Schema Therapy

Anyone here have exposure to schema therapy? I recently started doing schema work with a cognitive therapist, and I think it could be very helpful. If only I would stop getting in my own way and stop giving my therapist such a hard time, that is. It's tricky, obviously, becuase the issues that need treating are the very ones interfering with my treatment.

My therapist did tell me that I was "difficult" yesterday, which sent me into a tailspin. He also said, however, that he liked working with me and he wanted to continue to do so, and a bunch of other nice stuff that I tuned out after he said "difficult." I don't think he is very experienced with BPD, and maybe doesn't recognize that I am. I was diagnosed many years ago while in college after several ODs, and never told him. I was kind of waiting for him to figure it out. Maybe this is a bad approach. But I'm kind of scared to tell him, too. He does seem willing to put in the effort with me, and even said I could come twice a week to therapy if I wanted. Which maybe I do and maybe I don't, as I told him.

Anyway, just curious if anyone has had good/bad experiences with schema work.

Hey, Tea! Maybe he needs to hear that you've been diagnosed BPD... He could help you find something more helpful, who knows.

I wanted to start a similar thread a few weeks ago to ask if anyone has had any experience with this, so thanks

I've been recently diagnosed (about a month ago) and my therapist suggested we work out of this book "Reinventing Your Life" and it deals with Schema's or "lifetraps" and I've found it really helpful so far... I'm sure once we get past the introductory stages and actually have to work we are going to run into problems though :/
I like it so far though, this is definitely a good opportunity for me to be more self aware and maybe make some progress after 2 years of lying and backpeddling with my previous therapist


Oh and to add, I think it is a good idea to let your therapist know about your previous BPD diagnosis so you can get the best treatment. I don't think the Schema therapy directly treats BPD (rather that's more DBT, I believe). My therapist is going for more of a tailored approach with my treatment, she said she is going to pull aspects of DBT into other work we are doing instead of doing them individually (unfortunately free treatment means there are time constraints, which I'm sure is realllyy effective /sarcasm).

I am reading Reinventing Your Life, too. It's a bit overwhelming because I have LOTS of schemas... Good luck with it, ambivalence!

Schema Therapy was actually developed by Jeffrey Young for treatment of borderlines...there is some good info about it online.

Yeah it is definitely overwhelming, I felt kind of stupid checking all the boxes in the beginning but I think some of them will be weeded out as they go into more detail ^^

Oh see I didn't know that, that makes sense though (: I didn't bother looking it up but I should do that sometime ^^

Thanks for the luck, same to you of course (:

Did this sometimes ago. Had lots of them too. Therapist then sort of put book aside gave me some assertivess stuff to read then left for another job. Don't think he knew how to "work from the book". He never told me it was for Borderlines but I kind of figured out myself it was to do with PDs and yet again the professionals were just being a bit sneaky about it.

Hi tea,
I was just posting about this on another forum. Its supposed to be very promising for people with personality disorders......but yeah.....kinda hard to get over some hurdles........

I guess you have to give yourself permission to boldly go where you have not gone before! lol

There is a book on Amazon about it. Schema Therapy : A Practical Guide by Jeffery Young. I like it.

Tea wrote:Anyone here have exposure to schema therapy? I recently started doing schema work with a cognitive therapist, and I think it could be very helpful. If only I would stop getting in my own way and stop giving my therapist such a hard time, that is. It's tricky, obviously, becuase the issues that need treating are the very ones interfering with my treatment.

My therapist did tell me that I was "difficult" yesterday, which sent me into a tailspin. He also said, however, that he liked working with me and he wanted to continue to do so, and a bunch of other nice stuff that I tuned out after he said "difficult." I don't think he is very experienced with BPD, and maybe doesn't recognize that I am. I was diagnosed many years ago while in college after several ODs, and never told him. I was kind of waiting for him to figure it out. Maybe this is a bad approach. But I'm kind of scared to tell him, too. He does seem willing to put in the effort with me, and even said I could come twice a week to therapy if I wanted. Which maybe I do and maybe I don't, as I told him.

Anyway, just curious if anyone has had good/bad experiences with schema work.

ThisEndUp wrote:Hi tea,
Schema Therapy : A Practical Guide by Jeffery Young. I like it.

I think that is the Practitions hand book version of Reinventing your Life. Read a bit of it a few weeks ago online at Google books and thought it had more to offer than R You L. Although lots of these books seem to have more to say about identifying unhealthy unhelpful thought and behavior patterns and helps with diagnosing than recovery or treatment and therapy. Although sometimes it seems to naturally follow from identifying causes of current attitudes and behavior that you can see how to reverse some of these things but I think you also need to learn self acceptance to counter the self hate and assertiveness to counter and lack of confidence and courage and CBT and DBT to counter old habits and negative thinking.
Also religion, spirituality, mindfulness, aromatherapy, self hypnosis, meditation, diet , exercise etc can all help improve your life.
To that extent that all postitive input is good, I am sure that any positive hints, tips and persepectives in schema would be as good as anything else.

Think this may be as good an approach as any and better than the little there may be out there for PDs. Just have a problem with the "sneakiness" and patronising way the book "Reinventing you Life" and the therapist that used it with me were not honest about it being to do with PDs. Because of this the book does not link which schemas relate to which PD, although the Practitioners Handbook version probably does.

Link for a vid by a guy with BPD talking about schema therapy. Might be useful to some?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6owMR1hSY