ABSTRACT
Avoidant coping responses involve an avoidance of people or situations that trigger one's schemas. In some people, an avoidant style of coping can be quite pervasive, signi®cantly interfering with their ability to get the love they need, achieve satisfaction at work, or derive pleasure from everyday activities. Clara, a woman in her late forties, had studied law as a young woman. She had a severe Unrelenting Standards schema, and felt that earning anything less than ``straight A's'' in her courses would make her a failure. She worked extremely long hours compared with her law school colleagues, shunning any sort of social contact or pleasurable activities so that she could concentrate exclusively on her work. She did achieve her goal of earning straight A's, but at a high price: after two years of this demanding regime, she ``burned out,'' and had to drop out of law school. The shame she felt after this perceived ``failure'' was intense. When she was able to return to work, she chose a job that was undemanding but extremely tedious: working as a legal assistant editing technical documents. She hated her job, but stayed at it for 10 years. She often talked about leaving to ®nd other employment but was terri®ed of taking a risk that would lead to another failure like the one she had experienced in law school. She had long ago foresworn romantic relationships because of the pain they caused. She had few friends and lived alone with her sister who was disabled and needed constant care and attention.
