Structural Reparenting - How to Work with Positive Schemas in Schema Therapy

Positive schemas and the "dimensions of good parenting" (Louis et al. 2018 ff). have become an increasing region of interest  and research within Schema Therapy. This has led to new insights: positive schemas are not simply the opposite to negative schemas - 18 maladaptive schemas are opposed to 14 adaptive schemas. Furthermore, one can have both a negative and a positive schema on the same “topic” at the same time, which may be activated in different contexts (Paetsch et al. 2022). This is of great importance for understanding seemingly contrary behavior reactions as well as for understanding the variability of attachment styles.

Reparenting means creating and building positive schemas parallel to deconstructing negative schemas. The seven dimensions of good parenting (Louis et al 2018, 2020) and the 14 positive schemas provide a well-structured basis for applying reparenting techniques and attitudes in the schema therapy treatment process.

It is well known that schemas (maladaptive or adaptive) develop in childhood. Through experiential techniques (imaginations, chairwork, etc.) we reach the child modes in order to work on and with schemas «on site».

What does it exactly mean to implement, to develop and/or to strengthen positive schemas? In this workshop we will learn about the special interventions  for creating and working with positive schemas, about the timing of the interventions and about the order of schemas to be implemented (attachment-oriented schemas first, then the autonomy-oriented, etc.).

Some interventions from our “tool box” have been used before in ST, for example in imaginative rescripting, but not explicitly and consciously within a contextual structure of building positive schemas. Some interventions usually may be done quite quickly or even skipped, without using their full potential as specific positive schema-interventions.

So we will present, next to the theoretical background, a good mix of “old” and “new” imagery and chairwork techniques, including a description of the timing and the stage of therapy in which they should be applied.

Conceptional links between positive schemas, happy child mode, vital child mode, healthy adult mode, good inner parent and the therapist as a “positive parenting person” will be outlined.

Louis, J. P., Wood, A. M., Lockwood, G., Ho, M.-H. R., & Ferguson, E. (2018). Positive clinical psychology and Schema Therapy (ST): The development of the Young Positive Schema Questionnaire (YPSQ) to complement the Young Schema Questionnaire 3 Short Form (YSQ-S3). Psychological Assessment

 

Louis, J.P., Wood, A.M. and Lockwood, G. (2018). Development and Validation of the Positive Parenting Schema Inventory (PPSI) to Complement the Young Parenting Inventory (YPI) for Schema Therapy (ST). SAGE online journals

 

Paetsch, A., Moultrie, J., Kappelmann, N., Fietz J., Bernstein, D.P., Kopf-Beck, J. (2022). Psychometric Properties of the German Version of the Young Positive Schema Questionnaire (YPSQ) in the General Population and Psychiatric Patients. J Pers Assess.