NHS Forth Valley – Schema Group Therapy

What is the Schema Therapy Group?

It is a 20-week group developed for people who have longstanding difficulties with mood, anxiety or relationships. Schemas are enduring patterns of thoughts, feelings and behaviour that shape how we view ourselves, other people and the world around us. Our schemas develop during childhood or adolescence when our needs are not met. We all have schemas however when these patterns are too rigid, automatic and extreme they can cause us to have emotional problems and get in the way of us getting our needs met as adults.

For more information on what we mean by childhood needs and schemas please take a look at the video links in the Resources section below.

Who is the group for?

Anyone with longstanding patterns of thinking, feeling and behaviours that cause them problems can benefit from the group. Patterns might include shutting down emotions too easily, treating ourselves or others harshly, pleasing others at the expense of our own needs or repeatedly finding ourselves in abusive or unfulfilling relationships. Schema Therapy can be helpful for people who have tried other therapies but still find themselves stuck in these types of patterns.

What will the group cover?

The group will help you to become more aware of your schemas, the emotions you experience when your schemas are triggered in your day to day life and the ways you have learned to cope with them.

There is a focus on understanding the links between the here and now and your childhood experiences and in later sessions we focus on emotional experiences in the past and present using exercises such as imagery.

There is an emphasis on processing and changing feelings by dealing with the impact of past events. The group environment provides a great opportunity for you to better understand how your schemas and your response to these impact on your interactions with others. This can help you to develop a better understanding of yourself and your relationships.

Our Pathway

Once you have been referred and a place becomes available, you will be sent an invite letter with questionnaires to complete. You will be asked to complete and return these within a specified timescale.

Once we have received your questionnaires, you will be invited to meet with the two Schema Group Therapists. This is usually an online appointment however a face to face appointment can be arranged if necessary. This gives us an opportunity to get to know one another, to provide you with feedback based on your questionnaires as well as provide you with further information about the group. We will then explore together if the schema group feels like a good fit for you.