About the method
Schema Therapy
In my work I use schema therapy — an approach founded by Jeffrey Young that has a broad evidence base for working with a wide range of disorders.
"We cannot change our past, but we can change the way it continues to live within us."
At the heart of the approach is the concept of early maladaptive schemas, which form in childhood when basic emotional needs are chronically left unmet: the needs for safe and secure attachment, autonomy, realistic limits, and the free expression of one's feelings.
Although schemas form in early childhood, they continue to affect us in the present: they "dictate" who we become in our significant relationships and are triggered again and again in stressful situations.
A schema is a filter of perception through which we view the world, ourselves, and those around us. It can be compared to a life script written in childhood: it is made up of deep-seated beliefs, feelings and experiences, and habitual reactions — and it quietly governs our lives until we become aware of it.
In therapy itself, a great deal of attention is given to building a trusting connection between client and therapist, thereby re-creating the experience of secure attachment. In our work we explore the various parts of our psyche: we learn to feel compassion, to support our vulnerable parts, to soften the influence of the inner critic, and to cope with defense mechanisms that may interfere with life, replacing them with more adaptive ones.
Our work is not about "blaming the parent", but about "giving back" and "meeting at last" the basic emotional needs of the psyche.
In schema therapy we actively work with traumatic experiences through Imagery Rescripting — a technique by which we "rewrite" childhood experience, meeting needs "there and then". The technique is scientifically validated and has an evidence base.