ABSTRACT
As an approach developed to treat long-standing emotional and relational issues, Schema Therapy offers a natural framework for understanding and addressing couples' distress. Many, if not most, problems that arise within close relationships can be understood through the prism of the partners' needs, schemas, coping styles, and modes, and through attending to the cycles of mutual triggering that often occur within relationships. Consequently, Schema Therapy assessment and intervention ideas offer a systematic way of addressing these current cycles, while linking them to the longer-standing life patterns of the couple and the individual partners. The ultimate goal of Schema Therapy for couples is parallel to the goal in individual therapy: alleviating distress and con¯ict by having each person's needs met. In the couples' context, recognizing and meeting both partners' needs is seen as a joint responsibility.
