Schema Overview Guide

An accessible guide to understanding schemas and how they develop.

Schema Therapy helps you understand and change deep patterns that developed in childhood.

What are schemas?

Schemas are like lenses through which we see the world. They developed when our emotional needs weren't fully met in childhood. They feel like "just the way things are" — but they're patterns we learned.

The 18 schemas

Disconnection: Abandonment, Mistrust, Emotional Deprivation, Defectiveness, Social Isolation Impaired Autonomy: Dependence, Vulnerability, Enmeshment, Failure Impaired Limits: Entitlement, Insufficient Self-Control Other-Directedness: Subjugation, Self-Sacrifice, Approval-Seeking Overvigilance: Negativity, Emotional Inhibition, Unrelenting Standards, Punitiveness