schema therapy and attachment

Jeffrey Young established Schema Therapy and the heart of this therapy is the process of limited reparenting due to the early maladaptive schemas and modes arise when core needs are not met. Schema therapy’s aim is to meet these needs by helping you find the experiences that went missed in early childhood that will serve as an antidote to the damaging experiences that led to maladaptive schemas and modes. Limited reparenting, paralleling healthy parenting, involves the establishment of a secure attachment through the therapist, within the bounds of a professional relationship, doing what she can to meet these needs.

All children have core emotional needs as they are growing up. When these needs are repeatedly not adequately met, children would try to make sense of why this is happening and thus create certain beliefs about themselves and about relationships. To deal with the intense negative emotions that go along with such beliefs, chidden develop maladaptive coping responses and styles. Different people can utilize different coping responses to deal with the same early maladaptive schema. On the other hand, the same individual can use different coping styles in different situations.

As a child is growing up, they are largely dependent on their caregivers to meet these emotional needs. Toxic relationships with the caregivers can thus have a strong impact on the way children develop as individuals. A secure attachment between a child and caregiver is not only about protection and connection. It serves as a base for exploration and independence. Children need to view their caretaker as a secure base in order to feel the freedom to explore the world and become self-relient. Thus, core needs as chidden and adults lead us to needing self-control, spontaneity, and play. Creating a secure base from childhood impacts our current relationships and can be healed in the therapeutic dynamic, either through individual or couples therapy.