ABSTRACT

Following from the discussion of metaphors of containment and inclusiveness, the Emotional Schema model examines the belief in emotional perfectionism—that is, the belief that one can achieve perfect, harmonious emotional experience. This kind of perfectionism is viewed as intolerant of the difficult and often unpleasant emotions that are the inevitable cost of human existence. This chapter discusses illusions of perfection, existential perfectionism and the belief in Pure Mind, where clients often seek out the elimination of any unpleasant thoughts, emotions or experience. In contrast to these unrealistic beliefs about emotion, the Emotional Schema model proposes that human experience can best be described as a kaleidoscope of emotions—that is, an ever-changing, often contradictory, range of full experience, including the unpleasant and pleasant universal emotions.