Schema Therapy in Glasgow
BABCP-accredited psychotherapist in Glasgow

Who Schema Therapy Works Well For

Schema therapy can be particularly helpful when you understand yourself quite well, but still find the same emotional or relationship patterns happening again.

You might recognise yourself if:

• You overthink, analyse conversations or find it difficult to switch off.

• You people-please, take too much responsibility or worry about disappointing others.

• You are extremely self-reliant and find it difficult to need, depend on or ask anything of other people.

• You cope well outwardly but privately experience self-criticism, shame, loneliness or emotional numbness.

• You withdraw, shut down or become very independent when relationships feel difficult.

• You repeatedly feel not good enough, unimportant, rejected or emotionally unsupported, even when part of you knows that may not reflect the present situation.

• Experiences from childhood or earlier relationships still seem to shape how you respond now.

• CBT or counselling has helped you understand the problem, but the emotional pattern itself hasn’t really changed.

Schema therapy helps us understand where these patterns came from, what they once protected you from, and what you need now to respond differently.

 

Many people come to schema therapy after trying other forms of therapy. They may have gained insight and understanding — yet still feel caught in the same emotional or relational patterns.

You might notice the same difficulties repeating in relationships, work, or how you feel about yourself, even when you understand why they happen. Counselling or CBT may have helped you cope better or think differently, but something deeper hasn’t fully shifted.

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Schema Therapy offers a more in-depth way of working with these long-standing patterns. Rather than focusing only on the present, we gently explore how earlier experiences shaped emotional responses and coping styles that are still active today. Many of these patterns developed early on, before you had the language, safety, or choices you have now — and they can continue to influence how safe, worthy, or connected you feel.

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In schema therapy, we take time to understand the deeper layers of you — including parts that may sit outside conscious awareness, or that have been protected by coping strategies such as overthinking, avoidance, self-reliance, or people-pleasing. These strategies often developed for good reasons, even if they now keep you stuck.

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Our work is both reflective and experiential. Alongside talking and making sense of patterns, we may use imagery, emotion-focused, or relational techniques to help old emotional memories update — not just intellectually, but emotionally. This allows change to emerge naturally, rather than being forced.

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Schema Therapy integrates cognitive, psychodynamic, and experiential approaches. It is particularly helpful for long-standing patterns involving self-criticism, emotional inhibition, unmet needs, or difficult early relationships.

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I am Gem, a BABCP-accredited psychotherapist offering schema therapy in Glasgow and online across the UK. Our work is collaborative, compassionate, and firmly on your side. The aim is not to fix you, but to help you respond with greater flexibility, less self-blame, and more emotional freedom.

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If this experience resonates, you may recognise it in my article:
Nothing Has Worked: When Therapy Helped — But You’re Still Stuck

Schema Therapy sessions are available online across the UK and in person in Glasgow.

Nothing Has Worked: When Therapy Helped — But You’re Still Stuck