Mervin Smucker (2016). Stories and Schemas

Cognitive therapy has described underlying dysfunctional beliefs as schemas. Schemas are “cognitive structures” according to cognitive therapy founder Aaron T. Beck. Another way to approach a schema is to think of it as a story deeply embedded in a person’s mind and used as a way to interpret the world. Uncovering and challenging such stories, and helping a person to understand how these stories empower their decisions and values can be a transformative process. Through such a process a person who has absorbed and lives according to stories of helplessness or victimization can learn to tell new stories about themselves as the hero of their own journey.

Mervin Smucker