Schema Therapy in Norwood, Adelaide
Schema Therapy helps you understand the deeper patterns that may be keeping you stuck in unhelpful cycles. These patterns, known as schemas, often develop early in life through our experiences and relationships, and can continue to influence how we think, feel, and respond to ourselves and others.
How Do Schemas Develop?
Humans have emotional needs that must be met to feel safe and secure. These include:
Secure attachment to others
Autonomy, competence, and a sense of identity
Freedom to express valid needs and emotions
Spontaneity and play
Realistic limits
When our emotional needs aren’t met, we may develop Early Maladaptive Schemas.
How Does Schema Therapy Work?
Schema Therapy involves several components to help individuals understand and heal their schemas:
Assessment: Through conversations, questionnaires, self-monitoring, and imagery.
Psychoeducation and Formulation: Learning about specific schemas, how they developed, how they affect daily life, and identifying maladaptive coping mechanisms.
Cognitive Challenging: Learning to change or manage unhelpful thoughts about oneself, others, and the world.
Behaviour Pattern Breaking: Establishing healthy coping mechanisms in response to triggers.
Experiential Techniques:
Imagery Rescripting: Using imagery to heal emotional wounds from past experiences.
Chair Work: Engaging in dialogues with different parts of oneself to facilitate emotional processing.
Therapist-Client Relationship: In Schema Therapy, the relationship between client and therapist serves as a model for healthy boundaries and caring interactions, while maintaining appropriate boundaries.
What Are the Schemas?
Abandonment - The belief that significant others will ultimately leave.
Mistrust and Abuse - The belief that others will intentionally harm or deceive.
Emotional Deprivation - The belief that one's emotional needs for care and support will not be adequately met by others.
Defectiveness and Shame - The belief that one is inherently flawed, defective, or unlovable.
Social Isolation - The feeling of not belonging or fitting into society.
Dependence - The belief that one is entirely helpless, reliant on others, and incapable of making independent decisions.
Vulnerability to Harm - The belief that the world is dangerous and disaster can strike at any moment.
Enmeshment - Excessive emotional entanglement with others (usually parents), based on the belief that one cannot manage without them.
Failure - The belief that one will inevitably fail in their endeavours, especially related to performance (e.g., school or sport).
Entitlement - The belief that one is superior to others and deserves special privileges and rights.
Insufficient Self-Control - Difficulty in exercising self-control to achieve goals, with a low tolerance for frustration and trouble regulating impulses.
Subjugation - Excessive suppression of one's own needs to avoid punishment, abandonment, or rejection.
Self-Sacrifice - An exaggerated sense of duty to meet others' needs at the expense of one's own fulfilment.
Approval Seeking - An excessive focus on gaining validation, recognition, and approval from others, often compromising one's self-identity.
Negativity and Pessimism - A tendency to emphasise negative aspects of life while overlooking and undervaluing positive elements.
Unrelenting Standards - The belief that failure to meet very high, often self-imposed standards will lead to severe criticism.
Punitiveness towards self - Hyper-criticalness and punishment towards oneself for making mistakes or being imperfect.
Punitiveness towards others - The belief that others should face severe punishment and consequences for their mistakes and wrongdoings.
Emotional Constriction - Excessive control over emotions due to feelings of shame and embarrassment about expressing them.
Fear of Losing Control - The belief that failing to maintain emotional control will result in dire outcomes.
Get in touch to inquire about therapy or to arrange an initial appointment. We offer a free, no obligation, 15 minute phone call to potential clients.