RESEARCH PAPER
Therapy of anorexia and Young’s early maladaptive schemas. Longitudinal study
 
 
 
More details
Hide details
 
Submission date: 2015-07-15
 
 
Final revision date: 2015-09-29
 
 
Acceptance date: 2015-09-29
 
 
Online publication date: 2015-10-14
 
 
Publication date: 2015-12-01
 
 
Current Issues in Personality Psychology 2015;3(4):203-213
 
KEYWORDS
TOPICS
ABSTRACT
Background
Young’s early maladaptive schemas are defined as convictions about oneself acquired in childhood, formed by a child in response to deprivation of his or her basic needs, especially in the area of relationships. In the case of anorexia, the role of the family and relations is emphasized as crucial for the genesis of this disorder. The aim of the research was to investigate whether Young’s early maladaptive schemas change during the therapy, which would prognosticate higher treatment efficiency.

Participants and procedure
The study group included 30 women suffering from anorexia, starting their 6-week therapeutic program. The procedure included double measurement: during the administration and discharge. The respondents filled in the Young Schema Questionnaire in its short form (YSQ-S3) (twice), the Acceptance of Illness Scale (AIS) adapted by Juczyński (twice), and a demographic chart (once).

Results
The intensity of all schemas decreased after completion of the therapeutic program; the differences were mostly statistically significant. The composition of the most intense schemas did not change significantly: unrelenting standards and abandonment were the highest during both measurements. What changed were the interrelations between the schemas. They are also connected with the acceptance of the illness (the weaker they are, the greater the acceptance, and the stronger the relations) and with psychological well-being, especially during the post-therapy measurement.

Conclusions
The schemas seem to be significant from the perspective of understanding anorexia. They are susceptible to be changed by integrative therapies. Nevertheless, it seems that in order to achieve a durable change, schema therapy should be applied.
 
REFERENCES (28)
1.
Bator, E., Bronkowska, M., Ślepecki, D., & Biernat, J. (2011). Anoreksja – przyczyny, przebieg, leczenie. Nowiny Lekarskie, 80, 184-191.
 
2.
Boone, L., Braet, C., Vandereycken, W., & Claes, L. (2013). Are maladaptive schema domains and perfectionism related to body image concerns in eating disorder patients? European Eating Disorders Review: The Journal of The Eating Disorders Association, 21, 45-51.
 
3.
Brummett, B. R. (2008). Attachment style, early maladaptive schemas, coping self-efficacy, therapy alliance and their influence on addiction severity in methadone-maintenance treatment. Dissertation Abstracts International, 68, 6952.
 
4.
Calvete, E., Orue, I., & González-Diez, Z. (2013). An examination of the structure and stability of early maladaptive schemas by means of the Young Schema Questionnaire-3. European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 29, 283-290.
 
5.
Damiano, S. R., Reece, J., Reid, S., Atkins, L., & Patton, G. (2015). Maladaptive schemas in adolescent females with anorexia nervosa and implications for treatment. Eating Behaviors, 16, 64-71.
 
6.
Deas, S., Power, K., Collin, P., Yellowlees, A., & Grierson, D. (2011). The relationship between disordered eating, perceived parenting, and perfectionistic schemas. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 35, 414-424.
 
7.
Eder, P., Stawczyk, K., Lehmann, A., Jankowiak, M., & Cichy, W. (2007). Czy i jak można zapobiegać zaburzeniom odżywiania wśród młodzieży – słów kilka o akcji informacyjnej dotyczącej anoreksji i bulimii organizowanej przez poznański oddział IFMSA-Poland [Is there a possibility to prevent eating disorders among young people – A piece of information about campaign concerning anorexia and bulimia organized by Poznan’s department of IFMSA-Poland]. Nowiny Lekarskie, 76, 242-245.
 
8.
Gustek, S., & Jaworski, M. (2011). Znaczenie interwencji żywieniowej w psychoterapii poznawczo-behawioralnej w bulimii [The importance of nutrition intervention in cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) in bulimia]. Psychiatria i Psychoterapia, 7 (2-3), 7-21.
 
9.
Hawke, L. D., & Provencher, M. D. (2012). The Canadian French Young Schema Questionnaire: Confirmatory factor analysis and validation in clinical and nonclinical samples. Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science/Revue Canadienne Des Sciences Du Comportement, 44, 40-49.
 
10.
Hoek, H. W. (1998). Planowanie systemu opieki zdrowotnej dla osób z zaburzeniami odżywiania na podstawie danych epidemiologicznych [Planning an eating disorder service on the basis of epidemiological data]. World Psychiatric Association, 173, 13.
 
