Deliberate practice exercises allow students and trainees to rehearse foundational schema therapy skills so that they can build competence and hone their own personal therapeutic styles.
 
Each book in the Essentials of Deliberate Practice series contains customized role-playing exercises in which two trainees act as a client and a therapist, switching back and forth under a supervisor's guidance. The trainee playing the therapist improvises appropriate and authentic responses to client statements organized into three difficulty levels—beginner, intermediate, and advanced—reflecting common issues encountered by schema therapists.
 
The first 12 exercises focus on skills derived from schema therapy’s three stages—bonding and emotional regulation, mode change, and autonomy—and include limited reparenting, psychoeducation about schema modes, and empathic confrontation. Following these are two comprehensive exercises—an annotated transcript and free-form mock therapy sessions—in which trainees integrate essential skills into a single session.
 
Step-by-step instructions guide participants through the exercises, identify criteria for mastering each skill, and explain how to monitor and adjust difficulty. Guidelines to help trainers and trainees get the most out of training are also provided.

Series Preface
Tony Rousmaniere and Alexandre Vaz
Acknowledgments
Part I. Overview and Instructions
Chapter 1. Introduction and Overview of Deliberate Practice and Schema Therapy
Chapter 2. Instructions for the Schema Therapy Deliberate Practice Exercises
Part II. Deliberate Practice Exercises for Schema Therapy Skills
Exercises for Beginner Schema Therapy Skills
Exercise 1: Understanding and Attunement
Exercise 2: Schema Education
Exercise 3: Linking Unmet Need, Schema, and Present Problem
Exercise 4: Education About the Dysfunctional Schema Modes
Exercises for Intermediate Schema Therapy Skills
Exercise 5: Recognizing the Mode Shifts of the Maladaptive Coping Modes
Exercise 6: Identifying the Presence of the Dysfunctional Critic Mode
Exercise 7: Identifying the Presence of the Angry and Vulnerable Child Modes
Exercise 8: Limited Reparenting Response for the Innate Child Modes
Exercises for Advanced Schema Therapy Skills
Exercise 9: Limited Reparenting Response for the Dysfunctional Critic Mode
Exercise 10: Limited Reparenting Responses for the Maladaptive Coping Modes- Empathic Confrontation
Exercise 11: Supporting and Strengthening the Healthy Adult Mode
Exercise 12: Implementing Behavioral Pattern Breaking
Comprehensive Exercises
Exercise 13: Annotated Schema Therapy Practice Session Transcript
Exercise 14: Mock Schema Therapy Sessions
Part III: Strategies for Enhancing the Deliberate Practice Exercises
Chapter 3: Additional Guidance for Trainers and Trainees: How to Get the Most Out of Deliberate Practice
Appendix A. Difficulty Assessments and Adjustments
Appendix B. Deliberate Practice Diary Form
Appendix C. Sample Schema Therapy Syllabus With Embedded Deliberate Practice Exercises
References
About the Authors
Index