
Understanding the 18 Maladaptive Schemas in Therapy
Maladaptive schemas are deeply ingrained cognitive and emotional patterns developed during childhood or adolescence. They represent unhelpful ways of perceiving ourselves, others, and the world around us. These schemas can significantly impact mental health and relationships. In schema therapy, these patterns are explored to better understand why individuals experience recurring negative thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.
This guide breaks down the 18 maladaptive schemas:
Domain I – Disconnection and Rejection
Schemas in this domain relate to violations of the basic needs for security, safety, stability, nurturance, empathy, sharing of feelings, acceptance and respect. Schemas in this domain often emerge when early family environment is detached, withholding, cold, rejecting, violent, explosive, unpredictable, or abusive.
1. Emotional Deprivation
- The belief that emotional needs and support will not be met by others. This can come in the form of deprivation of nurturance (absence of attention, affection, warmth, or companionship); deprivation of empathy (absence of understanding, listening, self-disclosure, or mutual sharing of feelings from others); and deprivation of protection (absence of strength, direction, or guidance from others).
- Characteristics: Feeling neglected or believing others do not care about providing love or support.
2. Abandonment/Instability
- The perceived instability or unreliability of those available for support and connection. It involves the sense that significant others, particularly those from whom we expect support and connection, are unstable and/or unreliable in providing emotional support, connection or practical protection for you.
- Characteristics: Constant worry about losing loved ones, often leading to clinging behaviour or intense anxiety in relationships.
3. Mistrust/Abuse
- The expectation that others will hurt others to hurt, abuse, humiliate, cheat, lie or take advantage of you. It involves the sense that harm is intentional or the result of unjustified and extreme negligence.
- Characteristics: A tendency to avoid closeness, often resulting in mistrust in relationships.
4. Defectiveness/Shame
- The belief that you are bad, defective, unwanted, inferior, flawed and unworthy of love. It may involve hypersensitivity to criticism, rejection, and blame; self-consciousness, comparisons, and insecurity around others; or a sense of shame regarding one’s perceived flaws.
- Characteristics: Feeling inadequate, deeply flawed, and fearing rejection.
5. Social Isolation/Alienation
- The feeling of being isolated from the rest of the work, different from other people, and/or not fitting in with others.
- Characteristics: Avoiding social situations due to a sense of being disconnected from peers.
Domain II – Impaired Autonomy and Performance
These schemas develop when basic needs for autonomy and competence are not met. As a result, people may form beliefs about themselves and the world that make it hard to feel capable of being independent, handling challenges, or achieving success
6. Dependence/Incompetence
- The belief that you are unable to handle everyday responsibilities in a competent manner, without considerable help from others. In extreme cases, individuals might feel unable to take care of themselves, solve daily problems, exercise good judgement, tackle new tasks, or make good decisions.
- Characteristics: Relying heavily on others for decisions, often feeling helpless or incompetent.
7. Vulnerability to Harm or Illness
- An exaggerated fear that catastrophe is imminent, that it will strike at any time, and that you will be unable to prevent it. Constant fear of impending disaster may included — medical, financial, or natural.
- Characteristics: Excessive worry about health issues, financial problems, or unexpected crises.
8. Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self
- Excessive emotional involvement and closeness with one or more significant others (often a parents), at the expense of full individuation or normal social development. It involves the belief that you cannot survive or be happy without the constant support of the other. It may also include feelings of being smothered by, or fused with, others or of insufficient individual identity.
- Characteristics: Difficulty maintaining personal boundaries, feeling overly responsible for another person’s emotions.
9. Failure
- The belief that you will inevitably fail or fall short. You may hold the belief that you are fundamentally inadequate relative to your peers, in areas of school, career, sports etc. It often involves beliefs that one is stupid, inept, untalented, ignorant, lower in status, or less successful than others.
- Characteristics: Feeling incapable compared to peers, avoiding new challenges out of fear of failure
Domain III – Impaired Limits
This domain includes schemas involving difficulty respecting boundaries or setting healthy limits for oneself.
10. Entitlement/Grandiosity
- Believing you are superior to others, deserving of special treatment and privileges, or not bound by the rules of reciprocity that guide normal social interactions. This schema often involves insistence that one should be able to do or have whatever one wants, regardless of what is realistic, what others consider reasonable, or the cost to others; or an exaggerated focus on superiority.
