List of maladaptive schemas

This is a list of maladaptive schemas, often called early maladaptive schemas, in schema therapy, a theory and method of psychotherapy. An early maladaptive schema is a pervasive self-defeating or dysfunctional theme or pattern of memories, emotions, and physical sensations, developed during childhood or adolescence and elaborated throughout one's lifetime, that often has the form of a belief about the self or the world. The headings under which the schemas are categorized below are known as schema domains.

Disconnection and rejection

; Abandonment/instability
; Mistrust/abuse
; Emotional deprivation
; Defectiveness/shame
; Social isolation/alienation

Impaired autonomy and performance

; Dependence/incompetence
; Vulnerability to harm or illness
; Enmeshment/underdeveloped self
; Failure

Impaired limits

; Entitlement/grandiosity
; Insufficient self-control/self-discipline

Other-directedness

; Subjugation
; Self-sacrifice
; Approval-seeking/recognition-seeking

Overvigilance and inhibition

; Negativity/pessimism
; Overcontrol/emotional inhibition
; Unrelenting standards/hypercriticalness
; Punitiveness

Other versions

did a primary and a higher-order factor analysis of data from a large clinical sample and smaller non-clinical population. The higher-order factor analysis indicated four schema domains—emotional dysregulation, disconnection, impaired autonomy/underdeveloped self, and excessive responsibility/overcontrol—that overlap with the five domains proposed earlier by. The primary factor analysis indicated that the emotional inhibition schema could be split into emotional constriction and fear of losing control, and the punitiveness schema could be split into punitiveness and punitiveness .