Schema-Focused
Cognitive
Therapy
is
the
approach
developed
by
Jeffrey
E.
Young,
Ph.D.,
who
was
a
protégée
of
Dr.
Beck.
Prior
to
his
founding
the
Cognitive
Therapy
Centers
of
NY
and
Connecticut,
as
well
as
the
Schema
Therapy
Institute,
Dr.
Young
served
as
the
Director
of
Research
and
Training
at
the
Center
for
Cognitive
Therapy
at
U.
Penn
with
Dr.
Beck,
where
he
trained
many
clinicians
in
the
application
of
CBT.
In
working
with
clients,
however,
Dr.
Young
and
his
colleagues
found
a
significant
segment
of
people
who
came
for
treatment
but
had
perplexing
difficulty
in
benefiting
from
the
standard
approach.
He
discovered
that
these
people
typically
had
long-standing
patterns
or
themes
in
thinking
and
feeling—and
consequently
in
behaving
or
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, get repeated and elaborated upon, cause negative/dysfunctional
thoughts and feelings, and pose obstacles for accomplishing one’s
goals and getting one’s needs met. 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. Dr. Young’s model centers on
helping the person to break these patterns of thinking, feeling
and behaving, which are often very tenacious.
In formulating the Schema-Focused approach, Young combined the best aspects of cognitive-behavioral, experiential, interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies into one unified model of treatment. Through Young’s work and the efforts of those trained by him, Schema-Focused Therapy has shown remarkable results in helping people to change patterns which they have lived with for a long time, even when other methods and efforts they have tried before have been largely unsuccessful.
List of Schemas
The
schemas that are targeted in treatment are
enduring and self-defeating patterns that typically begin early
in life, get repeated and elaborated upon, cause negative/dysfunctional
thoughts and feelings, and pose obstacles for accomplishing one’s
goals and getting one’s needs met. 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. Dr. Young’s model centers on
helping the person to break these patterns of thinking, feeling
and behaving, which are often very tenacious.In formulating the Schema-Focused approach, Young combined the best aspects of cognitive-behavioral, experiential, interpersonal and psychoanalytic therapies into one unified model of treatment. Through Young’s work and the efforts of those trained by him, Schema-Focused Therapy has shown remarkable results in helping people to change patterns which they have lived with for a long time, even when other methods and efforts they have tried before have been largely unsuccessful.
List of Schemas
