Jeffrey Young’s Scheme Therapy

Jeffrey Young’s schematic therapy is really helpful for chronic psychological disorders. It is also useful in cases where the patient does not respond to other therapies. This interesting method integrates attachment theory, Gestalt theory, constructivism, some elements of psychoanalysis, and cognitive behavioral therapy.

All psychologists should know that some patients are very difficult to treat due to the patient’s personality, rate of recurrence, and the disease itself. For example, personality disorders bring many challenges to any mental health professional.

Such psychological illnesses benefit enormously from therapies that take on a broader focus. According to research by the Universities of North Texas and New York, combining psychological therapy with social education, workshops, and awareness skills may prove to be very successful in treating difficult cases.

Integrated methods work, and there is no doubt that schema therapy is the best known of them all. When Jeffrey Young developed his theory of schema therapy, it was seen as an improvement on Aaron T. Beck’s cognitive therapy.

Schematic therapy: an integrated focus

Psychologist Jeffrey E. Young has spent the past 20 years developing schema therapy based on his own experiences and the clinical demands of daily life tasks.  In this sense, his book “Schema therapy: a practitioner’s guide” stands out from the crowd as an interesting and complete guide to schema therapy. Not only does he provide tools that mental health professionals need to use in difficult and complex cases, but it also helps to reflect on and understand why sticking to one method is not always a good thing.

Holistic methods, such as schema therapy, use the most effective aids of the various methods to maximize the benefit to the patient. Let’s take a closer look at how schema therapy works.

Objectives of circuit therapy

As the name suggests, this therapy seeks to identify dysfunctional patterns that make an individual think and act in a problematic and self-destructive way. This therapy uses the following guidelines:

• Unlike cognitive behavioral therapy, schema therapy does not always use confrontation or guided search. Instead, it is based more on mental therapy.
• It is also important to mention that such therapies last longer than others. Patients need more therapy sessions to get results.
• Scheme therapy seeks to find dysfunctional habits born in an individual’s childhood.
• Mental health professionals work for a sense of patient identity, self-control, mental communication, autonomy, and competence.

What kind of patients benefit from this therapy?

Schematic therapy is particularly effective for first-class diseases of the DSM-V rating system. The first category includes the following clinical conditions:

• Anxiety disorders
• Mood disorders
• Dissociative disorders

Jeffrey Young also emphasizes:

• This therapy is useful for anyone who finds it difficult to talk about their feelings, thoughts and feelings. This method is useful for inhibitions or negative associations.
• It can also benefit patients who are suffering from an existential crisis or who are not motivated to undergo therapy.

The two basic pillars of scheme therapy

Scheme therapy operates in two basic areas:

Identification of schemes that explain patient behavior

In cognitive behavioral therapy, a schema is a model that defines the way a person thinks and acts. Many schemes lead to suffering, such as an unhappy relationship or living a destructive life.

Jeffrey Young emphasizes the importance of early life experiences and recognizing a patient’s mental temperament. In this therapy, the main focus is on finding the early poor adaptation pattern and its origins.

How does schema therapy approach these problems?

The coping mechanism you use to deal with everyday challenges and events depends on the schemes you have. Dr. Young identified three maladaptive coping mechanisms:

• Evasion.  When you find ways to escape or block schemes and responsibilities.
• Surrender. Every time you have to survive something, you feel sad, fearful, defenseless, incompetent, and empty. You just can’t face life. This is common in depression that is highly resistant to therapy.

• Overcompensation.  In this case, you tend to react with violence or overcompensation. As a result, used to react to daily problems is extreme. Such a coping mechanism is common in people who suffer from an unstable personality.

This therapy lasts on average about a year. It is a difficult and deep process in which the therapist must establish an excellent connection with the patient. Once the patient feels comfortable with the therapist, they can begin working on identifying the patient’s problematic patterns.

Later, psychologists use Gestalt therapy, psychoanalysis, cognitive behavioral therapy, and mental therapy to guide the patient to build new, useful, effective, and healthy schemes. Scheme therapy is thus an interesting method of treatment as it is beneficial for many patients with mental health problems.