Schema Therapy in Antalyato the roots of repeating patterns
Work with the deep patternsthat keep repeating in your relationships and sense of self. Jeffrey Young's integrative approach — for when shorter therapies have only partly helped. A practice led by a London-trained, BPS-member psychologist. Fully in English, in person or online.
Write or call for an appointment — we usually reply within 24 hours.
4.9
Google rating
183+ reviews
2,000+
sessions delivered
adults · couples · children
Board
matching decision
a board of psychologists, not an algorithm
BPS
founder — member #763717
Birkbeck, Univ. of London · reply within 24h
BPS
Graduate Member
Berk Mete · #763717
Experience
2,000+ sessions
Adults · couples · children
Satisfaction
4.9 rating
183+ Google reviews
Response
Within 24 hours
First appointment
What Is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy is an integrative psychotherapy approach developed by Jeffrey Young in the 1990s, bringing together cognitive behavioural therapy, attachment theory, object relations and gestalt work. It has proven particularly effective for chronic, deeply rooted psychological difficulties.
Schema Therapy targets "early maladaptive schemas" — patterns that grow out of core emotional needs left unmet in childhood and adolescence. These schemas are self-repeating loops of thought, feeling and behaviour that keep organising life long after childhood ends.
At Mete Psikoloji, clinical psychologists experienced in schema work offer a safe therapeutic setting for change at the root. For international clients in Antalya — and anywhere online — the whole course is planned and delivered in English.
Early Maladaptive Schemas
Young identified 18 early maladaptive schemas, grouped under five core need domains. Each schema is the echo of a need that went unmet in childhood:
Disconnection & Rejection
Includes the abandonment, mistrust, emotional deprivation, defectiveness and social isolation schemas. Rooted in the need for secure attachment going unmet.
Impaired Autonomy
Covers the dependence, vulnerability to harm, enmeshment and failure schemas. Relates to confidence and independence never getting room to develop.
Impaired Limits
Includes the entitlement and insufficient self-control schemas. Arises where boundaries and responsibility were not consistently taught.
Other-Directedness
Covers the subjugation, self-sacrifice and approval-seeking schemas — a life organised around everyone else's needs before your own.
Overvigilance & Inhibition
Includes the negativity, emotional inhibition, unrelenting standards and punitiveness schemas. Linked to spontaneity and ease being suppressed by constant alert.
Schema Modes
Schema modes describe your moment-to-moment emotional states and coping styles. Modes are the emotional, cognitive and behavioural patterns that switch on when a schema is activated. In Schema Therapy, mode work is one of the most powerful engines of change.
Child modes (the vulnerable, angry or impulsive child)
Maladaptive coping modes (surrender, avoidance, overcompensation)
Dysfunctional parent modes (the punitive or demanding parent)
Healthy Adult mode (the mode therapy aims to strengthen)
One of Schema Therapy's central goals is to strengthen your Healthy Adult mode — the inner state in which you can recognise your schemas, regulate your emotions and make free, considered choices.
Who Is Schema Therapy For?
Schema Therapy is the approach of choice particularly in these situations:
Repeating relationship patterns
Chronic depression and anxiety
Personality-level difficulties (including borderline patterns)
Limited benefit from short-term therapies
Childhood trauma and histories of neglect
Long-standing self-worth difficulties
Difficulties regulating emotions
Repeating self-defeating patterns
Schema Therapy is an especially valuable option when CBT has not moved things far enough, or when the roots of a difficulty need to be reached directly. Our clinical psychologists determine which approach fits you best during the assessment phase.
The Schema Therapy Process
A course of Schema Therapy has two main phases:
Assessment & Awareness Phase
Your schemas and modes are identified. Using the Young Schema Questionnaire, a detailed life-history interview and imagery techniques, a comprehensive case formulation is built. This phase deepens how well you understand yourself.
Change Phase
Schemas are transformed using cognitive, experiential, behavioural and relational techniques. Experiential methods such as imagery rescripting and chair work create change at the emotional level. Through limited reparenting, the therapeutic relationship itself becomes an instrument of change.
Schema Therapy is a longer-term approach, usually running from six months to two years. Sessions take place weekly and last 50 minutes. The length of the course is personalised to how deep the schemas run and what you want to change. You can read more about how we work.
Schema Therapy: frequently asked questions
What is Schema Therapy?
Schema Therapy is an integrative psychotherapy developed by Jeffrey Young in the 1990s, combining CBT with attachment theory, object relations and experiential (gestalt) techniques. It targets 'early maladaptive schemas' — deep, self-repeating patterns of thought, feeling and behaviour rooted in unmet childhood needs — rather than only today's symptoms.
What are early maladaptive schemas?
Young identified 18 schemas grouped into five domains, each reflecting a core childhood need that went unmet. Common examples include Abandonment (people I love will leave), Defectiveness (if you really knew me you would reject me), Emotional Deprivation (my needs will never be met), Failure and Unrelenting Standards. Schemas operate quietly in the background — until a relationship or setback activates them.
What are schema modes?
Modes are the moment-to-moment states a schema throws you into: child modes (the vulnerable or angry child), internalised parent modes (the punitive inner critic), and coping modes (avoidance, overcompensation, surrender). The aim of therapy is to strengthen the Healthy Adult mode — the part of you that can soothe the child, answer the critic and choose behaviour freely.
The First Step Towards Deep Change
Understand yourself at a deeper level with Schema Therapy — and change the pattern, not just the episode.
Schema Therapy Cluster
— Schema Therapy in Antalya — related services and comparisons in EnglishMore in This Approach
Approach
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
The structured, short-term sibling of Schema Therapy
Our Service
Individual Therapy in English
One-to-one therapy in Antalya or online
Our Service
Couples Therapy in Antalya
When schemas collide inside a relationship
Psychologist
Berk Mete, GMBPsS
BSc Psychology, Birkbeck, University of London