Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy
Schema-Focused Cognitive Therapy is an integrative approach to treatment
that combines the best aspects of cognitive-behavioral, experiential,
interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies into one unified model. Schema-Focused
Therapy has shown remarkable results in helping people to change negative
(“maladaptive”) patterns which they have lived with for a
long time, even when other methods and efforts they have tried before
have been largely unsuccessful.
The Schema-Focused model was developed by Dr. Jeff Young, who originally
worked closely with Dr. Aaron Beck, the founder of Cognitive Therapy.
While treating clients at the Center for Cognitive Therapy at the University
of Pennsylvania, Dr. Young and his colleagues identified a segment of
people who had difficulty in benefiting from the standard approach. He
discovered that these people typically had long-standing patterns or themes
in thinking, feeling and behaving/coping that required a different means
of intervention. Dr. Young's attention turned to ways of helping patients
to address and modify these deeper patterns or themes, also known as “schemas”
or “lifetraps.”
The schemas that are targeted in treatment are enduring and self-defeating
patterns that typically begin early in life. These patterns consist of
negative/dysfunctional thoughts and feelings, have been repeated and elaborated
upon, and pose obstacles for accomplishing one's goals and getting one's
needs met. Some examples of schema beliefs are: “I'm unlovable,”
“I’m a failure,” “People don't care about me,”
“I’m not important,” “Something bad is going to
happen,” “People will leave me,” “I will never
get my needs met,” “I will never be good enough,” and
so on.
Although schemas are usually developed early in life (during childhood
or adolescence), they can also form later, in adulthood. These schemas
are perpetuated behaviorally through the coping styles of schema maintenance,
schema avoidance, and schema compensation. The Schema-Focused model of
treatment is designed to help the person to break these negative patterns
of thinking, feeling and behaving, which are often very tenacious, and
to develop healthier alternatives to replace them.
Schema-Focused Therapy consists of three stages. First is the assessment
phase, in which schemas are identified during the initial sessions. Questionnaires
may be used as well to get a clear picture of the various patterns involved.
Next comes the emotional awareness and experiential phase, wherein patients
get in touch with these schemas and learn how to spot them when they are
operating in their day-to-day life. Thirdly, the behavioral change stage
becomes the focus, during which the client is actively involved in replacing
negative, habitual thoughts and behaviors with new, healthy cognitive
and behavioral options.
At Cognitive Therapy Associates (CTA), we have therapists (licensed clinical
psychologists and social workers) located in NYC and Westchester who provide
Schema-Focused Therapy. Our efforts are geared to help you break free
of disruptive, negative patterns and cycles so you can feel better and
enjoy greater life satisfaction. Please call us at (212)
258-2577 to inquire about our services.
Keywords: schema therapy, cognitive schema, schema theory, mental health,
social worker, therapist, psychologist, social worker, CBT.
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