Schema therapy

[Laynelove]

Has anyone tried this?

What did you think of it?

[Kizzie]

I haven't heard of this Laynelover, do you have some links?

[Laynelove]

Sure...

http://www.schematherapy.com

It's pretty much a cbt for underlying core beliefs. Eg. Defectiveness/shame - an underlying belief that there is something wrong with you etc.

[sweetsixty]

Here's the book my T recommended on schema therapy: Reinventing Your Life: The Breakthrough Program to End Negative Behavior...and Feel Great Again by Jeffrey Young.

Schemas are unhelpful behaviours we develop as a result of trauma to try to cope with life. Most of them applied to me but unrelenting standards, perfectionism, defectiveness and shame were my worst.  Mainly driven by fear and shame!  All required outside validation for me to feel okay and all were exhausting!  They drove me in my career and life until I became too ill.

It seems schemas are an automatic response to trauma but can be very unhelpful as when you get ill or old (or both in my case) they crumble and the CPTSD etc. can raise its head pretty rapidly!

I had no idea that I was behaving in this way until I read the book and discussed it. Schemas never really go you just need to control them as my unrelenting standards and perfectionism have driven my recovery too! So there can be pluses as long as you understand and can rein in the unhelpful bits. BTW we all have schemas even those with personality disorders and so called 'normal' people. In fact I discovered through this that my Narcisistic, delusional mother was driven by Entitlement schema.

[sweetsixty]

Forgot to add that although it is Schema therapy Jeffrey Young refers to them as 'Life traps'.

[Laynelove]

Haha it's funny, I wrote a whole big reply because of one thing you said...

"Schemas never really go away"

I wrote like 5 paragraphs and then realised that I was being triggered and you didn't actually say it the way I perceived it.

Yay for schema therapy!

[sweetsixty]

Sorry I triggered you LayneLove, it was not my intention to upset anyone just inform. Schema therapy has certainly helped me as the protocol of - identify the schema then work on how to deal with it's most disturbing /exhausting / upsetting aspects is process driven which appeals to my logical brain lol.

Thanks for bringing up the subject.

I'll try to post again soon on other therapies my T has tapped into to help me.

:-)

[Laynelove]

I'm actually really glad you did though. I'm up to week 7 if my therapy and have just started to notice some changes come about.

I am able to recognise now that:

A) getting an emotional reaction from someone saying that something mental Illness related will always be a part of me represents my own fear of never recovering. It also represents my own frustration of the hard work I'm putting in...for someone to say it will always be there represents my own feeling of defeat and questioning the point of recovery itself.

B) I am finally learning to put names to my feelings and recognise a trigger or emotional flashback or whatever you want to call it from reality.

C) I can change how I respond to a situation and feel less depressed. Instead of ruminating over it all day I am learning to recognise my feelings and then put them to bed.

I do disagree though that schema's are always there. Only because schema therapy is a model used to help patients get their core emotional needs met. You can't actually be diagnosed with a schema as such. They are all on a continuum and when i have put enough work in for them to be in the 'healthy range'  I plan to forget about them and move onto the next phase of recovery. So for me they will be 'gone'. I will need to remain vigilant if they do start effecting my life negatively again down the track but if that happens I will deal with it then. I want to attach as little labels to myself as possible, schemas are essentially a recovery tool so I don't want to label my self as having it forever if I can help it. That's my take on it anyway. I hope what I'm saying isn't triggering at all either!

The further I get into this therapy the more I'm seeing how much it could benifit cptsd patients. The modes used in schema therapy are very similar to what pete walker calls an emotional flashback.

I will give a run down of how things have gone once I have completed my 20 week program. I'm glad you are doing it too sweetsixty, hopefully we both make some good progress using this model

[sweetsixty]

Sounds brilliant LayneLove, so glad you are making progress in this too. I've known my T (who is a clinical psychologist) for 4 years as part of the MS team I can self refer too.  I agree with you that schema are not there forever but you do retain the basics of some even if you don't live your life through them, they become calmer and more under your control. But it does seem that to a great or lesser extent (as you say a continuum) we all have some.

I started on my recovery some 18 months ago, and I'm hoping to 'go it alone' within the next couple of months. I am so pleased you are seeing results so quickly. When I asked my T about my recovery she told me not to rush as I had worked though everything so very quickly (18 months?) and that was because I did so much research and work away from our sessions. It seems some people take many years to recover and get this well.  I only had fortnightly sessions and recently monthly. I was offered weekly but I couldn't cope with the fallout that frequently.

We used the schema therapy at the start to identify areas I may need to work on and what was driving me. To tackle my visual flashbacks we used imagery rescripting which has been the most useful technique for those. We discussed EMDR but kept with the imagery as I found it better for me.

I originally went for help in regard to my fear of drugs (not good with MS etc). I figured it might be to do with my psychopathic ex! So discovering the truth about my parents was part of this journey and the most difficult to come to terms with as although I thought my parents were weird I hadn't realised that they had been so detrimental! When your 60 it's a shock to suddenly discover your life had not been what you thought at all and have to start work on that to cure what's wrong now - if you see what I mean? For a while I couldn't quite believe it, it took some time for me to go NC with my parents, and for a while I just didn't believe anyone about anything! So for me it's been a journey of discovery too.

I hope your recovery continues at this speed for you and I do understand what you mean about not wanting to admit that recovery may not come quickly or completely. Pete Walkers sums it up as he talks about it being a life long journey. My T also said to me that for those with trauma in their lives from childhood it can be a lifelong battle. That doesn't mean we don't recover and I've come to terms with that now.

Yes, it's lovely to know your not alone on this journey, but sad that you had this in your life too. Thank you for this exchange it all helps.

Hope to speak again soon.
Be well xx