Approval-/ Admiration-Seeking

This resource provides insights into the approval-/ admiration-seeking schema, helping therapists work with common early maladaptive schemas (EMS) more effectively.

Download or send

Professional version

Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.

Client version

Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.

Overview

The approval-/ admiration seeking EMS is characterised by a persistent and exaggerated need for the approval, attention, and recognition. Overly focused on the judgements of others and social status,individuals with this EMS experience corresponding losses in their self-esteem, self-identity, self-directedness, and vitality (Chang, 2020; Ehrlich, 2021). Part of the Psychology Tools Schema series, this resource aids therapists in identifying and addressing key early maladaptive schemas (EMS).

Why Use This Resource?

The Approval-/ Admiration-Seeking schema resource supports therapeutic engagement by helping clients:

  • Understand what schemas are and where they come from.
  • Recognize how the approval-/ admiration-seeking schema might operate in their lives.
  • Develop ideas about how to overcome this problematic, longstanding pattern.

Key Benefits

Insight

Offers a comprehensive understanding of the approval-/ admiration-seeking schema.

Healing

Describes what addressing what addressing this schema might entail.

Versatility

Applicable across a range of psychological difficulties.

Who is this for?

Narcissism

Extreme self-promotion and need for admiration.

Relationship Problems

Excessive concerns about being liked and accepted.

Other Difficulties

Addictions, bipolar disorder, and OCD have been associated with this schema.

Integrating it into your practice

01

Educate

Provide psychoeducation about schemas and their origins in unmet needs.

02

Identify

Recognize the signs of approval-/ admiration-seeking in clients.

03

Monitor

Help clients spot when this schema is activated.

04

Address

Use schema-focused interventions to heal this schema.

Theoretical Background & Therapist Guidance

Schema therapy aims to addresses complex psychological difficulties by healing early maladaptive schemas (EMS) and addressing problematic coping styles. This requires a blend of cognitive, emotion-focused, relational, and behavioral interventions.

People with an approval-/ admiration-seeking schema are very concerned about what others think of them. They work hard to impress people so that they are accepted, applauded, or gain attention. However, focusing so much on other people’s opinions can leave them feeling empty, disconnected from their true self, and unhappy with their choices in life.

What's inside

  • Detailed explanation of schema theory and schema therapy concepts.
  • Insights into the approval-/ admiration-seeking schema and it's origins.
  • Overview of other schemas that are sometimes linked to appproval-/ admiration-seeking.
  • Suggestions for how therapists can meet the needs of clients with this schema.
Get access to this resource

FAQs

Clients may alter their behavior to gain approval, often resulting in a lack of genuine self-expression, or act in boastful, self-promoting ways.
Approval-/ admiration-seeking is often associated with unmet emotional needs relating to unconditional love and acceptance, self-directedness, self-expression, and validation in childhood (Bach et al., 2018; Farrell & Shaw, 2018).
People with this schema might struggle with fragile self-worth, difficulties tolerating criticism or disapproval, and a lack of authenticity.

How This Resource Improves Clinical Outcomes

By using this information sheet, therapists can:

  • Develop a deeper understanding of the approval-/ admiration-seeking schema.
  • Help clients recognize how this schema operates in their lives.
  • Engage clients in therapy and plan effective interventions.

