Shame/defectiveness EMS

Thus, workaholics aim, through the process of over-compensation, to experience feelings of status, success and self-worth that they were unable to achieve in childhood and, as long as they are being successful in this respect, they are able to maintain a fragile sense of self-esteem. However, setbacks at work can be a shattering experience for such individuals and trigger the failure and/or defectiveness/shame EMS and elicit extreme stress reactions. 

The continuum technique is useful to keep track of how the patient s beliefs are changing. For example, if the patient believed at the beginning of schema therapy that they were unloveable (underlying defectiveness/shame EMS), this would form the basis of the continuum, which would have 0% loveable at one extreme and 100% loveable at the other extreme. The patient can then be asked to rate themselves and a number of other significant people in their lives at various points on this continuum. 

Disconnection and rejection - the individual has an expectation that their needs for security, safety, stability, nurturance, empathy, acceptance and respect will not be met in a consistent manner. The typical early family dynamics involve cold, rejecting, withholding, lonely, explosive, unpredictable or abusive behaviour from others. The EMS in this domain are abandonment/instability (perceived instability or unreliability of personal support), mistrust/abuse (expectation that others will hurt, abuse, humiliate, lie, manipulate, cheat, etc.), emotional deprivation (perception that one s needs for emotional support will not be met), defectiveness/ shame (the feeling that one is defective, bad, unwanted, inferior, flawed or invalid in some important respect) and social isolation/alienation (the feeling that one is different from others and isolated from any social group). 

It is proposed that where the underlying EMS is one of defectiveness/ shame, the individual was made to feel worthless as a child. The aim of the over-compensatory behaviour is thus forcefully to demand the recognition, respect and esteem that they believe they cannot win by other means, or by being simply who they are (i.e. not good enough, unloved, bad). It can also be an attempt to make others feel worthless, sidelined and unimportant, just as they did as a child. 

Withdrawn individuals experience anxiety and avoid social situations at work such as groups or meetings, where they perceive their competence to be on trial . It is proposed that the underlying EMS for this avoidant coping style may be either social isolation/alienation or defectiveness/shame. Where... 

Young s Schema Questionnaire long version (YSQ-L2) the patient s profile on the YSQ-L2 identified a raised score on the defectiveness/ shame and failure EMS, indicating that this was of clinical significance (Young and Brown 1994). 

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