ABSTRACT
As noted in the previous chapter, schema mechanisms can sometimes be worked through via interpersonal interventions within the therapeutic relationship. Sometimes, however, more distinct and deliberative interventions will be required. Two such intervention methods are described, illustrated with client examples and discussed in this chapter. The first is the ‘continuum method’ by which the dualistic nature of schemas is targeted by getting clients to classify relevant data along the full range of points between the two polarised ends of the continuum that typify schema functioning. This process is illustrated with a client with the schematic belief that “People will dismiss me”. A second method, “the historical test,” gets clients to arrange key experiences of their lives on a ‘life line’, testing whether that part of their life was as their schemas would predict. It is often possible to find contradictory data that the client has been disregarding and this can help to challenge the schema. This method is illustrated with reference to a client who believed that, “People are unreliable” – and this resulted in him bringing to mind his grandmother’s consistent efforts to help with a difficult situation when he was young.
