Name it to Tame it
“Then she accused me of being the bully!” Sandro was beginning to rant. His face was red and his eyes were moist. His ex-partner had just denied him access to their 6-year-old son. I asked him how he felt. “Sh*t!” He replied. “But what kind of sh*t”, I queried. He looked at me with blank […]
The Mistrust and Abuse Schema
“You can’t trust anyone!” Clara announced. “They might act nice, but at the end of the day they are only out for number one”. Clara’s employer was funding psychology sessions to treat depression and alcohol addiction. She was reluctant to attend and even more reluctant to open up. “At the end of the day, you […]
Little Wounds, Limbic Scars and Holes in the Street
German researchers recruited 110 people who were in hospital for Major Depressive Disorder. They scanned their brains with an MRI machine and gave them a questionnaire about childhood maltreatment. Two years later, they contacted the participants and asked them whether they had experienced in any depressive episodes since first contact. The researchers found that people […]
The Defectiveness Schema: Wishing you were someone else…
We are born small and weak. Baby ungulates walk within minutes of leaving the womb. And yet here we are weak and tender for years on end. We are not capable enough to care for ourselves and if we perceive and believe that we aren’t good enough to be independent, its because its true. It […]
The Abandonment Schema
Humans have developmental needs. Although infants and children have many needs, a simple way to describe these needs is to separate them into two categories: the need to grow as an individual and the need to grow as a member of the social group. The latter of these, the need to socially connect and fit […]
Little World / Big World
Your mind on Imagination Researchers at the University of Boulder, Colorado recently taught 68 people to fear a harmless bell. They did this by repeatedly pairing the sound of the bell with an electric shock(!). They then placed these people into a Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) machine which maps brain activity. They then played […]
Are My Problems First World Problems? The Internal vs External Enemy
Are my problems First World Problems? Yes. Your problems are probably First World problems. If you are reading this from Western Europe, North America, Australia, New Zealand or Japan, and you have problems, then your problems are First World problems. More broadly, if your problems are not those that are likely to immediately hasten your […]
Emotional Deprivation Schema – The Emotional Stranger
Toby* doesn’t want to be in therapy. A 42-year-old, currently unemployed, former army captain, Toby has seen people who need therapy and he’s not one. “I’ve got mates who are seriously traumatised, thinking about ending it all. These blokes need help, not me”. It’s true – Toby says that he’s not depressed or anxious, and […]
Self-Sacrifice Schema
Penny* is perpetually tired. A nurse by training, she currently works as a 2IC for a disability services provider. Her boss is personable, but disorganised and Penny feels like she’s always picking up the slack. Things aren’t any easier at home. Penny sometimes ‘jokes’ that she has a second (unpaid) job managing the household. Sometimes […]
What is Schema Therapy? Part III
Part III: How we cope Grace has had no trouble forming friendships, it’s keeping them that she finds difficult. “People act nice, but eventually you find out they just don’t care” she often says. When a friend doesn’t return a call, or fails to follow through on commitment to her, she becomes angry. She has […]
The First Thing You Should Do When Depressed
You are travelling along the freeway. You’re hooning along at 110km per hour (maybe even faster?). Your car stalls. It comes to a dead halt as you pull over onto the side of the road. You put the car into 5th gear, turn the ignition, and head off. What happens next? If you’ve ever driven […]
What is Schema Therapy? Part II
Part II – Little People, Little Wounds & Unmet Needs The second part of this series Grace* was raised as an only child and her parents separated when she was five. After separation, Grace missed her father terribly, who took a job in another city, and her mother too, who now worked long hours to […]
