Schema Therapy

What Hacker News says

1. raducuSep 2025
   > CBT is based on a theory that it is not events in themselves that upset us, but the meanings we give them.

   > The question of the existence of the unconscious is crucial, because if CBT starts to take into account the possibility of unconscious meanings and logic, then it would become another branch of psychoanalysis.

   I read quite a few books, from Transactional Analysis, to DBT therapist manuals, CBT manuals, and the one I loved the most and which actually helped me the most cure my BPD -- the Schema Therapy manual.

   CBT seems very well suited/tooled for point therapies, very through, asks you to do homeworks, note down thoughts, I can absolutely see how it works very well for a broad spectrum of point issues.

   Schema Therapy I find like it is a 3rd generation/refinement of the whole "unconscious" thing -- for me it made a lot of sense coming from TA with the Parent-Adult-Child, but I found ST approach to modes a lot more actually therapeutical -- what's the point to have mythological "Unconscious"/theory of mind if it's not actually therapeutical?

   Reading Jeffrey Young's ST handbook and watching him speak actually made me cry -- I bet he would be an awesome therapist NO MATTER the formation, because he's a great human being and archetype of a THERAPIST: humble, empathetic, curious, calm, scientific, systematic and riguros, no-nonsense, results oriented -- and that's what EVERY therapy system out there should strive to achieve in creating therapists that actually help people.

   BUT the question is what is "help" ? And for me, beyond anecdote the benchmark of therapies is curing BPD/NPD :)

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2. raducuJun 2022
   Nobody mentioned Schema Therapy, so I will. Schema Therapy is such a beautiful thing and Jeffrey Young seems such a great human being and therapist (unlike the narcissistic freudian type of self important psychotherapist).

   I only did a short period of Schema Therapy, but the cognitive part of it was the most helpful thing in my overcoming of my BPD, I can only imagine how great the non-cognitive parts must be.

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3. raducuJul 2020
   Make a list while not with a therapist -- what do you want to fix?

   Another way to start is checking if you match these (though you could be suffering from one and not even recognise it by reading the abstract description): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_maladaptive_schemas -- if you match any, this is a great place to start, regardless of the therapy affiliation.

   I really like Schema Therapy, though I've only seen one therapist qualified in it, and while she started great -- gave me a long questionnaire that pointed out my maladaptive schemas I already knew were present(she made me feel "wow, finally, a great professional, just like I read in the manual they should be"), she just didn't stick at all to the Schema Therapy session protocol I read in the manual and the sessions just devolved into the usual "so how have you been since our last session .... bla bla bla ... you're making great progress" that I'm all too familiar with all the therapists that I know.

   So whatever therapy you choose, try to find a therapist that's also sticking to the therapy method.

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4. elbearApr 2020
   There can be multiple reasons for your behavior.

   What I think could help you the most is reading about schema therapy[1]. It's a therapeutic method which says we all carry certain lifetraps which we acquired during childhood.

   Some lifetraps: - abandoment: you are afraid of being abandoned by a loved one - worthlessness: because of the way your parents treated, you feel that you don't have any value. You can't understand why anyone would love you, for example. - failure: you believe you can't accomplish anything in life

   There are a few more.

   I found this book very helpful in understanding Schema Therapy and the lifetraps that apply to me: https://www.amazon.com/Reinventing-Your-Life-breakthrough-be...

   [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schema_therapy

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5. halfnormalformFeb 2020
   Considering the core symptom involves thinking your own problems are either nonexistent or caused by someone else, it makes sense why the shelves aren't overflowing with self help book for narcissists.

   Things that did not help: -Books about people who were affected by narcissistic people. -All reddit groups about narcissism. -Writings of Vaknin and other famous narcissists.

   Things that did help: -Reinventing Your Life by Young (general audience). -Schema Therapy by Young (professional audience). -Borderline, Narcissistic, and Schizoid Adaptations by Greenberg (professional audience). -Learning how to be aware when I'm splitting others or myself into black and white. (Much harder than it sounds. It's like trying to stop time.) -Regular appointments with a therapist. (Don't go expecting an 'atta boy'--expect to be pushed outside your comfort zone of false invulnerability and expect to resent your therapist with every cell in your body while this is happening. If you find them just giving you 'atta boys' you should get a different therapist). -Daily exercise. -Cutting ties with family of origin.

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6. tonySep 2019
   Nice job on Internal family systems OP! I'm not there quite yet but getting close

   - TypeScript : Absolute game changer for JS. I can't imagine programming regular ES. Sort of hoping TypeScript becomes the next ES.

   - Desktops : Desktop processors and video cards are insanely powerful compared to laptops. If you're doing any sort of compilation (even if it's webpack / frontend) this stuff helps a ton. A project that takes 90s to build on a mbp is 30s on a desktop.

   - Windows 10 + WSL

   - Attachment Theory: https://www.behaviorology.org/oldsite/pdf/AttachmentTheoryBe..., https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1d36/ac75d7081fcd86d467f6d2... (The stuff by Cindy Hazan and Philip Shaver are very relevant for adults)

   - Schema Therapy: https://www.guilford.com/excerpts/young.pdf

   Look up Psychology in Seattle on Patreon and download the deep dives for Attachment Theory and Schema Therapy. After that it's easier to grok the research papers/books.

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