Early Maladaptive Schemas as Stress and Emerging Mental Pathology “Moderators

Abstract

The article presents an overview of researches aimed at studying the consequences of the traumatic childhood experience and not satisfied basic psychological needs. The emerging maladaptive schemas are considered the “moderators” in the association with stress and psychopathology. The emerging maladaptive schema is a stable pattern consisting of memories, emotions, knowledge and perceptions regarding oneself and relationships with other people. The main distinguishing features of emerging maladaptive schemes are: first, dysfunctional experiences that arise as a result of a child's interaction in the communication process with family members; second, perception of schemes as factual knowledge about themselves and surrounding reality; third, activation by external factors. The research data on the relationship between emerging maladaptive schemas and various categories of mental disorders are presented. The relationship of different schemas with various types of fears is described. It has been shown that the frequency of depressive and anxiety disorders is higher in people with ineffective emotional schemas. This is due to the fact that a maladaptive schema causes a person to misunderstand his emotions or interpret them negatively. The features of maladaptive schemas in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorders and schizophrenic spectrum disorders were revealed too. The emerging maladaptive schemas negatively affect mental health and well-being of an individual, his interpersonal relationships, and the ways of emotional response, which determines the need for therapy. Special attention is given to the researches of maladaptive schemas in adolescence with the prospect of their correction and mental status stabilization. In general, there are few studies concerning the identification of emerging maladaptive schemas in adolescents, and they show only the relationship of emerging maladaptive schemas with individual psychological characteristics. Considering that during life the maladaptive schemas become more complex and affect an increasing number of functioning areas, it seems appropriate to identify these schemas at young age, when they do not have a clear structure, are not rigid and do not cause persistent maladjustment in all spheres of functioning. However, until now, in studies of the adolescent population the aspects of studying the role of maladaptive schemas as a link between the traumatic childhood experience, problem parent-child relationships and emerging psychopathology had not been sufficiently studied. In comparison with adults, psychotherapeutic and psycho-corrective tactics of working with activated maladaptive schemes in adolescents have been developed to a lesser extent.