We all have certain beliefs about life and mental frameworks that develop from early childhood (perhaps even in the womb). We call these our schemas.
Schemas develop through the interaction between our innate temperament and our environment, and guide us throughout life in almost every experience and every response to events.
Schemas can relate to any subject: ourselves, our surroundings, the world, the future, romantic relationships, and so on.
When we face difficulties in adulthood, these schemas are often triggered without us being aware of them.
For example, when someone repeatedly struggles with their boss’s authority and argues with them, or feels worthless and unlovable when a partner leaves them, schemas linked to certain early life events may have been activated in their mind at that moment.
At that point, the person is most likely unable to make a connection between their present reality and that earlier period because these schemas lie outside their awareness.
Psychotherapy is the way to understand them.
