Contextual Schema Therapy: An Integrative Approach to Personality Disorders, Emotional Dysregulation, and Interpersonal Functioning Illustrated Edition

While this book can stand on it’s own, I believe it is excellent at adding nuances to those already familiar with Schema Therapy. It goes through the basics of schemas and modes, but adds an ACT approach in addition to the traditional CBT approach. It is heavily example focused with many ideas and suggestions for specific interventions. While the “mode map” it presents can sometimes get too complex for many clients, I loved the concept of “front stage” and “back stage.”I read it slowly and meticulously, making notes for things could try in sessions with clients. It’s been a great addition to my library.

A textbook does not always succeed in addressing both beginners and advanced learners.With Contextual Schema Therapy, the team of authors has succeeded in this balancing act in my opinion. Above all, in a language that is also easily accessible to non-native speakers, the authors have succeeded in combining the many approaches that have been developed since the foundation of Schema Therapy by J. Young into a consistent overall concept.I believe, Contextual Schema Therapy thus lives up to its claim for integration. In current times in which the focus in the discourse is often too much on the divisive rather than on the common, this is a trend in the right direction.After several years of intensive examination with schema therapy, important gaps are closed for me personally in the first part and many open questions are clarified. Above all, the presented framework makes it easier for me to focus on the relevant aspects and to maintain an overview in light of the often much more complex reality in the therapy room.Firstly, Contextual Schema Therapy offers a condensed overview of the most important aspects of the theoretical conception, which are once again related to each other in a structured and superordinate framework. Thanks to the numerous illustrations it is possible to reduce highly complex constructs to the essentials. This makes it worthwhile even for more experienced colleagues not to skip these chapters.Above all, the integration of central concepts from the so-called Third Wave Approach has opened up new perspectives for me in my therapeutic work. Not only the proverbial change of levels, but also the focus on consistent work in the process and the promotion of an accepting attitude has enabled me to access patients who were previously difficult to reach.In addition to the detailed instructions regarding central techniques, the application-oriented part contains very concrete help, so that the desired effects do not fizzle out. In keeping with this, Contextual Schema Therapy also dedicates a chapter to typical pitfalls and how to overcome them. Especially the last part may seem a bit brief at first sight. But these very pragmatic and illustrative Do's and Don'ts can encourage beginners in particular to use emotion evoking and confronting techniques as a first step towards gaining experience and confidence.For those colleagues who are more experienced in schema therapy, the practical part offers above all a good opportunity to recall relevant methods and patterns in advance of challenging therapies and sessions, to uncover complex interactional dynamics or to gain distance from difficult processes.Certainly, Contextual Schema Therapy cannot present all aspects exhaustively in view of the manifold developments in Schema Therapy, but it at least stimulates many adjacent currents, problems and concepts. It is my opinion that it is precisely this which creates curiosity, on the basis of a sharpened eye for the basal concepts, to deal more deeply with the manifold possibilities of schema therapy and to integrate them profitably into one's own work.From my standpoint, therefore, both for colleagues who would like to open up schema therapy for themselves, and for colleagues who have already dived deeply into the matter, a clear reading recommendation!

Drs. Roediger, Stevens and Brockman have made a very readable and absorbable text that builds detail on the textbook, "Schema Therapy with Couples". Their points of how it is next to impossible to deal with one partner in individual sessions without affecting the relationship are insightful and practical. The expert schema therapist working with an individual does well to look at how both halves of the equation trigger each other. This textbook lays out ways the Schema Therapy model allows for this in an empathic and balanced manner. A partner/collateral can potentially enter into the identified client's therapy session with timely and thorough pre-planning and preparation, to assist in consolidating therapy gains and stabilizing results. This can be done according to strict APA guidelines that keep the role of the therapist singularly focused on the identified client. The added results of the allying partners, with the therapist restricting the activity of the Internal Critic or Parent Mode, can be a remarkable contribution to individual schema therapy.The "Mode Monitoring Form" on page 128 is one of the many practical tools that individual clients as well as couples can use to great advantage. These are the simple type of basic steps that bring about considerable awareness leading to change. Putting the Mode Map in chairs is one of my favorite exercises, as it makes things extremely concrete and clear. Another example is their description of how to work with traumatized clients. The authors present how safe and gentle Schema Therapy works with these clients, and that rescripting is far from re-traumatizing when done correctly, (see pages 167-172). This is an excellent example that shows the limits of knowledge in often popular opinion. This rescripting can be enhanced with a hero or even religious figures entering into the scene to rescue and empower the client, and research supports this entry into a client's personal and internal cultural working model. The balance of teaching, exercises and therapist tips makes this book readable and ready to implement in your practice. I highly recommend it.

