Developing improved treatment strategies for working with clients with personality disorders is one of the challenges facing cognitive and cognitive behavioral therapy today. In order for short term cognitive therapy to be effective clients must possess seven characteristics. Clients with personality disorders often do not fullfill some of these criteria, which is the reason why short-term congnitive therapy thechniques are being adapted in order to overcome the obstacles presented by these clients. This form of therapy is called Schema-Focussed Therapy.
The seven assumptions made when starting Cognitive Therapy are:
1. Clients can access feelings with brief training.
2. Clients are aware of automatic thoughts after brief training.
3. Clients have identifiable problems they can focus on.
4. Clients are motivated to carry out homework tasks and learn self-control strategies.
5. Clients are able to build a collaborative relationship with their therapist after several sessions.
6. Clients problems in the therapeutic relationship are not a major issue to focus on.
7. All patterns of behavior and thinking can be changed through analysis, logical reasoning, experimentation, a step by step approach and practice.
Other client characteristics which make Schema-Focussed Therapy more effective than short term cognitive therapy for clients with personality disorders are:
- Rigidity
- Avoidance
- Interpersonal Difficulties
To find out more about Schema-Focused Therpay please visit schematherapy.com
