Studies on the biology of the brain indicate locations at which schema triggering based on traumatic childhood events such as abandonment or abuse might occur in the brain. When patients surrender to a schema, they yield to it. They do not try to avoid it or fight it. They accept that the schema is true. They feel the emotional pain of the schema directly. They act in ways that confirm the schema. Without realizing what they are doing, they repeat schema-driven patterns so that, as adults, they continue to relive the childhood experiences that created the schema. When they encounter schema triggers, their emotional responses are disproportionate, and they experience their emotions fully and consciously.
A common instance of schema triggering appears in what Safran and Muran (1996) call ‘‘therapeutic ruptures.’’ In such ruptures, the bond between the patient and the therapist deteriorates, sometimes very rapidly.
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