by Jeffrey Young in the ’90s, brings ideas from different therapies, such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), and psychoanalysis. Schema therapy is especially useful if you’re dealing with complex mental health issues, like personality quirks, long-term problems with finding a partner, or feeling down or anxious all the time.

Schemas, modes, and coping styles

Schemas are those old, not-so-helpful beliefs about yourself and the world. They tend to come from your childhood when you didn’t get what you needed emotionally when you were growing up.

Modes are like the different emotional states that get triggered by those schemas.

Coping styles are how you’ve got used to dealing with those unhelpful schemas just to survive, but these coping styles aren’t always the best ways to go about things.

If you can get your head around these elements, your therapist can help you see things differently. They can help you meet those unmet emotional needs and find better ways of coping.

According to research, schema therapy works well for long-term issues. Like with anything in psychology, not everyone agrees that it’s always better for everyone, so work with your psychologist to understand if this is the right approach for you.

Healing Old Wounds with Schema Therapy

Schema therapy is a type of therapy that can help you understand, and change, those really long-standing, negative beliefs that you may have had since you were a kid.

Think of it like untangling those deeply ingrained patterns that can change how you see yourself, and others, and the world.

At the heart of schema therapy is a few, key pieces, that fit together to make the whole picture.

Early Maladaptive Schemas

EMS refer tothose deep-seated and negative beliefs that stem from how your emotional needs weren’t met when you were a child. Schemas are patterns made up of memories, feelings, and even physical sensations that take shape when we’re kids and stick with us through life. Maybe when you were growing up, you felt unloved, critiqued, or even abandoned. Those sorts of experiences often create the schemas you carry with you today, making it hard to be kind to yourself or to others, or see the world positively. The great thing is, by understanding these schemas, therapists can then help you pinpoint what’s behind your struggles and come up with ways to shift those deep-seated patterns.

Coping Styles

Are the ways you have learnt to deal with your schemas, often without even realising it. Maybe it presents as you avoiding a given situation that can trigger them off, or maybe you overcompensate by trying too hard to be perfect, or you “surrender” to a belief, and simply believe what you feel in that moment. Coping styles are just the ways we react to our schemas. There are three main ways people tend to cope: avoidance, surrender, and overcompensation (fighting back). These coping styles often make the schemas even stronger, and then we are stuck in a cycle of unhelpful behaviours. If you have a schema of Abandonment, you might avoid getting close to others to protect yourself from being abandoned – sound familiar?

Schema Modes

Are emotional states that are triggered by our coping style, the way you see the world. For example, if you have a schema of feeling like you’re inadequate, perhaps you slip into a “vulnerable child mode” where you feel, utterly helpless, or even very small. Schema modes are like the different headspaces we find ourselves in when certain schemas and coping styles get triggered. Each mode is a mix of schemas and coping mechanisms, creating a short-term “way of being” that can steer our behaviour and how we react emotionally. These schema modes can be helpful or not so helpful. The goal in therapy is to help you move away from those unhelpful modes, like shutting down, and towards healthier, more balanced states – the healthy adult mode.

Finding the links between past and present

By going deeper into the elements of all of these areas, a therapist can help you find where these set things stem from, and give you some understanding. Through this, you can reframe, and try to see how you could start to fulfill some of those emotional needs, in a way more healthy sense. This can lead to you developing better coping strategies that will work.

Of course, like any type of therapy for various areas, there are things you would want to understand before jumping into schema therapy. As it’s a complex approach, putting many approaches together, it is trickier to implement or might feel less structured than other approaches. Many people simply don’t like to think about their past, making them a bit hesitant to work with a therapist to understand their present challenges based on childhood difficulties. It’s important to take these moments into consideration, so you can consider if this works for you.

Measuring Your Schemas

In Schema Therapy, we use different methods to look at and change those schemas and modes. One we use is the Young Schema Questionnaire. It helps you get a handle on your schemas as it looks at your thinking and emotional patterns. We also use tools like the Schema Diary, where you can make notes about your experiences and sort out your thoughts, feelings, and reactions when those schemas get fired up.

5 Core Emotional Needs

Another big piece of the puzzle in Schema Therapy is spotting those emotional needs from childhood that didn’t get met. These unmet needs can lead to those unhelpful schemas we’ve been talking about. Turns out, there are five core emotional needs that should be met for healthy psychological growth. They are secure attachments to others (safety and stability, nurturance and acceptance), autonomy and identiy, expressing needs and emotions, play, and self-control. Therapy tries to help you figure out how these unmet needs have shaped your schemas, and then we work on ways to meet those needs in healthier ways now.

