We have developed seven general steps in schema mode work. (In the following two chapters, we discuss how we adapt these broad strategies to work with the individual modes we have identified for patients with borderline and narcissistic personality disorders.)
Identify and label the patient’s modes.
Explore the origin and (when relevant) adaptive value of the mode in childhood or adolescence.
Link maladaptive modes to current problems and symptoms.
Demonstrate the advantages of modifying or giving up one mode if it is interfering with access to another mode.
Access the Vulnerable Child through imagery.
Conduct dialogues among the modes. Initially, the therapist models the Healthy Adult mode; later the patient plays this mode.
Help the patient generalize mode work to life situations outside therapy sessions.