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Thursday, April 28, 2011

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

18 comments:

  1. OK! At first I thought this was the latest report from my doctor, but then I read it more carefully!

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  2. I see myself in a couple schemas. Very informative. I almost want to use this stuff in my present WIP. Thanks for the tips.

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  3. I found it really interesting to read through all of the schemas. I was always trying to come up with a character that fit into them. I noticed that some of the shcemas are more widely used than others. I am definitely going to use this in the future to give my characters more depth. Thanks, Josh.

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  4. Very good information. I think it's great to have these to refer to when creating a character that is beyond our own schema. Thank you!

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  5. haha betty...def some interesting characters to be spun out of these....sounds like some religeous orders i know..smiles.

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  6. Betty - Thats how I feel every time I look at it :)
    Elizabeth - Thanks I am starting a new WIP and plan to incorporate them as well.
    Emily - I agree many are more used than others.
    April - Thanks for the support. I agree.
    Brian - I agree there are some very strange things that come out of these schemas. Thanks for stopping by.

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  7. Oh yes I can see myself in some of these. I enjoyed it and thank you for your comments on my post. They are appreciated so much... Susie

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  8. It was fascinating to read about all the schemas--this was a great series! I also found myself thinking "Hey, that sounds like me!" for several of the posts.

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  9. Susie - thanks for the visit.
    Golden Eagle - Thanks for your comments throughout. I often think hey thats me:)

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  10. Your blog is most interesting! I will be taking the time to read more!

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  11. Thanks Pam for the follow and comment. I hope you find it enjoyable and helpful.

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  12. Whew! Do I feel psycho-analytical. I think it would be useful to have these schema descriptions on 3x5 cards and mix and match them when creating a character...mmm. Is it bad that I kept seeing my ex-husband in some of those...HeeHee...

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  13. Pam I think that is a great idea. Then whenever you need a problem you just grab one and give it to your character.

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  14. I totally see a little of myself in all the schema's you've mentioned- maybe that's why I feel so crazy inside! :)

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  15. I grew up with a negative/pessimism person, so can totally relate - maybe their extremity on pessimism is why I just always think everything will work out fine (sinking tin boat in the middle of the ocean with sharks circling? - I'm sure it'll turn out just fine).

    These schemas have been great for applying to characters - I'm sure I will get to use them many times, thanks for all the effort you've put into these posts. :)

    Wagging Tales - Blog for Writers

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  16. Another excellent post. I should have read them in order, but I just got here. I am going back to read the earlier parts of this topic next. This is very interesting. I was completely unaware of the schemas, but I clearly recognize two people I am close to in the Negativity/Pessimism and one of my characters exhibits traits much like you described in the Punitiveness schema. I am glad to learn the name for this behavior.

    Thanks for all the information.

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  17. Just passing through my blogroll when this one caught my eye! Intriguing. I'll pop back later.

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  18. Wow! To put a name and description to all things I can now call Schemas has been an awesome learning experience for me. I identified so many of them in myself and I now have a term for it when I use it in my characters. I tend to be incredibly positive and optimistic in real life and it comes through sickeningly sweet in my characters all too often. I look forward to experimenting with more of the "dark side." :D Thank you SO much!

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