Early maladaptive schemas and psychiatric symptoms in adolescence

Abstract

<p>Early maladaptive schemas (EMS) represent harmful schemas that are rooted in childhood experiences. Schema therapy is an integrative psychotherapeutic approach and its main aim is to find feasible ways of meeting individual core emotional needs. Core reasons for the emergence of EMSs was their association with difficult and long-term mental disorders. Since then, EMS have been linked to a wide variety of mental and somatic illnesses. Although adolescence is clearly of importance in the developmental process of EMS, studies exploring EMS in adolescents are still limited. However, evidence on interesting associations, including findings typical to this developmental phase, has recently increased. In this review, we describe the current status regarding the concept of EMS and review the present literature on the associations of EMS with psychiatric symptoms in adolescents.</p>