Adverse childhood experiences and early maladaptive schemas in adulthood: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

Abstract

Background: Schema Therapy is based on the theory that trauma and neglect in childhood lead to early maladaptive schemas and psychopathology in adulthood. The aim of this review was to evaluate support for this theory by synthesizing the literature on childhood adversity and schemas.Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis were completed in compliance with PRISMA. PsycInfo, CINAHL and PubMed were searched to identify eligible studies that reported unadjusted association(s) between adverse childhood events and schema scores when participants were 18 years or older. Meta-analyses were conducted to estimate the pooled effect size of associations between schemas and experiences of childhood adversity.Results: A total of 33 studies met inclusion criteria and provided sufficient data for meta-analyses on childhood experiences relating to toxic frustration of needs (emotional neglect and physical neglect) and trauma and victimization (emotional abuse, physical abuse and sexual abuse). Of the 124 meta-analyses, 65 indicated that schemas show small to large correlations with emotional neglect (range: r = .16

Associations Between Trauma, Early Maladaptive Schemas, Personality Traits, and Clinical Severity in Eating Disorder Patients: A Clinical Presentation and Mediation Analysis

“…However, the ED's EMS literature is still preliminary (Pugh, 2015), even though cognitive-behavioral approaches are considered the gold standard of treatments. Our data corroborate the evidence of a relationship between EMS and trauma (Pilkington et al, 2020), suggesting, however, that the time of trauma exposure does not influence them, even if the presence of the larger span between both cT and bT with respect to nT could be considered as an indicator for further studies, with larger samples, that could evaluate the relationship between childhood trauma and EMS, as already stated in general and clinical populations (Meyer et al, 2001;Messman-Moore and Coates, 2007). As for personality traits, our data provided weak evidence of differences between patients with and without trauma experiences, while the literature on healthy subjects has shown a robust connection between dysfunctional personalities and trauma (Carvalho et al, 2015).…”

“…such as disconnection and impaired autonomy have shown a robust association with specific psychopathology such as EDs, supporting the use of specific cognitive-behavioral interventions that target core beliefs (Karatzias et al, 2016). Cognitive distortion such as a lack of autonomy, emotional regulation difficulties, and interpersonal problems are pervasive elements of chronic mental illness, and early detection could positively impact recovery (Pauwels et al, 2016;Pilkington et al, 2020). For these reasons, a growing body of literature has started to report the results of the integration of elements from third-wave therapies with cognitive-behavioral treatment protocols, with encouraging results (Öst, 2008;Ben-Porath et al, 2020;Pisetsky et al, 2020;Todisco et al, 2020).…”

Early maladaptive schemas and intimate partner violence victimization and perpetration: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…Specifically, schemas are theorized to form in childhood when core emotional needs, such as safety and emotional nurturance, are not met. These adverse early experiences contribute to the development of cognitive biases (Pilkington et al, 2020), which in turn increase vulnerability to psychological disorders in adulthood (Barazandeh et al, 2016; Hawke & Provencher, 2011; Janovsky et al, 2020).…”

Social functioning in individuals affected by childhood maltreatment: establishing a research agenda to inform interventions

“…In addition to identifying intrapersonal processes such as specific dysfunctional schemas related to different types of CM (122), alterations in preferred closeness or distance to other people (118)(119)(120) or in emotion regulation and recognition difficulties (100,123), future research should focus on alterations in interpersonal processes as well.…”

“…Next to being affected by socio-cultural factors, negative interpretations of nonverbal signals (e.g., facial expressions) might occur in some but not in other situations. Fore example, individuals affected by CM might show such negative interpretations in interpersonal situations which activate negative schemas (122) but not in the real (or imagined) presence of trusted, close others (135). Similarly, preferred interpersonal distances might vary within individuals.…”