A schema is a pattern (framework, structure, template, etc.) imposed on reality or experience to help individuals explain it, to mediate perception, and to guide their responses. They are developed during childhood and are later imposed on the life experiences of adult life, even if they are no longer applicable. Schemas developed primarily as a result of childhood experiences  Young called them toxic, Early Maladaptive Schemes: counterproductive emotional and cognitive patterns that begin at the beginning of our development and are repeated throughout our lives.

Early Maladaptive Schemes.  Characteristics  

    * A priori truths

    * Self-perpetuating

    * They are dysfunctional

    * Resistant to change    

    * They are usually generated and activated by environmental experiences    

    * High affect

    * Interaction between temperament and evolutionary experiences              dysfunctional

In the adult phase, schemas are activated by life events that are perceived (unconsciously) as similar to traumatic experiences in childhood. It must be said that not all schemes have their origin in child trauma or abuse; however all are destructive and most have been caudate  for harmful experiences that were repeated regularly throughout childhood and adolescence. They also struggle to maintain themselves. It is the result of the human drive towards coherence. It is what the individual knows. Although it produces suffering, it is comfortable and familiar. People are drawn / drawn  towards events that activate those schemas. They play a crucial role in how they think, feel, act and relate to others and, paradoxically, lead to inadvertently recreating childhood conditions that were so painful for them in adult life.

Early maladaptive schemas reflect unconditional beliefs about oneself in relation to the environment. The origin: they are the sequence of an interaction between some unmet core emotional needs in childhood, early experiences and temperament.

Nuclear Emotional Needs  

          * Secure affections (ties) with other people include  security,         stability, care, acceptance)                            * Autonomy, competence and sense of identity                  * Freedom to express valid needs and emotions

          * Spontaneity and play

          * Realistic limits and self-control

I nfancy : Toxic childhood experiences are the main source of early maladaptive patterns .  Schemes that develop earlier and have the greatest impact typically originate from the nuclear family. Other influences become increasingly important as the child grows (matures), such as peers, school, social and cultural groups and can also lead to the development of schemas. Those that develop more later are not as widespread or powerful,

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Temperament : In addition to early life experiences, biological temperament plays a very important role in the development of schemas. Temperament interacts with childhood events in schema formation.

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A healthy parenting environment should offer, as Winnicott stated, security, gradual autonomy, self-esteem, self-expression, realistic boundaries, and opportunities to form relationships with others. Children need their parents to be available in a predictable way to form an appropriate bond with them and, from there, to begin to explore the world with confidence. All this requires that these parents be able to offer love, attention, respect, understanding, care and guidance. Being autonomous entails self-reliance, self-control, responsibility and the ability to have one's own judgment. Self-esteem supposes a positive evaluation of oneself. L It starts from the idea that in adult life we tend to recreate the conditions experienced during our childhood (repetition compulsion), which shows the presence of the so-called life traps. These traps constitute mental schemes with which to give meaning and coherence both to the world around us and to ourselves, these being familiar and constituting the frame of reference to anticipate what we assume as possible. Faced with these traps, it is possible to accept and maintain them, avoid them (try to evade it through alcohol, drugs, work, etc., but without facing it) or compensate them (think, feel and act contrary to the trap, denying his existence). The process of change supposes, for this reason, a break with such styles of thinking, feeling and acting, which generates an initial discomfort resulting from the natural resistance to detach from what is known, although unsatisfactory, and to enter new ways of understanding and behave. Such a process requires identifying the existing traps, understanding their origin, coming into contact with the pain and suffering experienced, refuting the vital trap both intellectually and emotionally, venting the pain experienced and satisfying unmet needs, modifying patterns of personal behavior. and interpersonal relationships associated with such a trap, particularly inappropriate relationships and self-destructive habits, persisting in change by being patient and forgiving yourself for mistakes that have been made.