Schema’s and Traits Part 9

I am getting my information from “Schema Therapy a Practitioners Guide” by Jeffrey E. Young, Janet S. Klosko, and Marjorie E. Weishaar. The next domain is Over vigilance and Inhibition. This is our last domain with four Schemas. I decided we might as well knock them all out today. So, here we go.

The first one is Negativity/Pessimism. A person with this schema displays a lifelong focus on the negative while minimizing the positives. This schema can be learned by the parent or it is because of hardships as a child. The latter is harder to overcome because the person has experienced the loss and hardship first hand t an early age. The goal is to help people look at the future more objectively.

Emotional Inhibition is the second schema in this domain. People with this schema are excessively inhibited to express their emotions. They are affectively flat, no emotion and self-controlled rather than spontaneous. They not only hold back their anger but also their warmth. These people often have the obsessive compulsive personality disorder as well. These people are rigid and inflexible. The goal is to help them become more emotionally expressive.

A person with the Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness schema present as perfectionistic and driven. They feel they must reach unrealistic high standards all the time. These standards are internalized therefore they do not change these expectations based on others expectations. They do it because they “should” not because they want anything from it. They feel a lot of pressure to achieve. Failing means 95%. It is not only difficult to have unrelenting standards but it is also difficult to be around someone who has unrelenting standards. These people are workaholics. The goal is to help people accomplish less and to do it not as perfectly.

The final schema is Punitiveness. People with this schema believe that people, including themselves, should be punished harshly for their mistakes. They are moralistic and intolerant, and have a difficult time with forgiving others and themselves of their mistakes. People should not be forgiven but should be punished, no excuses permitted. The goal is to overcome this belief of punitiveness and be more forgiving.

Well there you have it all of the schemas you would ever want to know about. Thanks for staying tuned in and for your wonderful comments throughout.  Which is your favorite schema? What have you learned about yourself, others and most importantly of course your characters? What schema have you incorporated into your stories? And how many of you were saying each day, “That’s me?” (BTW that is a natural phenomenon while going through a diagnostic course  to feel like you fit all of the diagnosisJ