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⚡️Early Maladaptive Schemas: A schema means a pattern and structure that forms within us, and based on it we make decisions about events and our lives. Early maladaptive schemas arise from destructive beliefs and bad early experiences. ⚡️Types of Schemas
Early maladaptive schemas include 18 schemas across 5 domains, namely:
💢Domain One: Disconnection and Rejection:
🔔1) Abandonment / Instability
⭐️Cause of this schema: Separation anxiety in childhood, unstable parents, parents’ lack of attention to the individual in childhood
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema: The person is distrustful of others and therefore does not enter relationships; feels jealous; reacts excessively to the smallest separations; has doubts and skepticism about committing to a spouse.
🔔2) Mistrust / Abuse
⭐️Cause of this schema: Physical, sexual, and psychological abuse during childhood
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Your spouse or coworker constantly feels they are being exploited; allows others to take advantage of them; has mind-reading thoughts; believes that if someone harms them, it was intentional, and…
🔔3) Emotional Deprivation:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Cold, unfeeling parents in childhood; lack of empathy with children; not allowing the child to express their feelings.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They cannot express their needs. They are upset with others; are demanding and prone to excuses; feel a sense of emptiness, meaninglessness, and emptiness.
🔔4) Defectiveness / Shame Schema:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having fault-finding, self-critical parents; perfectionistic parents
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
The person is not satisfied with themselves, does not see their strengths; is reserved; compares themselves with others; allows others to make them feel worthless.
🔔5) Social Isolation / Alienation:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema: They feel inferior; are constantly worried about things; are shy and withdrawn; believe they are different from others and do not belong to a particular segment of society.
💢Domain Two: Impaired Autonomy and Performance (related to the second need in the series of needs proposed by Young)
🔔6) Dependence / Incompetence:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Overprotective parenting; parents making decisions for children’s affairs; anxious parents.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They constantly ask for help; need others’ approval to make decisions; do not travel alone; do not accept new tasks.
🔔7) Vulnerability to Harm or Illness:
It includes three types: a) Vulnerability to medical issues b) Vulnerability to emotional issues c) Vulnerability to accidents
✨Note: Worry is a normal matter and is divided into two categories:
⭕️Constructive worry: Example: I want to go on a trip; what if my car breaks down? It has a solution—I check it before traveling.
⭕️Trouble-making worry: Example: What if death comes for me? What if this lamp falls? We have no role in this kind of worry.
💎Whenever you get extremely worried, ask these questions:
👇👇❓ What is my worry?
❓ Is it constructive or trouble-making? Why?
❓ Do I have any role in this worry?
❓ Is there a solution?
🔔8) Undeveloped Self / Worrying
⭐️Cause of this schema:
When there is intense emotional closeness among family members, boundaries become intertwined, and everyone interferes in others’ affairs and gives opinions. Having controlling parents creates guilt in the child through the parents.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They have mind-reading thoughts; lack independence in thinking, emotion, and behavior; imitate their own family; 🔸Treatment: We ask them to write the similarities and differences with their parents—to write a goal that is contrary to their parents’ viewpoint, different from their parents’ viewpoint, and to act accordingly.
🔔9) Failure Schema:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
Having fault-finding parents, or perfectionistic parents; comparing the child with other children; not paying attention to their successes.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They do not take steps toward success; choose a job below their potential; constantly change jobs; exaggerate their problems and weaknesses; lack responsibility in interpersonal relationships; have a chaotic and disordered life.
💢Domain Three: Impaired Limits
🔔10) Entitlement / Grandiosity:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Spoiled, dependent, impulsive children; allowing the child to break parents’ boundaries.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Lack of respect for others’ needs; mistreating others; inability to empathize with others; demanding and acting like they are owed something from society.
🔔11) Insufficient Self-Control / Self-Discipline
⭐️Cause of this schema: Over-satisfying the child’s needs by parents; messy, undisciplined families; role-modeling after the parents.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
People who become impulsive, are easily distracted, and are disorganized; they do not do repetitive work; are moody; arrive late to appointments.
💢Domain Four: Other-Directedness
🔔12) Subjugation (Compliance):
It includes: a) Compliance with needs: suppression of impulses and personal preferences b) Compliance with emotions: they do not become upset or angry because of others
⭐️Cause of this schema:
Having punitive parents in childhood; families that emphasize keeping up appearances.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
These people suppress their feelings; they think that if they do not carry out another person’s task, the person will take revenge on them.