- Characteristics: Difficulty respecting others’ needs or feelings, and feeling entitled to more than your fair share.
11. Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline
- A pervasive difficulty or refusal to exercise sufficient self-control and frustration tolerance to achieve one’s personal goals, or to restrain the excessive expression of one’s emotions and impulses.
- Characteristics: Engaging in unhealthy behaviors, such as overeating, substance use, or procrastination. Difficulties in delaying gratification.
Domain IV – Other-Directedness
These schemas are characterised by prioritizing the needs of others over one’s own to gain love and approval.
12. Subjugation
- An excessive surrendering of control to others because one feels coerced to do so to avoid anger, retaliation, or abandonment. The two major forms of subjugation are: Subjugation of Needs – Suppression of one’s preferences, decisions, and desires; and Subjugation of Emotions – Suppression of emotional expression, especially anger.
- Characteristics: Often saying yes when you want to say no, suppressing your true feelings.
13. Self-Sacrifice
- An excessive focus of putting others’ needs before your own to avoid guilt or maintain relationships. Some common motivations for self-sacrifice behaviours are avoiding actions that may cause pain to others, avoiding guilt from feeling selfish, or maintaining a connection with others who are perceived as needy.
- Characteristics: Feeling drained from over-giving and suppressing your own needs, leading to burnout.
14. Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking
- An excessive overemphasis on gaining approval from others at the cost of genuine needs. For individuals with this schema, one’s sense of esteem is dependent primarily on the reactions of others rather than on one’s own natural inclinations.
- Characteristics: Making choices to please others, worrying excessively about others’ opinions.
Domain V – Overvigilance and Inhibition
Schemas in this domain involve placing excessive emphasis on suppressing feelings, impulses, or spontaneity. They also may result in a perpetual focus on meeting rigid, internalised rules and expectations about performance and ethical behaviour, often at the expense of happiness, self-expression, relaxation, close relationship, or health.
15. Negativity/Pessimism
- A pervasive, lifelong focus on the negative aspects of life while minimising or neglecting the positive or optimistic aspects.
- Characteristics: Constant worry, seeing only obstacles, and having trouble enjoying positive experiences.
16. Emotional Inhibition
- Suppressing emotions to avoid negative consequences, such as disapproval or conflict. The most common areas of inhibition involve: (a) inhibition of anger and aggression; (b) inhibition of positive impulses (e.g., joy, affection, sexual excitement, play); (c) difficulty expressing vulnerability and communication freely about one’s feelings and needs; or (d) excessive emphasis on rationality while disregarding emotions.
- Characteristics: Difficulty expressing feelings, reluctance to show vulnerability.
17. Unrelenting Standards/Hyper-Criticalness
- The underlying belief that one must strive for perfection (or very high internalised standards of behaviour and performance) to avoid criticism. This typically results in feelings of pressure or difficulty slowing down, and in hypercriticalness towards oneself and others. Unrelenting standards typically present as: (a) perfectionism, inordinate attention to detail, or an underestimate of how good one’s own performance is relative to the norm; (b) rigid rules and “shoulds” in many areas of life; or (c) preoccupation with time and efficiency, so that more can be accomplished.
- Characteristics: High expectations for oneself, self-criticism, and feelings of pressure to achieve.
18. Punitiveness
- The belief that people, including oneself, should be harshly punished for making mistakes. It involves the tendency to be angry, intolerant, punitive, and impatient with any person who does not meet one’s expectations or standards.
- Characteristics: Difficulty forgiving oneself or others, harsh judgment, and intense self-criticism.
Final Thoughts on Maladaptive Schemas
Understanding the 18 maladaptive schemas can be transformative. Recognising these patterns is the first step towards change. Schema therapy provides a structured path to tackle deeply rooted beliefs and build healthier ways of thinking and living.
If you think you might be affected by any of these schemas, consider reaching out to a professional trained in schema therapy. Therapy can help you unravel these deeply ingrained patterns and create a more positive, empowered future.
References
- Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide. New York: Guilford Press.
- Rafaeli, E., Bernstein, D. P., & Young, J. (2011). Schema Therapy: Distinctive Features. London: Routledge.
- Arntz, A., & Jacob, G. (2013). Schema Therapy in Practice: An Introductory Guide to the Schema Mode Approach. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.