| Theories of transference, attachment, social information-processing, and dual processing are explored in order to illustrate the process by which maladaptive relational schemas are formed, how they persist, and how they can be resolved. Relational schemas are described as experientially based memory networks that automatically and implicitly inform the perception and understanding of future relationships. In order to correct maladaptive schemas that emerge as a result of trauma or insufficient care, awareness and new relational experiences are required to provide the affected individual with the opportunity to recognize, access, and revise underlying relational memory databases so as to promote a new and more adaptive approach to understanding the self in relation to others. |
