This accessible information handout describes the key principles of schema therapy.
Offers theory, guidance, and prompts for mental health professionals. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Includes client-friendly guidance. Downloads are in Fillable PDF format where appropriate.
Schema therapy is an evidence-based talking therapy used to address various psychological difficulties. Central to schema therapy is the idea that many difficulties stem from early maladaptive schemas (EMS), how individuals respond to them (their ‘coping styles’), and the transient self-states they produce (their ‘schema modes’). The What Is Schema Therapy? information handout is designed to introduce clients to this approach. It provides an overview of key concepts and therapeutic tasks, and examples of conditions where schema therapy has been shown to be effective.
This handout provides an accessible yet comprehensive explanation of schema therapy. Therapists can use to:
Schema therapy is suitable for individuals with long-standing and complex personality difficulties.
Schema therapy can address the maladaptive beliefs that contribute to low mood.
Schema therapy has been shown to help individuals struggling with eating disorders.
Schema therapy might be helpful for individuals experiencing other complex difficulties.
Start a conversation about the potential benefits of schema therapy.
Use the information handout to explore the key ideas in schema therapy.
Help clients reflect on how schema therapy might be helpful to them.
Use the handout to consolidate client learning between sessions.
Schema therapy is an integrative, evidence-based talking therapy used to treat various psychological difficulties (Bernstein et al., 2023; Joshua et al., 2023; Kopf-Beck et al., 2024; Peeters et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2023). It has been successfully applied in individual, couple, and group settings.
Originally developed by Jeffrey Young in 1990s (Young et al., 2003), schema therapy was created to help individuals with complex, longstanding difficulties that did not respond well to traditional cognitive behavior therapy (CBT; Edwards & Arntz, 2012; McGinn & Young, 1996). Schema therapy combines CBT with elements from attachment, gestalt, object relationships, constructivist, psychoanalytic, and neurobiological approaches, forming a unified conceptual model. Over time, schema therapy has incorporated additional approaches, such as EMDR (Young et al., 2002), mindfulness (van Vreeswijk et al., 2014), and body-focused methods (Briedis & Startup, 2020).
Central to schema therapy is the idea that many difficulties arise from ‘early maladaptive schemas’ (EMS): enduring, negative themes or patterns in people’s thoughts and emotions about themselves and their relationships with others. EMS are thought to develop when core emotional needs are unmet in childhood, such as the need for connection, autonomy, and self-expression. When EMS are activated, people often respond in characteristic, self-defeating ways, referred to as ‘coping styles’. These behaviors, along with other factors such as cognitive distortions, reinforce and perpetuate EMS.
Another key concept in schema therapy is ‘schema modes’: EMS and coping styles that are active for an individual at a given moment. Unlike EMS, which are more stable and ‘trait-like’, modes are transient and ‘state-like’, usually triggered by situations that push an individual’s ‘emotional buttons’ (Martin & Young, 2010).
This What Is Schema Therapy? information handout is designed to introduce clients to schema therapy. It provides an overview of some its key concepts, therapeutic tasks, and conditions for which schema therapy has been shown to be effective.
