See the article, What is Schema Therapy?
Schema-focused therapy for self-esteem, relationships and major lifelong psychological problems
Location
Sessions held in Chelmsford, Essex
Purpose
The objective of the Life-traps and Schema-focused Therapy course is to help those who have endured a lifelong history of psychological problems, including unsatisfactory relationships.
For example, if in your childhood you experienced abandonment, criticism, abuse, or if you were excluded or deprived, or even over-protected, then the resulting patterns of behaviour can impact your self-esteem and lead to unfulfilling relationships in your adult life, or lead to the development of deeply-ingrained, self-destructive life-traps or schemas.
Life-traps, or schemas, are:
negative life patterns, which begin when we're children or adolescents, and which repeat themselves throughout our lives.
They're difficult to overcome, not least because they feel comfortable and familiar to us, and they're very resistant to change.
Are you drawn to the same type of partner over and over, where you subjugate your own needs to the point where they're never met?
Do you find yourself always overreacting to the same kinds of situations, getting 'triggered' all the time?
Are you stuck, seemingly forever, in some area of your life, but can't change?
Is your self-confidence low?
Is your relationship full of conflicts, large and small?
Do you find yourself developing addictions?
Do any of the following seem to describe your core belief?
"I'm unlovable", "I'm a failure", "People don't care about me", "I'm not important", "Something bad is going to happen", "People will leave me", "I will never get my needs met", "I will never be good enough"
The objective of this programme is to help you recognise those repeating patterns of unhelpful behaviour in your personal relationships and to help you change them.
This course has been developed specifically for people with chronic or long-term difficulties. Some of these problems include feelings of inadequacy, loneliness, strong dependence on others, mistrust, problems choosing an appropriate partner, and being out of touch with one's feelings.
Intendend Results
In the Schema-focused therapy for emotional problems programme you will:
- Become less 'clingy' with your partner
- Learn to relax when you're alone, and how to tolerate your fear of abandonment
- Learn how to become more trusting, and to embrace risk and fear through the use of imagery and exposure
- Develop a sense of your own identity, likes and dislikes
- Improve your confidence and your self-esteem
- Learn how to have more fulfulling relationships, avoiding 'cold' and rejecting partners or intense relationships that burn out quickly
- Heal the wounded 'inner child' through Schema's "reparenting" technique
- Learn how to monitor your feelings of emotional deprivation in your current relationship
Structure
Depending on the nature of the life-traps or schemas identified (Abandonment, Mistrust and Abuse, Emotional Deprivation, Social Exclusion, Dependence, Vulnerability, Defectiveness, Failure, Subjugation, Unrelenting Standards, Entitlement), the course consists of six modules.
| Module | Course Content |
|---|---|
| 1 | Identifying and feeling your lifetraps, examining how they play themselves out in everyday situations |
| 2 | Building a case against your lifetraps, changing your beliefs |
| 3 | Self-empowerment, validating your own needs |
| 4 | Breaking down lifetraps into manageable steps, changing patterns one step at a time |
| 5 | Forgiving, where possible, those who helped create your lifetraps |
| 6 | Breaking the life-patterns once and for all |