Clinicians Who Use This Resource Also Use

References And Further Reading

  • Alba, J., Calvete, E., Wante, L., Van Beveren, M. L., & Braet, C. (2018). Early maladaptive schemas as moderators of the association between bullying victimization and depressive symptoms in adolescents. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 42, 24-35. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-017-9874-5
  • Arntz, A., & Jacob, G. (2013). Schema therapy in practice: An introductory guide to the schema mode approach. John Wiley and Sons.
  • Arntz, A., Rijkeboer, M., Chan, E., Fassbinder, E., Karaosmanoglu, A., Lee, C. W., & Panzeri, M. (2021). Towards a reformulated theory underlying schema therapy: Position paper of an international workgroup. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 45, 1007-1020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-021-10209-5
  • Askari, A. (2021). New concepts of schema therapy: The six coping styles. Amir Askari.
  • Askari, I. (2019). Early maladaptive schemas and cognitive-behavioral aspect of anger: Schema model perspective. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 37, 262-283. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10942-018-0311-9
  • Bach, B., Lockwood, G., & Young, J. E. (2018). A new look at the schema therapy model: Organization and role of early maladaptive schemas. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy, 47, 328-349. https://doi.org/10.1080/16506073.2017.1410566
  • Back, M. D., Küfner, A. C. P., Dufner, M., Gerlach, T. M., Rauthmann, J. F., & Denissen, J. J. A. (2013). Narcissistic admiration and rivalry: Disentangling the bright and dark sides of narcissism. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 105, 1013-1037. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0034431
  • Baz, A., & Karagüzel, E. Ö. (2022). Comparison of early maladaptive schemas in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients, their siblings, and controls. Alpha Psychiatry, 23, 157-163. https://doi.org/10.5152/alphapsychiatry.2022.21565
  • Beck, A. T., Freeman, A., & Davis, D. D. (2004). Cognitive therapy of personality disorders. Guilford Press.
  • Belsky, J. (2013). Differential susceptibility to environmental influences. International Journal of Child Care and Education Policy, 7, 15-31. https://doi.org/10.1007/2288-6729-7-2-15
  • Bishop, A., Younan, R., Low, J., & Pilkington, P. D. (2022). Early maladaptive schemas and depression in adulthood: A systematic review and meta‐analysis. Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, 29, 111-130. https://doi.org/10.1002/cpp.2630
  • Bowlby, J. (1977). The making and breaking of affectional bonds: I. Aetiology and psychopathology in the light of attachment theory. British Journal of Psychiatry, 130, 201-210. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjp.130.3.201
  • Briedis, J., & Startup, H. (2020). Somatic perspective in schema therapy: The role of the body in the awareness and transformation of modes and schemas. In G. Heath & H. Startup (Eds.), Creative methods in schema therapy: Advances and innovations in practice (pp. 60-75). Routledge.
  • Brockman, R. N., Simpson, S., Hayes, C., Wijingaart, R. V. D., & Smout, M. (2023). Cambridge guide to schema therapy. Cambridge University Press.
  • Calvete, E., Orue, I., & Hankin, B. L. (2013). Early maladaptive schemas and social anxiety in adolescents: The mediating role of anxious automatic thoughts. Journal of Anxiety Disorders, 27, 278-288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.janxdis.2013.02.011
  • Chang, O. D. (2020). The stakes of self‐worth: Examining contingencies of self‐worth to clarify the association between global self‐esteem and eating disturbances in college women. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 76, 2283-2295. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.23006
  • Crocker, J., & Wolfe, C. T. (2001). Contingencies of self-worth. Psychological Review, 108, 593-623. https://doi.org/10.1037/0033-295X.108.3.593
  • Cutland Green, T., & Balfour, A. (2020). Assessment and formulation in schema therapy. In G. Heath & H. Startup (Eds.), Creative methods in schema therapy: Advances and innovation in clinical practice (pp. 19-47). Routledge.
  • Da Luz, F. Q., Sainsbury, A., Hay, P., Roekenes, J. A., Swinbourne, J., Da Silva, D. C., & da S. Oliveira, M. (2017). Early maladaptive schemas and cognitive distortions in adults with morbid obesity: Relationships with mental health status. Behavioral Sciences, 7, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.3390/bs7010010
  • Dikmen, S. N. T., & Safak, Y. (2020). Effect of early maladaptive schemas and sexual self-schemas in vaginismus. International Journal of Medical Reviews and Case Reports, 4, 15-21. https://doi.org/10.5455/IJMRCR.Effect-schemas-sexual-self-schemas-vaginismus
  • Eisenberg, N., Fabes, R. A., Shepard, S. A., Guthrie, I. K., Murphy, B. C., & Reiser, M. (1999). Parental reactions to children’s negative emotions: Longitudinal relations to quality of children’s social functioning. Child Development, 70, 513-534. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00037