Schema Therapy Step by Step

Schema therapy provides a structured path to help you understand and change patterns that might be holding you back. These patterns, often called schemas, can influence how you feel, think, and act. Let’s walk through the steps involved in this type of therapy.

First, there’s an assessment. This is all about getting to know you and identifying the specific schemas that might be affecting you. Psychologists might use questionnaires, like the Young Schema Questionnaire, to help you recognise these schemas and understanding how they play out in your life.

Next, the therapist will create a treatment plan just for you, based on the schemas you’ve identified. The plan lays out the goals of the therapy and the methods used to reach those goals. This way, we make sure your therapy really fits you.

The real work begins with addressing and changing these unhelpful schemas. This part of the process uses different techniques. This involves exploring the emotional roots of your schemas and how they impact your current behaviours and relationships.

Then, you will begin to process the emotions and unmet needs linked to your schemas. This step is really important for understanding how past events influence your present emotional reactions and actions. It’s about helping you to heal and grow as a person.

As therapy progresses, you and your therapist will work together to develop and strengthen healthier schemas and coping strategies. This process helps you establish new ways of thinking and acting that support your overall well-being.

Finally, there’s the progress review. During these reviews, you and your psychologist will assess how well the therapy is going and make changes as required. This step involves solidifying what you’ve learned during therapy so you can keep up your progress in the long run.

Efficacy – Does it work?

Generally speaking, yes, but often not better than other therapies. However, when comparing Schema Therapy to Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT), and Individual Supportive Therapy (IST) to help with depression, schema therapy showed promising results where the more structured therapies didn’t work well.

As Schema Therapy does more than just give us specific techniques to help with depression, it seems to be effective in cases where more common treatments do not work and when people relapse. Not a one-size-fits-all, but when things are really stuck, it’s worth considering with your therapist.

Schema Therapy and Personality Disorders

Schema Therapy can be particularly good for personality disorders, like borderline (BPD) or avoidant personality disorder and other similar conditions. It can assist people to recognise and change unhelpful schemas that contribute to things like emotional ups and downs, trouble with relationships, and feeling not good enough. By getting a better handle on these patterns, people can learn better ways of coping and have more satisfying relationships.

Importantly, schema therapy helps to process the past to build healthier relationship, while Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) gives clients a very structured way of managing big emotions on the spot, but not necessarily learning how to connect with others long-term.

Mood and Anxiety and Schema Therapy

Besides personality disorders, Schema Therapy has also been shown to assist with mood disorders, like major depression and dysthymia, and generalised anxiety. The idea is that it targets schemas that can cause lasting emotional distress, and it gives people tools to become more aware of themselves and to bounce back more easily. Many people find Schema Therapy reduces their distress and overall improves their well-being.

Client Experiences

Many people find that schema therapy helps them see how their past has shaped their present. Clients often talk about how eye-opening it is to identify those early patterns. When people understand the connection between childhood experiences and current problems, like depression or even substances, it can spark a lot more self-acceptance as they go through therapy. This understanding can also help increase emotional awareness and give a deeper look into how schemas affect both relationships and the everyday grind.

Emotional Processing and Expression

A big part of schema therapy involves getting in touch with your feelings and expressing them in in a healthy way. Psychologists might use techniques like imagery or guided conversations to help you revisit important childhood memories. Reconnecting with these memories in the therapy room can bring about emotional change by linking them to your present behaviours.

For example, you might imagine talking to someone from your past, and that can help you to express emotions that you’ve been holding back. Imagery can help to express anger towards parents for what clients perceive as neglect. This can lead to a more balanced understanding of your childhood and lessen the impact of that schema.

Therapeutic Relationship in Schema Therapy

The relationship you have with your therapist matters a lot in schema therapy. People often say that having a strong, trusting connection provides a secure space for them to explore difficult things and start to heal. This connection also allows therapists to offer what we call “limited reparenting”. We can offer support, validation, and guidance that may have been missing in earlier relationships. This process can help you to internalise healthier relational patterns.

Working together with your psychologist can show your capacity for change. You will also start to learn healthier ways of coping. All of this gives you the power to break free from those difficult patterns that stem from your schemas, your early experiences.