New Episode: August 15, 2025
Episode: What’s the Schemata? — “Nuanced Imagery Rescripting: Social Isolation, Abandonment & More”
Hosts: Chris Hayes & Dr. Robert Brockman (ISST-accredited supervisors)
Schema Therapy is always developing. Techniques are refined, language becomes clearer, and therapists learn to adapt more fluidly to the unexpected. In this episode of What’s the Schemata?, Hayes and Brockman unpack some of the most challenging aspects of imagery rescripting. They explore what to do when the usual approaches don’t land, offering concrete strategies that therapists can put into practice straight away.
Why this episode matters: Episode 59: What’s the Schemata
Imagery rescripting is one of the most powerful interventions in Schema Therapy, but it is also one of the most challenging. Therapists often find themselves improvising in the moment, stepping into the client’s memory without a script. This discussion focuses on how to adapt when the scene isn’t straightforward and how to stay grounded in the core principle of meeting unmet needs.
Social Isolation: when rescuing can isolate further
Rescuing as an adult authority figure may unintentionally reinforce the client’s sense of being “different”. Instead, step into the memory as a same-age peer and bring the child into your group. Inclusion in something as simple as a playground game creates a vivid corrective experience. When appropriate, you can also draw on supportive peers from later life to strengthen the sense of belonging.
Abandonment: a slow repair
Abandonment imagery often unfolds over the long term rather than in a single breakthrough. For pre-verbal memories, the intervention is simple but powerful: pick up the baby, soothe, and stay. Avoid unrealistic repairs such as bringing a lost parent back. Focus instead on validating grief, modelling availability, and planting the seed of hope that stable connections are possible.
Insufficient Self-Control and Self-Discipline: firm but caring limits
This schema calls for limit-setting delivered with warmth. If the child in the image wants to avoid school or act impulsively, step in with a calm, clear boundary: school first, play later. When the original caregiver reinforced impulsivity, part of the repair is resetting norms and modelling accountability without shaming.
Enmeshment and Self-Sacrifice: creating safe distance
When a distressed caregiver overshares, the child can be overwhelmed. One solution is to move the child out of the conversation—invite them to play or draw in another room while you address the adult. Use empathic confrontation to acknowledge the caregiver’s stress while firmly protecting the child from inappropriate emotional burden.
Contemptuous antagonists: keeping control of the scene
Not every antagonist will back down. Some are dismissive or mocking. In these cases, maintain control. Mute them, remove them from the image, or impose boundaries within the imagined space. Aim your firm stance at the behaviour, not the person, to model healthy protection.
Newer lenses: fairness and coherence
- Basic Fairness: Correct clear injustices in the image and consider creating behavioural bridges, such as encouraging the adult client to buy themselves the symbolic item they were denied.
- Coherence of Self and Others: Children suffer when events make no sense. Offer age-appropriate explanations to restore clarity. Mode maps and formulations in therapy often land with the powerful realisation: “Now it makes sense.”
Key takeaways
- Enter imagery just before the painful moment, not after.
- Encourage first-person, present-tense engagement.
- Speak differently to adults and children: limits and confrontation for adults, warmth and protection for the child.
- Use creative but believable fantasy elements like distance, allies, or volume control.
- Balance autonomy with safety—avoid over-rescuing.
Coming soon: full-session recordings
Hayes and Brockman also preview a new filmed series of ten full one-hour schema therapy sessions, showing complete start-to-finish clinical work. Titled Inside the Room: The Schema Therapy Sessions, this project is due for release in September or October 2025.
Listen now
This episode of What’s the Schemata? is packed with clinical insights, practical tips, and honest reflections on the challenges of imagery rescripting. Whether you are new to Schema Therapy or refining advanced skills, it offers ideas you can use immediately in your practice.
Listen now to the full episode on your favourite podcast platform.