Espero que em breve ele seja traduzido para português para ser mais acessível aos terapeutas do Brasil!

Información bastante actualizada, no es para principiantes ni para pacientes, es un libro para terapeutas que ya tienen buen conocimiento sobre la terapia de esquemas

Arrived on time and in great condition

Very helpful.

Nicht immer gelingt es einem Lehrbuch, gleichermaßen sowohl Einsteiger als auch Fortgeschrittene anzusprechen.Mit Contextual Schema Therapy ist dem Autorenteam aus meiner Sicht dieser Spagat gelungen. Vor allem gelingt es den Autoren in einer auch für Nicht-Muttersprachler eingängigen Sprache, viele Ansätze, die sich seit der Begründung der Schematherapie durch J. Young entwickelt haben, zu einer in sich konsistenten Gesamtkonzeption zusammenzufügen.Damit wird Contextual Schema Therapy meines Erachtens seinem Anspruch nach Integration gerecht. In Zeiten, in denen der Fokus oft zu sehr auf das Trennende gerichtet ist, statt im Diskurs nach dem Gemeinsamen zu suchen, ein Trend in die richtige Richtung.Im ersten Teil bietet Contextual Schema Therapy einen komprimierten Überblick zu den wichtigsten Aspekten der theoretischen Konzeption, die hier noch einmal in einem übergeordneten Rahmen strukturiert aufeinander bezogen werden. Dank der zahlreichen Grafiken gelingt es, komplexe Konstrukte anschaulich auf das Wesentliche zu reduzieren. Dadurch lohnt es sich auch für erfahrenere Kollegen, diese Kapitel nicht zu überspringen.Nach mehrjähriger intensiver Auseinandersetzung mit der Schematherapie werden für mich persönlich dadurch im ersten Teil wichtige Lücken geschlossen und viele offene Fragen geklärt. Vor allem macht es der vorgestellte Rahmen für mich leichter, angesichts der oft viel komplexeren Realität im Therapieraum auf die relevanten Aspekte zu fokussieren und den Überblick zu behalten.Vor allem die Einflechtung zentraler Konzepte aus dem sog. Dritte Welle Ansatz hat für mich in meiner therapeutischen Arbeit neue Perspektiven eröffnet. Nicht nur der sprichwörtliche Wechsel von Ebenen sondern auch der Fokus auf das konsequente Arbeiten im Prozess und die Förderung einer akzeptierenden Haltung ermöglicht mir aktuell zunehmend auch den Zugang zu bis dahin für mich schwer erreichbaren Patienten.Der anwendungsbezogene Teil enthält über die detaillierten Anleitungen zentraler Techniken hinaus sehr konkrete Hilfestellungen, damit angestrebte Effekte nicht verpuffen. Passend dazu widmet Contextual Schema Therapy auch ein Kapitel zu typischen Fallstricken und deren Bewältigung. Gerade der letzte Teil mag auf den ersten Blick mitunter etwas verkürzt wirken. Durch diese sehr pragmatisch und anschaulich gehaltenen Do’s und Don‘ts können aber insbesondere Einsteiger ermutigt werden, emotionsevoziierende und auch konfrontierende Techniken in einem ersten Schritt überhaupt erst einmal anzuwenden, um Erfahrungen zu sammeln und Sicherheit zu gewinnen.Für die schematherapeutisch erfahreneren Kollegen bietet der Praxisteil vor allem eine gute Möglichkeit, sich punktuell im Vorfeld fordernder Therapien und Sitzungen relevante Methoden und „Patterns“ noch einmal zu vergegenwärtigen, komplexe interaktionelle Dynamiken aufzuschlüsseln oder auch Distanz zu schwierigen Prozessen zu gewinnen.Sicher kann Contextual Schema Therapy angesichts der vielfältigen Entwicklungen in der Schematherapie nicht alle Aspekte erschöpfend darstellen, reißt aber etliche angrenzende Strömungen, Problemstellungen und Konzepte zumindest an. Genau das macht meines Erachtens aber neugierig, sich auf der Basis eines geschärften Blicks für die basalen Konzepte vertiefter mit den vielgestaltigen Möglichkeiten von Schematherapie zu befassen und diese in die eigene Arbeit gewinnbringend zu integrieren.Von meiner Seite daher sowohl für Kollegen, die die Schematherapie neu für sich erschließen möchten, als auch für Kollegen, die schon tief in die Materie eingedrungen sind, eine klare Empfehlung!