Empowering Growth And Healing

Through Schema Therapy

The Schema Therapy Institute Southeast, honored to be an approved training center for the International Society of Schema Therapy, features a highly skilled international team of Advanced Schema Therapy Therapists who are devoted to training clinicians in Schema Therapy. Schema Therapy, developed by Dr. Jeffrey Young, is an attachment-based and emotionally focused developmental integrative model. Schema Therapy is one of the few models of psychotherapy that transforms and heals the therapist and the client.  

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Schema Therapy is best described as one of the therapies that developed out of CBT. Rather than judging thoughts and emotions, the therapist helps the client explore how they relate to their thoughts, emotions, and processes from a broader developmental and contextual context. Schema Therapy, a culturally sensitive and inclusive developmental treatment model, blends aspects of attachment, psychoanalytic, emotionally focused therapy, object relations, cognitive behavioral therapy, experiential work such as chair mode dialogue and imagery, acceptance and commitment therapy, and mindfulness.

While treatment goals vary, Schema Therapy is designed to heal long-standing emotional and behavioral difficulties originating in childhood and adolescence, impacting personality, relationships, and overall wellness. The model was developed by Dr. Jeffrey Young while working with Dr. Aaron Beck at the Center for Cognitive Therapy. Dr. Beck proposed the idea of schemas in the mid-1960s as rigid belief systems. When Dr. Young observed that some clients could not respond to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy due to their rigid thinking, and complex psychological issues, he expanded the schema concept as belief systems to include modes (maladaptive emotional and behavioral patterns).

With Dr. Young’s appreciation of the benefits offered by other psychological systems, he developed an integrative treatment model that highlights attachment, safety, and core needs. While many aspects of Schema Therapy are similar to CBT, Schema Therapy is not CBT. The model integrates experiential techniques and stresses the importance of the therapeutic relationship. Schema Therapy is spreading rapidly worldwide, is empirically supported by evidence-based research, and provides a structured developmental framework that facilitates change.

For a comprehensive database of the research supporting Schema Therapy, please go to the Schema Therapy Library at the following link: https://schematherapy.omeka.net/

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