Books / Cognitive & behavioural
Schema Therapy: A Practitioner’s Guide
Jeffrey E. Young, Janet S. Klosko and Marjorie E. Weishaar present schema therapy in this 2003 clinical guide. The authors describe a model of persistent patterns and ways of working with them in psychotherapy.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Jeffrey E. Young, Janet S. Klosko and Marjorie E. Weishaar
Edition: 1st edition (2003)
Publisher: Guilford Press
Edition year: 2003
Language and origin: English (United States)
ISBN: 9781572308381
Form and genre: Treatment Manual & Clinical Guide
Level: Advanced
Historical era: 1980–2009 · Evidence-Based, Trauma & Integrative Era
Covers: Early maladaptive schemas and their proposed development; Coping responses and schema modes; The therapeutic relationship and experiential, cognitive and behavioural techniques
APA 7th reference: Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: A practitioner’s guide. Guilford Press.
What it is & historical context
Published in 2003, this clinical guide presents schema therapy as an integrative approach informed by cognitive, attachment, psychodynamic and experiential traditions. Its first chapter describes the authors’ conceptual model and approach to persistent difficulties.
Core clinical themes & arguments
The authors describe early maladaptive schemas as patterns involving memories, feelings, bodily sensations and thoughts. They propose that unmet childhood emotional needs can contribute to their development. The authors note that their list of needs was based on theory and clinical observation and had not been empirically tested when the book appeared. These proposals are not an established explanation for every person’s experience.
Clinical practice, reception & legacy
The guide discusses coping responses, schema modes and a therapeutic relationship the authors call limited reparenting, alongside cognitive, experiential and behavioural techniques. In a 2006 Dutch randomised trial, participants receiving schema-focused therapy or transference-focused psychotherapy improved on several measures over three years; the schema-focused group had lower dropout and better outcomes on some measures. The findings concern those treatments and participants and do not guarantee an individual outcome.
Reader level & educational scope
This advanced entry is an educational orientation. The publisher’s first-chapter excerpt and the 2006 trial report were consulted; the full book was not reviewed. The trial had no natural-course control group, and most assessors learned participants’ treatment allocation as the study progressed.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: Outpatient Psychotherapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: Randomized Trial of Schema-Focused Therapy vs Transference-Focused Psychotherapy (Josephine Giesen-Bloo, Richard van Dyck, Philip Spinhoven, Willem van Tilburg, Carmen Dirksen, Thea van Asselt, Ismay Kremers, Marjon Nadort, and Arnoud Arntz, 2006)
Reference: Giesen-Bloo, J., van Dyck, R., Spinhoven, P., van Tilburg, W., Dirksen, C., van Asselt, T., Kremers, I., Nadort, M., & Arntz, A. (2006). Outpatient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: Randomized trial of schema-focused therapy vs transference-focused psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63(6), 649–658.
A Dutch randomised trial compared schema-focused therapy with transference-focused psychotherapy for adults diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. Assessments continued for three years; 86 participants were included in the analyses.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: The authors propose that unmet childhood emotional needs contribute to the development of early maladaptive schemas. (The authors state in the sample chapter that their list of needs was derived from theory and clinical observation and had not been empirically tested at the time of publication.) [Source 3: Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: A practitioner’s guide. Guilford Press. Chapter 1 excerpt.]
Claim 2: In a 2006 randomised trial, both treatment groups improved over three years; the schema-focused group had lower treatment dropout and better results on some measures. (The analysis included 86 adult outpatients, mostly women, and compared two specific long-term treatments. Results do not determine the best treatment for every person.) [Source 2: Giesen-Bloo, J., van Dyck, R., Spinhoven, P., van Tilburg, W., Dirksen, C., van Asselt, T., Kremers, I., Nadort, M., & Arntz, A. (2006). Outpatient psychotherapy for borderline personality disorder: Randomized trial of schema-focused therapy vs transference-focused psychotherapy. Archives of General Psychiatry, 63(6), 649–658.]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Publisher record for the 2003 hardcover, authors and scope; the full book was not reviewed.
Supports: Full 2006 trial report comparing two outpatient treatments, including sample, outcomes, dropout and limitations; results are not a universal treatment comparison.
Supports: Authors’ conceptual model, proposed emotional needs and acknowledgement that their list had not been empirically tested at publication; only the sample chapter was reviewed.
Open Library. Schema therapy: A practitioner’s guide. 2003 edition record.
Supports: Catalogue listing for the 2003 hardcover and ISBN, checked against the publisher record.