Psychodynamic & Schema Therapy
Why Consider Psychodynamic And Schema Therapy As A Treatment Option?
For some individuals, directly examining the past, developing psychological insight, and having a corrective emotional experience within the therapeutic relationship is sufficient to modify maladaptive behaviors. However, that’s not always enough. Some deeply rooted emotional reactions require more active tools to facilitate change and heal the inner child.
At its heart, Psychodynamic Psychotherapy focuses on the therapeutic relationship between patient and therapist. It involves working together on a human level as equals and trusting that everything we need to look at will organically emerge on its own within the context of the therapeutic relationship.
Psychodynamic Therapy is about gently examining our past, cultivating insight, and understanding formative life experiences that impact why we are the way we are as adults. By identifying emotional and psychological injuries and how that has led us to where we are now, we’re able to make fundamental changes in how we manage future challenges, navigate relationships, and engage in the world.
In concert with the insight and awareness gained from the safety of the therapeutic alliance and a thoughtful examination, Schema Therapy puts a name to those wounded parts (schematas) that get triggered when we run into life experiences that activate the wounded inner child. It also provides a strategic framework for developing skills to correct maladaptive behaviors where insight is not enough.
As a narrative-based approach to healing, Schema Therapy explores distorted beliefs about the self: stories we tell ourselves—self-narratives that were constructed early in life, often in childhood. So, a large part of this approach is about healing that inner child—those early wounds that get activated and send us into certain “modes” of behaviors that are ultimately damaging and self-limiting.
A lot of the emotional pain that we feel as adults comes from a lack of something our parents didn’t or couldn't provide us as children—or it’s the result of traumas that occurred in our formative years. So, both Psychodynamic and Schema Therapy involve what’s called “limited reparenting,” a process in which a therapist attempts to fulfill any unmet needs that patients run into early in life. In both approaches, the therapist is paying close attention to the reactions of the patient. Simple observations of subtle, and not so subtle, responses can often provide deeper insight.
What Are The Origins Of These Two Modalities?
The Schema approach was founded by Jeff Young in 1990 as an integrative treatment method for helping patients manage challenges and mental health issues that other therapeutic models failed to address. Essentially, he found that while effective, not everyone responded to interventions like Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT).
That’s because not everyone who is living with depression, anxiety, addiction, and the like has negative thoughts that can be reframed. People are often struggling with more of a long-standing, darker narrative or belief about themselves that is deeper and can take longer to comprehend. Once we understand what’s driving those beliefs, we can slowly begin to challenge the narrative.
Psychodynamic Therapy, on the other hand, is much older and more traditional with roots in Freudian analysis. The difference, however, is that Psychodynamic Psychotherapy is much more relationally based in that healing comes largely from forming a solid therapeutic relationship with the patient.
That relationship allows us to work on things, such as reparenting, radical empathy, complete acceptance, emotional regulation, and understanding oneself. Unlike other therapeutic models, Psychodynamic Therapy and Schema Therapy allow the therapist to integrate their own shared experiences in order to help patients better understand where certain emotions and responses come from.
What Can These Modalities Help Address?
Both Psychodynamic Psychotherapy and Schema Therapy can treat a range of complex issues, including anxiety, depression, trauma, addiction, and relationship problems to name a few.
That said, as a gay therapist who has lived and worked in New York City, I specialize in supporting high-achieving individuals who are having trouble navigating stress, managing their careers, or connecting in relationships. In fact, many of my patients report an overwhelming sense of loneliness or emptiness in their lives despite being successful and socially active.
So, in many cases, I use these modalities to help patients who generally feel unfulfilled and lack a true sense of joy, meaning, or purpose in their lives. I help enhance romantic relationships, increase confidence, reduce stress, and improve decision-making capabilities. We even address career dissatisfaction and any harmful cultural elements that many of my patients face.
Moreover, I utilize these modalities within a gay-affirmative and culturally humble framework to help people improve their mental well-being and overcome the long-standing obstacles that have been holding them back.
How Do Psychodynamic And Schema Therapy Sessions Work?
It’s a really laid-back process. Rather than fire off a hundred questions at you, I want to have a conversation in which we are both curious and compassionate and confident that whatever we need to address will naturally arise in the course of our discussions.
We’ll talk about your background, what brings you to therapy, and what you think may be going on beneath the surface. During those initial stages, we’ll begin to notice the Schemas and their sweet spots. We’ll question where they came from and work on deactivating those wounded parts by reframing your narrative and improving how you respond to and cope with things overall.
In addition to the foundational essentials of therapy, the schematic framework makes a lot of sense because it can help you understand your triggers or activating experiences. It answers the question, “Why do some life experiences trigger us when other stressful situations, while painful, are not necessarily re-traumatizing or injurious?” By understanding which Schemas apply to you specifically, we can then begin the process in therapy of reparenting or healing the hurt inner child.
Psychodynamic And Schema Therapy are considered integrative models in that they work very well with other modalities. They draw from Object Relations Psychoanalysis, CBT, Gestalt therapy, and attachment theory, which means there is a lot built into these approaches. Additionally, both are infused with a culturally humble framework that focuses on understanding the intersections of cultural identity, gender, and sexuality.
What Can You Hope To Achieve Through Our Work Together?
The first thing you can expect to experience is an immediate sense of hope and relief because it feels good to take an active step toward finally addressing problems. The second thing is that you’ll have a definitive framework for successfully navigating the complexities of work, relationships, and life in general.
It gives you psychological insight and strategies for healing painful patterns that get in the way of what you want. You can learn how to negotiate your needs and desires. And you’ll gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world, opening up opportunities for greater happiness, connection, and peace.
A Little About Myself And My Experience With These Modalities
I’ve been a therapist ever since I finished graduate school in 2000, and I’ve never looked back. In the years since then, I’ve worked in hospitals, clinics, and other settings providing therapy, psychological testing and assessment, and ongoing supervision. I also studied with a group of gay male psychoanalysts and schema therapists for several years when practicing solely in NYC.
Over time, I began integrating my training as a career counselor into my work, as career stress has always been at the forefront of my patients’ concerns. My style is psychodynamic in nature in that it involves a very relational approach to therapy and a thoughtful examination of people’s lives.
As the need for more practical interventions became clear (and because the Schema strategies and framework resonated so deeply with folks), I decided to pursue more training and make it a part of my approach to healing. The concept of reparenting was happening quite organically in sessions already, and Schema Therapy training helped structure that process into something even more effective.
Throughout the years, I’ve developed a well-established professional network of psychiatrists who tend to work well with my patients if their services are ever needed in addition to therapy. I’ve also embraced the efficacy and convenience of online therapy, and I continue to work exclusively on the platform.
Let Me Introduce You To A Deeper Level Of Healing
If you are searching for a way to achieve change and experience healing on a completely different level, I want to help. Please call (917) 699-9722 or Email Me to set up your free, 15-minute consultation to see if my online Psychodynamic and Schema Therapy services are right for you.