11.
Jośko, J., & Kamecka-Krupa, J. (2007). Czynniki ryzyka anoreksji [Anorexia risk factors]. Problemy Higieny i Epidemiologii, 88, 254-258.
 
12.
Juczyński, Z. (1999). Narzędzia pomiaru w psychologii zdrowia [Measures in health psychology]. Przegląd Psychologiczny, 42, 43-56.
 
13.
Juczyński, Z. (2001). Narzędzia pomiaru w promocji i psychologii zdrowia [Measurements for health psychology and health promotion]. Warsaw: PTP.
 
14.
Kozak, G., & Kozak, A. (2003). Cechy osobowości i obraz siebie pacjentek z jadłowstrętem psychicznym (anorexia nervosa) [Personality traits and self-image in anorectic female patients]. Roczniki Psychologiczne, 6, 115-129.
 
15.
Kriston, L., Schäfer, J., Jacob, G. A., Härter, M., & Hölzel, L. P. (2013). Reliability and validity of the German Version of the Young Schema Questionnaire-Short Form 3 (YSQ-S3). European Journal of Psychological Assessment, 29, 205-212.
 
16.
Malogiannis, I. A., Arntz, A., Spyropoulou, A., Tsartsara, E., Aggeli, A., Karveli, S., Vlavianou, M., Pehlivanidis, A., Papadimitriou, G. N., & Zervas, I. (2014). Schema therapy for patients with chronic depression: A single case series study. Journal of Behavior Therapy & Experimental Psychiatry, 45, 319-329.
 
17.
Mącik, D. (2015). Wpływ wczesnych nieadaptacyjnych schematów na samoocenę i ocenę swojego życia. Badania porównawcze kobiet młodszych i starszych [The influence of the early maladaptive schemas on self-esteem and evaluation of one’s own life. The comparison study of older and younger women]. Przegląd Psychologiczny (in print).
 
18.
Muris, P. (2006). Maladaptive schemas in non-clinical adolescents: relations to perceived parental rearing behaviours, Big Five personality factors and psychopathological symptoms. Clinical Psychology & Psychotherapy, 13, 405-413.
 
19.
Palus, K. (2006). Etiopatogeneza i terapia zaburzeń odżywiania się w perspektywie rodzinnej [The etiopathogenesis and therapy of eating disorders in the family perspective]. Roczniki Socjologii Rodziny, XVII, 235-253.
 
20.
Przewoźnik, D. A. (2013). Wybrane zagadnienia dotyczące neurobiologii jadłowstrętu psychicznego [Selected issues concerning the neurobiology of anorexia nervosa]. Neuropsychiatria i Neuropsychologia, 8, 118-122.
 
21.
Renner, F., Lobbestael, J., Peeters, F., Arntz, A., & Huibers, M. (2012). Early maladaptive schemas in depressed patients: stability and relation with depressive symptoms over the course of treatment. Journal of Affective Disorders, 136, 581-590.
 
22.
Starzomska, M. (2008). Egosyntoniczność jako patognomoniczny objaw anoreksji [Egosyntonicity as a pathognomonic sympt om of anorexia nervosa]. Psychoterapia, 146, 61-74.
 
23.
Stochel, M., & Janas-Kozik, M. (2010). Przyjaciółki wirtualnej Any – zjawisko proanoreksji w sieci internetowej [Friends of virtual Ana – the phenomenon of pro-anorexia in the Internet]. Psychiatria Polska, 44, 693-702.
 
24.
Talarczyk, M. (2009). Godne życie... a zaburzenia odżywiania się [A dignified life and eating disorders]. Psychoterapia, 148, 77-88.
 
25.
Unoka, Z., Tölgyes, T., Czobor, P., & Simon, L. (2010). Eating disorder behavior and early maladaptive schemas in subgroups of eating disorders. The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, 198, 425-431.
 
26.
Young, J. E. (1999). Cognitive therapy for personality disorders: A schema-focused approach (3rd ed.). Sarasota, FL, US: Professional Resource Press/Professional Resource Exchange.
 
27.
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2014). Terapia schematów. Przewodnik praktyka [Schema therapy: a practitioner’s guide]. Sopot: GWP.
 
28.
Young, J. E., Rygh, J. L., Weinberger, A. D., & Beck, A. T. (2008). Cognitive therapy for depression. In: D. H. Barlow (ed.), Clinical handbook of psychological disorders: A step-by-step treatment manual (4th ed., pp. 250-305). New York, NY, US: Guilford Press.
 
Copyright: © Institute of Psychology, University of Gdansk This is an Open Access journal, all articles are distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/), allowing third parties to copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format and to remix, transform, and build upon the material, provided the original work is properly cited and states its license.
eISSN:2353-561X
ISSN:2353-4192
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top