  • Farrell, J. M., Reiss, N., & Shaw, I. (2014). The schema therapy clinician’s guide: A complete resource for building and developing individual, group and integrated schema mode treatment programs. John Wiley and Sons.
  • Farrell, J. M., & Shaw, I. (2018). Experiencing schema therapy from the inside out: A self-practice/self-reflection workbook for therapists. Guilford Press.
  • Flanagan, C. (2010). The case for needs in psychotherapy. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 20, 1-36. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018815
  • Grapsas, S., Brummelman, E., Back, M. D., & Denissen, J. J. (2020). The “why” and “how” of narcissism: A process model of narcissistic status pursuit. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 15, 150-172. https://doi.org/10.1177/1745691619873350
  • Greenwald, M., & Young, J. (1998). Schema-focused therapy: An integrative approach to psychotherapy supervision. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 12, 109-126.
  • Hahn, J., & Oishi, S. (2006). Psychological needs and emotional well-being in older and younger Koreans and Americans. Personality and Individual Differences, 40, 689-698. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2005.09.001
  • Hawke, L. D., & Provencher, M. D. (2012). Early maladaptive schemas among patients diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Journal of Affective Disorders, 136, 803-811. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jad.2011.09.036
  • Jordan, C. H., & Zeigler-Hill, V. (2013). Fragile self-esteem: The perils and pitfalls of (some) high self-esteem. In V. Zeigler-Hill (Ed.), Self-esteem (pp. 80-98). Psychology Press.
  • Kiff, C. J., Lengua, L. J., & Zalewski, M. (2011). Nature and nurturing: Parenting in the context of child temperament. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 14, 251-301. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-011-0093-4
  • Kudryavtsev, V. T. (2011). The phenomenon of child creativity. International Journal of Early Years Education, 19, 45-53. https://doi.org/10.1080/09669760.2011.570999
  • Leary, M. R., Gallagher, B., Fors, E., Buttermore, N., Baldwin, E., Kennedy, K., & Mills, A. (2003). The invalidity of disclaimers about the effects of social feedback on self-esteem. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 29, 623-636. https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167203029005007
  • Lockwood, G., & Perris, P. (2012). A new look at core emotional needs. In M. van Vreeswijk, J. Broersen, & M. Nadort (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of schema therapy: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 41-66). John Wiley and Sons.
  • Lockwood, G., & Samson, R. (2020). Understanding and meeting core emotional needs. In G. Heath & H. Startup (Eds.), Creative methods in schema therapy: Advances and innovations in practice (pp. 76-90). Routledge.
  • Lind, R. (2000). The seeking self: The quest for self-improvement and the creation of personal suffering. Phanes Press.
  • Loose, C., Graaf, P., Zarbock, G., & Holt, R. A. (2020). Schema therapy for children and adolescents (ST-CA): A practitioner’s guide. Pavilion.
  • Louis, J. P., Louis, K. M., & Young, A. M. (2022). Positive schemas: Replication, associations with negative schemas, and the dark triad. Psychological Reports. https://doi.org/10.1177/00332941221100445
  • Louis, J. P., Wood, A. M., Lockwood, G., Ho, M.-H. R., & Ferguson, E. (2018). Positive clinical psychology and Schema Therapy (ST): The development of the Young Positive Schema Questionnaire (YPSQ) to complement the Young Schema Questionnaire 3 Short Form (YSQ-S3). Psychological Assessment, 30, 1199-1213. https://doi.org/10.1037/pas0000567
  • Meier, I. (2019). Basic needs and complexes: Similarities between feeling‐toned complexes, emotional schema and affective states. Journal of Analytical Psychology, 64, 761-779. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-5922.12545
  • Nia, M. K., & Sovani, A. (2014). Cross cultural comparison role of early maladaptive schemas and coping styles between women with depressive symptoms in Iran and India. Journal of Applied Environmental and Biological Sciences, 4, 57-65.
  • Noor, R., & Dildar, S. (2021). Childhood traumatic experiences, early maladaptive schemas and personality dysfunctions in shelter home residents. Pakistan Journal of Applied Psychology, 1, 10-23.
  • O’Sheedy, B. (2021). Is connectedness to nature a core human need? Schema Therapy Bulletin, 23, 10-14.
  • Pekdoğan S., & Kanak, M. (2022). Child temperament as a predictor of parents’ potential for emotional abuse. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 210, 330-334. https://doi.org/10.1097/NMD.0000000000001449
  • Pozza, A., Albert, U., & Dèttore, D. (2020). Early maladaptive schemas as common and specific predictors of skin picking subtypes. BMC Psychology, 8, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-020-0392-y
