There are many different types of schemas or negative mindsets. Oftentimes, someone who has these maladaptive thinking patterns exhibit emotions and behaviors that are related to a lack of self-worth, shame, and a lack of trust. In all, 18 schemas have been identified. On average, a person will usually exhibit a few different schemas that fall into one of five particular categories. Each of these categories represents an important component of a child’s core needs. They are identified in the following manner: disconnection and rejection, impaired autonomy and performance, impaired limits, other-directedness, and over-vigilance and inhibition.

Within each of these categories are the individual schemas that contribute to the maladaptive coping mechanisms that form in adolescence and often linger on into adulthood. The 18 different schemas are defined as:

• • Emotional Deprivation

• • Abandonment

• • Abuse

• • Social Isolation

• • Shame

• • Failure

• • Dependence

• • Vulnerability To Harm or Illness

• • Enmeshment

• • Subjugation

• • Emotional Inhibition

• • Unrelenting Standards

• • Entitlement

• • Poor Self-Control

• • Approval-Seeking

• • Pessimism

• • Punitiveness

• • Self-Sacrifice

According to schema theory, negative mindsets and behaviors are triggered when events that are happening in the present day resemble those from the past that contributed to the formation of the schema. For example, people who believe they are different and unaccepted by the world may choose to isolate themselves, and people who believe that they are unlovable may sabotage their relationships to avoid being abandoned.