In cognitive developmental research, the concept of schemas refers to patterns imposed on reality or experience to help individuals explain it, to mediate perception, and to guide their responses. A schema is an abstract representation of the distinctive characteristics of an event, a kind of blueprint of its most salient elements. Within cognitive psychology, a schema can also be thought of as an abstract cognitive plan that serves as a guide for interpreting information and solving problems. Thus we may have a linguistic schema for understanding a sentence or a cultural schema for interpreting a myth. The term "schema'' in psychology is probably most commonly associated with Piaget (e.g., 1955), who wrote in detail about schemata in different stages of childhood cognitive development, and with Bartlett (1932), who originated the use of this term and demonstrated the roles of schemata in learning new information, as well as in recalling memories.
Moving from cognitive psychology to cognitive therapy, Beck referred in his early writing (e.g., 1972) to schemata. Yet the idea that schemas, or broad organizing principles, exist in every person's life and guide the person in making sense of their own life is inherent in many approaches to therapy, cognitive or otherwise. Likewise, many theorists would agree that schemas are often formed early in life, but continue to be elaborated and developed over the lifespan. Also common to many approaches is the notion that schemas, which might have accurately captured earlier life experience, are often brought to bear in current life situations for which they are no longer applicable. In fact, that is exactly what cognitive and developmental psychologists would have predicted - that schemas would operate in a way that maintains our sense of cognitive consistency. That is how schemas function - they serve as shortcuts, bringing us quickly towards what we think is likely to be true and saving us the need to carefully process every detail we encounter. In some cases, schemas or shortcuts are quite efficient in helping us reach a fairly accurate grasp of the situation. But in others, they paint quick-and-dirty pictures for us that are inaccurate and distorted. In either case, they help us maintain a stable view of ourselves and our world - whether that stable view is accurate or inaccurate, adaptive or maladaptive.
Stability and predictability sound like good qualities to have, and they very well could be in some instances. For example, one kind of schema - mental scripts - helps us anticipate how one step (e.g., the main course) is going to follow another (e.g., the appetizer) so that we can handle being in an entirely new place (e.g., an unknown restaurant, even one in a foreign country where we do not speak the language) while still keeping our bearings. Even when a schema is not entirely accurate, it may, in some instances, still be harmless. For example, another kind of schema - group stereotypes - can lead us to respect a new acquaintance or to assume her to have some outstanding capacity, solely on the basis of her race, gender, country of origin, etc.
Yet some schemas - especially ones acquired as a result of toxic childhood experiences and related to the self and the interpersonal world - can be pernicious in their effects. Schemas such as these, which we label early maladaptive schemas are the focus of Schema Therapy, and are at the core of personality disorders, relational difficulties, and some Axis I disorders.
Young, Klosko, and Weishaar (2003) provided the following comprehensive definition of an early maladaptive schema:
· A broad, pervasive theme or pattern
· Comprised of memories, emotions, cognitions, and bodily sensations
· Regarding oneself and one's relationships with others
· Developed during childhood or adolescence
· Elaborated throughout one's lifetime, and
· Dysfunctional to a significant degree.
In other words, early maladaptive schemas are self-defeating emotional and cognitive patterns that begin early in our development and repeat throughout life. Note that according to this definition, an individual's behavior is not part of the schema itself - instead, maladaptive behaviors are thought to develop as logical responses to a schema. Thus, behaviors are driven by schemas, but are not part of schemas. Many behaviors reflect the way we cope with schemas - and we discuss them in detail when we address coping styles in Points 4±7. Early maladaptive schemas (which we will refer to simply as schemas from now on) emerge from toxic early experiences ± ones in which a young person's needs were profoundly not met. Most early needs (e.g., the need for safe and secure attachment, the need for nurturance) are present in their strongest form within a young child's nuclear family. For this reason, problems within the close family unit are usually the primary origin of early maladaptive schemas. The schemas that develop earliest and are closest to a person's core typically originate in the nuclear family. To a large extent, the dynamics of a child's family are the dynamics of that child's entire early world. When patients find themselves in adult situations that activate their early maladaptive schemas, what they usually are experiencing is a drama from their childhood, usually with a parent. Other arenas that become increasingly important as the child matures include one's peers, extended family, school, groups in the community, and the surrounding culture. Toxic experiences in these arenas - that is, experiences in which core emotional needs go unmet - may also lead to the development of schemas. However, schemas developed at later ages are generally not as pervasive or as powerful as ones developed early on, in the close family arena. This may be because of the nature of those needs directed towards the family; it could also be because of the longer duration of contact between a child and their family of origin (compared with most peer, school, or neighborhood contacts).
We have observed four types of early life experiences that foster the acquisition of schemas. The first is toxic frustration of needs. This occurs when the child experiences "too little of a good thing,'' and acquires schemas that reflect deficits in the early environment. The child's environment is missing something important, such as stability, understanding, or love - and that lack becomes a permanent presence in the child's mind.