David C. Bricker, Ph.D. and Jeffrey E. Young, Ph.D.
Schema Therapy Institute
HARRY is a 45-year old middle-level manager. He has been married for 16 years, but his
marriage has been very troubled. He and his wife are often resentful of each other, they
rarely communicate on an intimate level, and they have few moments of real pleasure.
Other aspects of Harry’s life have been equally unsatisfying. He doesn’t enjoy his work,
primarily because he doesn’t get along with his co-workers. He is often intimidated by
his boss and other people at the office. He has a few friends outside of work, but none
that he considers close.
During the past year Harry’s mood became increasingly negative. He was getting more
irritable, he had trouble sleeping and he began to have difficulty concentrating at work.
As he became more and more depressed, he began to eat more and gained 15 pounds.
When he found himself thinking about taking his own life, he decided it was time to get
help. He consulted a psychologist who practices cognitive therapy.
As a result of short-term cognitive therapy techniques, Harry improved rapidly. His mood
lifted, his appetite returned to normal, and he no longer thought about suicide. In
addition he was able to concentrate well again and was much less irritable. He also
began to feel more in control of his life as he learned how to control his emotions for
the first time.
But, in some ways, the short-term techniques were not enough. His relationships with
his wife and others, while they no longer depressed him as much as they had, still failed
to give him much pleasure. He still could not ask to have his needs met, and he had few
experiences he considered truly enjoyable. The therapist then began schema therapy to
help Harry change his long-term life patterns.
This guide will present the schema therapy approach, developed by Dr. Jeffrey Young to
expand cognitive therapy for clients with more difficult long-term problems. Schema
therapy can help people change long-term patterns, including the ways in which they
interact with other people. This overview of schema therapy consists of six parts:
1) A brief explanation of short-term cognitive therapy
2) An explanation of what a schema is and examples of schemas;
3) An explanation of the processes by which schemas function;
4) An explanation of modes and how they function within schema therapy;
5) Several case examples; and
6) A brief description of the therapeutic process
Short-Term Cognitive Therapy
Cognitive therapy is a system of psychotherapy developed by Aaron Beck and his
colleagues to help people overcome emotional problems. This system emphasizes
changing the ways in which people think in order to improve their moods, such as
depression, anxiety and anger.
Emotional disturbance is influenced by the cognitive distortions that people make in
dealing with their life experiences. These distortions take the form of negative
interpretations and predictions of everyday events. For instance, a male college student
preparing for a test might make himself feel discouraged by thinking: “This material is
impossible” (Negative Interpretation) and “I’ll never pass this test” (Negative Prediction).
The therapy consists of helping clients to restructure their thinking. An important step in
this process is examining the evidence concerning the maladaptive thoughts. In the
example above, the therapist would help the student to look at his past experiences and
determine if the material was in fact impossible to learn, and if he knew for sure that he
couldn’t pass the test. In all probability, the student would decide that these two
thoughts lacked validity.
More accurate alternative thoughts are then substituted. For instance, the student might
be encouraged to think: “This material is difficult, but not impossible. I’ve learned
difficult material before” and “I’ve never failed a test before, so long as I’ve done
enough preparation.” These thoughts would probably lead him to feel better and cope