🔔13) Self-Sacrifice:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
Role substitution in the family; learning from parents’ example: parents who sacrifice = children who sacrifice to gain approval from others; social reinforcement; society directs people toward ignoring their own desires; having weak and stuck parents. ⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Excessive responsibility; the person says, “I have had social relationships, but others take advantage of me”; they have unhealthy, dependent attachments to others; they sacrifice in relationships with others.
⭕️Difference between Subjugation and Self-Sacrifice: In subjugation, the person says, “I am forced to comply; otherwise I will be punished.” In self-sacrifice, the person does it voluntarily in order to gain others’ approval.
🔔14) Approval-Seeking / Attention-Seeking:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having a pretentious family; the family’s ineffective beliefs.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They obey and act compliantly; are sycophantic and flattering; they undergo cosmetic surgeries but are not satisfied; their emphasis is on money and social status.
💢Domain Five: Vigilance and Over-Inhibition
🔔15) Negativity / Pessimism:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having a difficult life; modeling after parents
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They see the half-empty glass; make negative predictions; complain; do not see the positive aspects.
🔔16) Emotional Inhibition: It includes: a) Inhibiting the expression of anger b) Inhibiting the expression of positive impulses and playfulness c) Inhibiting the expression of vulnerability or openly and comfortably expressing feelings d) Excessive compensation with logic and ignoring emotions.
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having a negative view of emotions; thinking rationally.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Excessive composure; being bound by customs and traditions; not stating their needs; they do not avoid vulnerability; they have emotional inhibition and do not express anger or happiness.
🔔17) Unrelenting Standards / Overly Critical:
Includes criteria: a) Perfectionism; unusual attention to details; below-capacity evaluation of performance; comparing with others’ performance. b) Strict “should” rules, inflexible. c) Preoccupation with time and efficiency; they do more work.
🔔18) Punitiveness Schema:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
People who have extreme moral standards; learning from parents who punish.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Commitment to ethics; the person is not patient; constantly looking for ways to punish others.
Dr. Alireza Gol
Learning article
18 Early Maladaptive Schemas
⚡️Early Maladaptive Schemas: A schema means a pattern and structure that forms within us, and based on it we make decisions about events and our lives. Early maladaptive schemas arise from destructive beliefs and bad…
💢Domain One: Disconnection and Rejection:
🔔1) Abandonment / Instability
⭐️Cause of this schema: Separation anxiety in childhood, unstable parents, parents’ lack of attention to the individual in childhood
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema: The person is distrustful of others and therefore does not enter relationships; feels jealous; reacts excessively to the smallest separations; has doubts and skepticism about committing to a spouse.
🔔2) Mistrust / Abuse
⭐️Cause of this schema: Physical, sexual, and psychological abuse during childhood
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Your spouse or coworker constantly feels they are being exploited; allows others to take advantage of them; has mind-reading thoughts; believes that if someone harms them, it was intentional, and…
🔔3) Emotional Deprivation:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Cold, unfeeling parents in childhood; lack of empathy with children; not allowing the child to express their feelings.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They cannot express their needs. They are upset with others; are demanding and prone to excuses; feel a sense of emptiness, meaninglessness, and emptiness.
🔔4) Defectiveness / Shame Schema:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having fault-finding, self-critical parents; perfectionistic parents
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
The person is not satisfied with themselves, does not see their strengths; is reserved; compares themselves with others; allows others to make them feel worthless.
🔔5) Social Isolation / Alienation:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema: They feel inferior; are constantly worried about things; are shy and withdrawn; believe they are different from others and do not belong to a particular segment of society.
💢Domain Two: Impaired Autonomy and Performance (related to the second need in the series of needs proposed by Young)
🔔6) Dependence / Incompetence:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Overprotective parenting; parents making decisions for children’s affairs; anxious parents.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They constantly ask for help; need others’ approval to make decisions; do not travel alone; do not accept new tasks.
🔔7) Vulnerability to Harm or Illness:
It includes three types: a) Vulnerability to medical issues b) Vulnerability to emotional issues c) Vulnerability to accidents
✨Note: Worry is a normal matter and is divided into two categories:
⭕️Constructive worry: Example: I want to go on a trip; what if my car breaks down? It has a solution—I check it before traveling.
