Do you know why you have particular tendencies to view yourself, others, and the world in a certain way? Early childhood memories as indicators of unconscious maladaptive schemas.

What are schema and why should you care?

There are patterns of repeatable behavior known as schema. Imagine what it would be like if you did not have a mental model of your world. It would mean that you would not be able to make so much use of information from your past experience or to plan future actions. Schemas are the basic building blocks of such cognitive models, and enable us to form a mental representation of the world. The basic building block of intelligent behavior – a way of organizing knowledge.

A schema can be defined as a set of linked mental representations of the world, which we use both to understand and to respond to situations. The assumption is that we store these mental representations and apply them when needed. For example, a person might have a schema about being good wife or husband or being on a wedding, in restaurant. Whenever they are in such situation, they retrieve this schema from memory and apply it to the situation.

The newborn babies have a small number of innate schemas but has core basic childhood needs such as safety, contact with others, predictability/consistency, autonomy, self-esteem, self-expression, real restrictions, love, attention, acceptance, empathy, guidance/protection, and validation go significantly unmet, maladaptive schemas may form as a result. Therefore, lack of any of these basic need develop different schames that we then apply over and over during our life.

Schema domains:

1.  Disconnection and Rejection

Is related to the child’s experience of being cut off from healthy emotional and physical nourishment. The child feels a lack of love, security and empathy, care from parents that eventually develops into a lack of trust and of intimacy. These deficits are often construed by the individual as rejection and produce a sense of alienation by others: (1) Abandonment/Instability; (2) Mistrust/Abuse; (3) Emotional Deprivation; (4) Defectiveness/Shame; (5) Social Alienation/Rejection.

2. Impaired Autonomy and Performance

Incorporates schemas that are linked to feelings of a lack of independence and safety. In this respect there is an associated feeling of a loss of control over one’s destiny and also an unhealthy dependency on other people for direction and support. There is also insufficient faith in one’s own ability that leads to a perception of not being able perform successfully in the world. These feelings probably stem from experiences in childhood that undermined the child’s sense of responsibility, control and safety. This may have eventuated because of over protection of the child by the parent, or the opposite extreme of not enough direction or guidance: (1) Dependence/Incompetence; (2) Vulnerability to Harm/Illness; (3) Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self, (4) Failure.

3. Impaired Limits

Children who have been constantly overindulged by parents in a permissive environment often develop schemas that involve insufficient self-control, accompanied by a feeling of superiority, a general lack of responsibility to others, internal limits. Also, a lack of discipline often results in the inability to engage in a reciprocal relationship of give and take. The person feels special and that he or she has a free reign without limits or the awareness of the consequences of his or her behaviour: (1) Entitlement/Grandiosity; (2) Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline.

4. Other-Directedness

It happens when children have learnt to focus on other people’s needs and feelings, especially those of their parents, at the expense of their own. Frequently, these children have been unable to express their own needs or emotions because they fear the consequences, such as the imposition of guilt or reprisals, from their parents. The parents of these children often demonstrate conditional acceptance of their children. As a result the child can come to emphasise the parent’s needs in preference its own (subordination of needs, emotions, self-sacrifice, search for approval / recognition): (1) Subjugation; (2) Self-Sacrifice; (3) Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking.

5. Overvigilance and Inhibition

Incorporates schemas that are related to the suppression of feelings and urges. Children develop schemas in this domain as a result of experiences with parents who exaggerate duty, perfectionism and rigid rules while discouraging the expression of emotion and happiness. As a result, the child may become prone to unhappiness, a lack of affect, ill health, and feelings of tension and also tend to avoid pleasure and intimacy. The basic cost is authentic happiness, inner peace, overall relaxation, and meaningful relationships. The parents are also inclined towards worrisome and pessimistic attitudes. Negativity / pessimism, suppression of feelings (suppression of anger and aggression, difficulties in showing sensitivity or free expression of feelings, exaggerated emphasis of rationality while ignoring emotions, perfectionism, strict rules and duties in many areas of life: (1) Negativity/Pessimism; (2) Emotional Inhibition; (3) Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness; (4) Punitiveness.

Which of the five broad schema domains stood out to you the most as you reflect back on your personal lifetime of experiences?

Allow yourself to become open to identifying with any specific schemas that seem to ring true or fit with your lifetime of personal experiences. Try to slow down and remain open to any uncomfortable or suppressed feelings that may arise from your early childhood experiences. If you notice yourself beginning to identify with a schema domain or particular schame, take the time to consider the ways in which you may have learned to develop these beliefs to protect yourself from the continued agony of your basic childhood needs going unmet.

The idea is that an early maladaptive schemas develops as a protective measure when your core childhood needs are not sufficiently met, thus serving a functional purpose at the time. Problems may develop when such schemas persist into adulthood and adversely impact the development of a meaningful life or relationships. The schemas that may have served a useful (protective) purpose in childhood may become an outdated, maladaptive, and ineffective complex defense mechanism in adulthood.

Remember that the idea is that these schemas develop as a consequence of your early repetitive relational patterns with parents and being the way in which children learn to adapt to painful childhood experiences in efforts to protect themselves.

Generate New behaviour:

• The schame teaches your mind new behaviors that can be applied in different contexts
• To perform a new behavior, the mind must be programmed using visualization (imagination), which consists in reproducing the desired behavior to the test
• The more precise the images are, the better result will be obtained.

Process:

1. Imagine yourself behaving in a New way.
2. Mentally enter this scenario, identifying with him. What feelings do you have after this behavior?
3. Modify your behavior until you feel that you are completely identifying with it and you will be sure that you will do it.
4. Imagine yourself behaving in a worked out way in contexts in which you would like to trigger such behavior in yourself.
5. Check what has changed and how you feel equipped with a New skill.