  • Prieler, M., Choi, J., & Lee, H. E. (2021). The relationships among self-worth contingency on others’ approval, appearance comparisons on Facebook, and adolescent girls’ body esteem: A cross-cultural study. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 18, 901. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18030901
  • Rafaeli, E., Berstein, D. P., & Young, J. E. (2011). Schema therapy: Distinctive features. Routledge.
  • Rafaeli, E., Maurer, O., Lazarus, G., & Thoma, N. C. (2016). The self in schema therapy. In M. Kyrios, R. Moulding, G. Doron, S. S. Bhar, M. Nedeljkovic, & M. Mikulincer (Eds.), The self in understanding and treating psychological disorders (pp. 59-70). Cambridge University Press.
  • Roediger, E., Stevens, B. A., & Brockman, R. (2018). Contextual schema therapy: An integrative approach to personality disorders, emotional dysregulation, and interpersonal functioning. New Harbinger.
  • Rudolph, K. D., Caldwell, M. S., & Conley, C. S. (2005). Need for approval and children’s well‐being. Child Development, 76, 309-323. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2005.00847_a.x
  • Saariaho, T. H., Saariaho, A. S., Karila, I. A., & Joukamaa, M. I. (2010). Early maladaptive schemas in Finnish adult chronic male and female pain patients. Scandinavian Journal of Pain, 1, 196-202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sjpain.2010.09.003
  • Sargent, J. T., Crocker, J., & Luhtanen, R. K. (2006). Contingencies of self-worth and depressive symptoms in college students. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 25, 628-646. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.2006.25.6.628
  • Vieira, C., Kuss, D. J., & Griffiths, M. D. (2023). Early maladaptive schemas and behavioural addictions: A systematic literature review. Clinical Psychology Review, 102340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cpr.2023.102340
  • Simeone-DiFrancesco, C., Roediger, E., & Stevens, B. A. (2015). Schema therapy with couples: A practitioner’s guide to healing. John Wiley and Sons.
  • Sundag, J., Zens, C., Ascone, L., Thome, S., & Lincoln, T. M. (2018). Are schemas passed on? A study on the association between early maladaptive schemas in parents and their offspring and the putative translating mechanisms. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 46, 738-753. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465818000073
  • Van Genderen, H., Rijkeboer, M., & Arntz, A. (2012). Theoretical model: Schemas, coping styles, and modes. In M. van Vreeswijk, J. Broersen, & M. Nadort (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell handbook of schema therapy: Theory, research, and practice (pp. 27-40). John Wiley and Sons.
  • Van Vreeswijk, M., Broersen, J., & Schurink, G. (2014). Mindfulness and schema therapy: A practical guide. John Wiley and Sons.
  • Wells, A., & Hackmann, A. (1993). Imagery and core beliefs in health anxiety: Content and origins. Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 21, 265-273. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465800010511
  • Winnicott, D. W. (1965). The maturational processes and the facilitating environment. Karnac Books.
  • Yalcin, O., Marais, I., Lee, C. W., & Correia, H. (2023). The YSQ-R: Predictive validity and comparison to the short and long form Young Schema Questionnaire. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20, 1-14. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20031778
  • Young, J. E. (1990). Cognitive therapy for personality disorders: A schema-focused approach. Practitioner’s Resource Exchange.
  • Young, J. E. (1999). Cognitive therapy for personality disorders: A schema-focused approach (3rd ed.). Professional Resource Press.
  • Young, J. E. (2014). Early maladaptive schemas. Schema Therapy Institute, New York.
  • Young, J. E., & Klosko, J. S. (1994). Reinventing your life: The breakthrough program to end negative behavior and feel great again. Plume.
  • Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: A practitioner's guide. Guilford Press.
  • Young, J. E., Zangwill, W. M., & Behary, W. E. (2002). Combining EMDR and schema-focused therapy: The whole may be greater than the sum of the parts. In F. Shapiro (Ed.), EMDR as an integrative psychotherapy approach: Experts of diverse orientations explore the paradigm prism (pp. 181-208). American Psychological Association.
  • Zeigler-Hill, V., & Vrabel, J. K. (2023). Narcissistic personality features and contingencies of self-worth: What are the foundations of narcissistic self-esteem? Self and Identity, 22, 294-331. https://doi.org/10.1080/15298868.2022.2091656
  • Zentner, M., & Bates, J. E. (2008). Child temperament: An integrative review of concepts, research programs, and measures. European Journal of Developmental Science, 2, 7-37.

Why Psychology Tools?

Popular Pages

Get Support

Sign Up

We value your privacy

This site uses strictly necessary cookies to function. We do not use cookies for analytics, marketing, or tracking purposes. By clicking “OK”, you agree to the use of these essential cookies. Read our Cookie Policy