Early maladaptive schemas

A lens from childhood1

Someone with an Abandonment schema may feel sad and panicky at small signs that a partner is pulling away.

Unmet needs2

The five domains are broad categories of a child's emotional needs, such as connection and autonomy, that went unmet.

Coping keeps them going1

Avoiding closeness to escape abandonment can bring loneliness or loss, which confirms the schema.

Disconnection and Rejection (5)1

Abandonment/Instability, Mistrust/Abuse, Emotional Deprivation, Defectiveness/Shame, Social Isolation/Alienation.

Impaired Autonomy and Performance (4)1

Dependence/Incompetence, Vulnerability to Harm or Illness, Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self, Failure.

Impaired Limits (2)1

Entitlement/Grandiosity, Insufficient Self-Control and/or Self-Discipline.

Other-Directedness (3)1

Subjugation, Self-Sacrifice, Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking.

Overvigilance and Inhibition (4)1

Negativity/Pessimism, Emotional Inhibition, Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness, Punitiveness.

Abandonment/Instability2

For example, someone whose partner is slow to reply feels sure they are about to be left for someone better. The schema expects close people to be unreliable, to vanish or to die.

Mistrust/Abuse2

For example, someone who assumes a colleague's favour hides a trick and expects, as usual, to end up with "the short end of the stick".

Emotional Deprivation2

For example, someone who never tells a partner what they need, because they expect nobody will really listen, understand or comfort them.

Defectiveness/Shame2

For example, someone who keeps friends at arm's length, sure that anyone who saw the real them would find them unlovable, and who is crushed by mild criticism.

Social Isolation/Alienation2

For example, someone at a party or at work who feels fundamentally different from everyone around them and part of no group at all.

Dependence/Incompetence2

For example, an adult who feels unable to sort out a bill or make an everyday decision without asking a parent or partner to do it for them.

Vulnerability to Harm or Illness2

For example, someone who reads every headache as the start of a fatal illness, or avoids lifts in case they collapse.

Enmeshment/Undeveloped Self2

For example, an adult who speaks with a parent many times a day, believes the parent could not cope without them, and has little sense of what they themselves want.

Failure2

For example, someone who is doing fine at work but feels less talented than their peers and sure that they will fail in the end.

Entitlement/Grandiosity2

For example, someone who expects rules and queues not to apply to them and insists on getting what they want, whatever it costs other people.

Insufficient Self-Control/Self-Discipline2

For example, someone who drops every plan once it gets boring or uncomfortable and dodges difficult conversations and responsibilities.

Subjugation2

For example, someone who always lets others decide and swallows their anger to avoid a fight, then feels trapped and lets it out in sulking or a sudden outburst.

Self-Sacrifice2

For example, someone who takes on everyone's problems and cannot say no without feeling selfish, then quietly resents that nobody looks after them.

Approval-Seeking/Recognition-Seeking2

For example, someone who chooses a career or a partner mainly for how it will look to others, and whose self-worth rises and falls with praise.

Negativity/Pessimism2

For example, someone who, when life is going well, waits for it all to fall apart, and agonises over decisions for fear of a costly mistake.

Emotional Inhibition2

For example, someone who rarely shows anger, affection or playfulness and talks about painful events in a flat, purely rational way, to avoid shame or losing control.

Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness2

For example, someone who rewrites a routine email many times, cannot relax until everything is done, and judges themselves and colleagues harshly for small errors.

Punitiveness2

For example, someone who thinks a colleague should be fired for one mistake and cannot forgive their own small slips either.

Surrender1

A person with a Defectiveness schema who surrenders might tolerate unfair criticism without defending themselves.

Avoidance1

The same person coping by avoidance might stay away from situations that make them feel defective, or numb the feeling with addictions or distractions.

Overcompensation1

Coping by overcompensation, they might put extra effort into appearing superhuman.

The domains are debated1

A 2020 factor analysis of the Young Schema Questionnaire found four domains, not five, and suggested splitting Emotional Inhibition and Punitiveness.

Links to personality disorders4

A 2023 meta-analysis of 12 studies found all 18 schemas related to Cluster C personality disorders, with specific patterns per disorder.

Schemas can change5

A meta-analysis of schema therapy trials found the therapy reduced early maladaptive schemas (g 0.59).