Schema therapy – structure and algorithms of the psyche
Since about 2011 I have been interested in psychology. Mostly pop things that are easily googled and heard (books, films, articles about heard terms). And so in March 2023, through an acquaintance, I find myself with a psychologist, a respectable guy, 10 years older than me, a candidate of science, and he says: “I work in schema therapy.” The first time I heard about it, I came in after the meeting via the link he sentand eagerly study the site, taking notes on everything in the form mindmap.
And it amazes me, as a mathematician by education and a programmer by activity, how such a popular method, where the psyche is understood as a clear structure and algorithm, passed me by and remained in the shadows for so many years?
This is something like the rules for drawing up a flowchart, with predefined elements that you can learn once and know where and how the psyche goes. Another metaphor is a chessboard and pieces with rules prescribed for them. Although there are infinitely many moves and variations of games, understanding the limitations of the board and the possibilities for moves provides great relief, a clear model that sheds light on much that happens to us.
And the cherry on the cake is that there is no well-worn word “trauma”. And at the heart of everything are “needs”.
Model of the psyche
Unsatisfied in childhood Emotional Needs
form Scheme – distorted perception of the world,
and this results in maladaptive behavior – Modes.
1) Emotional Needs (15)
2) Scheme (18 maladaptive, 14 positive)
3) Modes (children 10, parents 4, coping 19, healthy 3)
A diagram is a curved glass through which we see the world. If a person was bullied in childhood, he will see this rot everywhere; if he did not understand, then misunderstanding, etc. “I got burned on the milk, now I’m blowing on the water.”
Child mode – uncontrollable sharp emotions.
Parental mode – critical voices within us.
Coping mode is a long-term strategy (character flaw) to patch holes in the psyche. They are divided into 3 groups: hit, run, freeze. Distract yourself from problems (with games, substances, seclusion), turn off all feelings and fall into depression, become prickly and push people away by humiliating them and teasing them, etc.
Needs
Scheme
Child and parent modes
Coping strategies
2 examples of playing a “game”, with the same input
The man tried to convey the idea to someone, but he did not understand.
Scenario 1
1) The need for understanding has been disrupted.
2) The Abandonment scheme was activated (distorted view of the world)
3) Child mode turned on Abandoned child – no one needs you
4) Parental mode has turned on (critical voice) Guilt-inducing critic – you came up with a stupid idea and took up the boss’s time, embarrassed yourself
5) To cope with this, the person turned on the Coping Self-Comforter – he got drunk and overeat.
Scenario 2
1) The need for understanding has been disrupted.
2) The Privilege circuit was activated (distorted view of the world)
3) Child mode turned on. Angry child – the man cursed his opponent.
4) Parental mode (critical voice) has turned on. Demanding critic – you need to take a course overnight on how to make a presentation for the dumbest listeners.
5) To cope with this, the person turned on Coping Self-Exalt – the next day he behaved arrogantly, showing his superiority and mocking his opponent.
Numbers
A total of 83 values: 15 needs, 32 schemes (18-, 14+), 36 modes (33-, 3+), keeping in mind which you can model any plausible behavior. And there are infinitely many combinations of them and it is often difficult to find the true reasons for this or that behavior and correct them.
Examples from films
In the film “The Reader,” Kate Winslet plays a woman who excels in various jobs, gets promoted everywhere, but immediately quits and looks for the lowest job. This chain of dismissals leads her to a vacancy as a guard at a concentration camp. There, during her shift, a fire occurs and many people die. After the war, she was condemned for life and only now we understand the reason for her behavior. She couldn't read or write and was ashamed to admit it. Therefore, I always quit after a promotion, avoiding working with documents. Only in prison, by comparing audio recordings of books and their texts, did she learn to read herself. It would seem that if you ask someone, they will teach you to read in a week and you will live a completely different life and won’t go to jail… But no, the person chose his stupidity…
In Pulp Fiction, two arrogant gangsters quote the Bible, easily kill people, confidently overcome dangers, but suddenly turn into frightened children and call Mr. Wolf, who gives them banal instructions: bring it, serve it, go don’t bother them, and they obey and admire them…
Since I was introduced to schema therapy, I have become more deeply aware of the people around me and the characters in movies and literature. It seems to me that using this knowledge (fields and passages of the psyche) you can come up with believable, deep characters.
