Fundamentals of Abnormal Psychology, Eighth Edition

Schema Therapy Shows Promise

Dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) (p. 439 in Chapter 13) focuses on the treatment of borderline personality disorder; specifically, facets of the disorder such as emotion regulation, distress tolerance, and cognitive appraisal. In general, however, personality disorders are considered untreatable and there is rarely the expectation that treatment will provide any great improvement in symptoms. But a new therapy, called schema therapy, shows promise in treating personality disorders.

http://psychcentral.com/news/2014/02/11/new-therapy-shows-promise-for-personality-disorders/65726.html

After reading the article “New Therapy Shows Promise for Personality Disorders,” consider the questions below. Then submit your responses.

Question 1

The article suggests that successful results can be seen after how many sessions of schema therapy?

Question 2

Traditionally, schema therapy has been used for the treatment of what personality disorder (PD)?

antisocial PD

narcissistic PD

avoidant PD

borderline PD

Question 3

Which of the following is NOT an accurate statement about schema therapy?

The therapist tries to directly meet the early core emotional needs of the patient.

Schema therapy focuses on indirect contact between the patient’s parent and the patient’s adult sense of self.

Schema therapy focuses on direct contact between the therapist and the patient’s vulnerable or child part of the self.

The adult side of the patient is gradually brought in as it becomes healthy enough to take over for the therapist.

Question 4

What were the results of the study in which schema therapy was compared with clarification-oriented psychotherapy (a variation on client-centered therapy developed specifically for personality disorders) and “treatment as usual” (TAU)?

Answers will vary. One possibility: Patients receiving schema therapy showed statistically significant greater improvement in recovery from personality disorders. Based on the primary outcome measure, roughly 80 percent recovered with schema therapy, 60 percent with clarification-oriented psychotherapy, and 50 percent with TAU.

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