a parent who worriedexcessively.This schema refers to the belief that people deserve to be harshly punished for makingmistakes. People with this schema are critical and unforgiving of both themselves andothers. They tend to be angry about imperfect behaviors much of the time. Inchildhood these clients usually had at least one parent who put too much emphasis onperformance and had a punitive style of controlling behavior.How Schemas WorkThere are two primary schema operations: Schema healing and schema perpetuation.All thoughts, behaviors and feelings may be seen as being part of one of theseoperations. Either they perpetuate the schema or they heal the schema. In a latersection on the therapy process we will explain more about schema healing.Schema perpetuation refers to the routine processes by which schemas function andperpetuate themselves. This is accomplished by cognitive distortions, self -defeatingbehavior patterns and schema coping styles.Earlier we mentioned that cognitive distortions are a central part of cognitive therapy.These distortions consist of negative interpretations and predictions of life events. Theschema will highlight or exaggerate information that confirms the schema and willminimize or deny information that contradicts it. Likewise, unhealthy behavior patternswill perpetuate the schemas existence. Someone who was abused in childhood anddeveloped a Mistrust/Abuse schema may seek out abusive relationships in adulthoodand remain in them, providing a constant stream of evidence for the schema.In order to understand how schemas work, there are three schema coping styles thatmust be defined. These styles are schema surrender, schema avoidance, and schemaovercompensation. It is through these three styles that schemas exert their influence onour behavior and work to insure their own survival.Schema surrender refers to ways in which people passively give in to the schema.They accept the schema as truth and then act in ways that confirm the schema. Forinstance, a young man with an Abandonment/Instability schema might choosepartners who are unable to commit to long-term relationships. He might then react toeven minor signs indications of abandonment, such as spending short times without hispartner, in an exaggerated way and feel excessive negative emotion. Despite theemotional pain of the situation, he might also passively remain in the relationshipbecause he sees no other possible way to connect with women.Schema avoidance refers to the ways in which people avoid activating schemas. Asmentioned earlier, when schemas are activated, this causes extreme negative emotion.People develop ways to avoid triggering schemas in order not to feel this pain. There arethree types of schema avoidance: cognitive, emotional and behavioral.Cognitive avoidance refers to efforts that people make not to think about upsettingevents. These efforts may be either voluntary or automatic. People may voluntarilychoose not to focus on an aspect of their personality or an event, which they finddisturbing. There are also unconscious processes which help people to shut outinformation which would be too upsetting to confront. People often forget particularlypainful events. For instance, children who have been abused sexually often forget thememory completely.Emotional or affective avoidance refers to automatic or voluntary attempts to blockpainful emotion. Often when people have painful emotional experiences, they numbthemselves to the feelings in order to minimize the pain. For instance, a man might talkabout how his