Anne-Marie Claasen
Anne-Marie is psychotherapist at Mediant, institute for mental health, Enschede. She has coauthored a book on increasing the healthy mode in schema therapy and is editor of PsyXpert. She is certified supervisor for individual and group therapy ISST and the Dutch society of ST.
Positive schemas and healthy modes in schema therapy: a scoping review
In recent years, more attention has been paid to the positive aspects of schema therapy and the connection with well-being and mental health (Heath & Startup, 2020). Research shows that a decrease in psychopathology does not automatically lead to an increase in well-being. This means that separate interventions are needed to increase well-being and that there is another entry point for increasing mental health. In the Netherlands, research has already been conducted into specific interventions to increase and strengthen the Healthy Adult (Versluis et. al, in press). Experience has also been gained in working with positive schemas.
These results argue that within schema therapy, attention should be paid to increasing well-being with the aim of improving mental health. In a scoping review, all available literature on positive aspects within schema therapy is mapped, as well as the interventions and techniques aimed at this. The research questions in this scoping review are: 1) What literature is available about the various positive aspects within schema therapy, such as positive schemas and positive Healthy Adult- interventions? 2) What literature is available on how the positive schemas relate to the Healthy Adult? 56 articles were included (Van Donzel et al. in prep.). Results show little research has been done in this field, especially concerning treatment of personality disorders. We discuss how these findings can contribute to improvements in the field and provide direction for further research into schema therapy with additional positive interventions.
Heath, G. & Startup, H. (red). (2020). Creative methods in schema therapy. Advances and innovation in Clinical Practice. New York: Routledge.
Van Donzel, L., Claassen, A-M., Ouwens, M.A., Broersen, J., & Videler, A.C. (in prep.). Positive schemas and healthy modes in schema therapy: a scoping review.
Versluis, Y., Bol, Y. , Bouwmeester, S. & Peeters, F.P.M.L. (in prep.). Strengthening the healthy adult mode: a case experimental study exploring the effects of a new schema therapy protocol in an outpatient population.