⭕️Trouble-making worry: Example: What if death comes for me? What if this lamp falls? We have no role in this kind of worry.
💎Whenever you get extremely worried, ask these questions:
👇👇❓ What is my worry?
❓ Is it constructive or trouble-making? Why?
❓ Do I have any role in this worry?
❓ Is there a solution?
🔔8) Undeveloped Self / Worrying
⭐️Cause of this schema:
When there is intense emotional closeness among family members, boundaries become intertwined, and everyone interferes in others’ affairs and gives opinions. Having controlling parents creates guilt in the child through the parents.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They have mind-reading thoughts; lack independence in thinking, emotion, and behavior; imitate their own family; 🔸Treatment: We ask them to write the similarities and differences with their parents—to write a goal that is contrary to their parents’ viewpoint, different from their parents’ viewpoint, and to act accordingly.
🔔9) Failure Schema:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
Having fault-finding parents, or perfectionistic parents; comparing the child with other children; not paying attention to their successes.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They do not take steps toward success; choose a job below their potential; constantly change jobs; exaggerate their problems and weaknesses; lack responsibility in interpersonal relationships; have a chaotic and disordered life.
💢Domain Three: Impaired Limits
🔔10) Entitlement / Grandiosity:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Spoiled, dependent, impulsive children; allowing the child to break parents’ boundaries.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Lack of respect for others’ needs; mistreating others; inability to empathize with others; demanding and acting like they are owed something from society.
🔔11) Insufficient Self-Control / Self-Discipline
⭐️Cause of this schema: Over-satisfying the child’s needs by parents; messy, undisciplined families; role-modeling after the parents.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
People who become impulsive, are easily distracted, and are disorganized; they do not do repetitive work; are moody; arrive late to appointments.
💢Domain Four: Other-Directedness
🔔12) Subjugation (Compliance):
It includes: a) Compliance with needs: suppression of impulses and personal preferences b) Compliance with emotions: they do not become upset or angry because of others
⭐️Cause of this schema:
Having punitive parents in childhood; families that emphasize keeping up appearances.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
These people suppress their feelings; they think that if they do not carry out another person’s task, the person will take revenge on them.
🔔13) Self-Sacrifice:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
Role substitution in the family; learning from parents’ example: parents who sacrifice = children who sacrifice to gain approval from others; social reinforcement; society directs people toward ignoring their own desires; having weak and stuck parents. ⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Excessive responsibility; the person says, “I have had social relationships, but others take advantage of me”; they have unhealthy, dependent attachments to others; they sacrifice in relationships with others.
⭕️Difference between Subjugation and Self-Sacrifice: In subjugation, the person says, “I am forced to comply; otherwise I will be punished.” In self-sacrifice, the person does it voluntarily in order to gain others’ approval.
🔔14) Approval-Seeking / Attention-Seeking:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having a pretentious family; the family’s ineffective beliefs.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They obey and act compliantly; are sycophantic and flattering; they undergo cosmetic surgeries but are not satisfied; their emphasis is on money and social status.
💢Domain Five: Vigilance and Over-Inhibition
🔔15) Negativity / Pessimism:
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having a difficult life; modeling after parents
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
They see the half-empty glass; make negative predictions; complain; do not see the positive aspects.
🔔16) Emotional Inhibition: It includes: a) Inhibiting the expression of anger b) Inhibiting the expression of positive impulses and playfulness c) Inhibiting the expression of vulnerability or openly and comfortably expressing feelings d) Excessive compensation with logic and ignoring emotions.
⭐️Cause of this schema: Having a negative view of emotions; thinking rationally.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Excessive composure; being bound by customs and traditions; not stating their needs; they do not avoid vulnerability; they have emotional inhibition and do not express anger or happiness.
🔔17) Unrelenting Standards / Overly Critical:
Includes criteria: a) Perfectionism; unusual attention to details; below-capacity evaluation of performance; comparing with others’ performance. b) Strict “should” rules, inflexible. c) Preoccupation with time and efficiency; they do more work.
🔔18) Punitiveness Schema:
⭐️Cause of this schema:
People who have extreme moral standards; learning from parents who punish.
⭐️Characteristics of adults with this schema:
Commitment to ethics; the person is not patient; constantly looking for ways to punish others.
Dr. Alireza Gol