SCHEMA-FOCUSED COGNITIVE PSYCHOTHERAPY IN BRAZIL:
STORIES AND MEMORIES OF THE LAST 30 YEARS (1990 TO 2020)
Cognitive Psychotherapy; Schema Therapy; History; Memory; Brazil;
This work consists of a historicized research whose objective was to conceive possibilities of stories and memories related to Schema-Focused Cognitive Psychotherapy in Brazil between the years 2000 and 2020, in order to understand its diffusion among Brazilian psychology professionals, and in the aforementioned time frame. Schema therapy is an integrative practice in the cognitive-behavioral segment, developed in the 1980s by American psychologist Jeffrey Young, with the aim of treating patients who are resistant to traditional cognitive-behavioral treatment and/or who have personality disorders. In Brazil, in recent years, we have witnessed the advance of this therapeutic modality among psychology professionals. However, until the start of this research, there were no studies on this psychotherapy and on psychology from a historicized perspective. In this sense, we sought to understand the process of growth of the approach from the historical context of its institutionalization, regional diffusion, and the identification of possible characters involved throughout this process. The research method used was a bibliographical review, interviews with collaborators (all psychology professionals), analysis of documentary sources (summaries of texts published in the country on the approach), and content analysis from Bardin's perspective, to create a historicized narrative. It was possible to identify the spread of the approach in the South, Southeast and Northeast regions of the country, and through the direct action of cognitive-behavioral therapists, who initially studied the theoretical model in a self-taught way and later began to teach it to other interested professionals. The first experiences of the approach date back to 1990, through the personal experience of psychologist Ricardo Wainer (southern region), and a workshop given by Jeffrey Young, in the auditorium of the Rio Grande do Sul Medical Association (AMRIGS). In the first decade of the 2000s, new players emerged on the national Schema Therapy scene and, in 2007, psychologist Jeffrey Young gave an official course to Brazilian professionals in the auditorium of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of São Paulo (USP), bringing together interested parties and enabling new events to contribute to the growth of the theoretical model in the country, such as the publication of his book in 2008. In the second decade of the 2000s (2010- 2020), the process of disseminating and institutionalizing the approach took place through a market for training new therapists in Schema Therapy, an increase in national events and technical/scientific productions related to the theory, and the possibility of studying the approach online, as well as getting to know it through social networks, brought about by the growth of internet access in the country.