Schema therapy is an extension of the traditional CBT. 

Schemas are core beliefs that are usually formed early in life and affect people’s view of themselves and the world. 

Schema therapy focuses on identifying and changing self-defeating schemas. For example, a patient with critical parents may have formed a schema of “I am not good enough” or “I am a failure”. 

Through identifying the childhood memories in which these schemas were formed, Schema therapy offers protocols to provide a different, more adaptive, experience of these memories, which leads to replacing negative schemas with more up-to-date and empowering ways of thinking. 

The main advantage of schema therapy is that it leads to profound changes and therapy gains are maintained over time.