SCHEMATIC SELF-REPRESENTATION IN EMOTIONAL DISORDER - CONCEPTUAL AND METHODOLOGICAL CONSIDERATIONS

A diverse set of dysfunctional cognitive processes has been implicated in the development and maintenance of a wide variety of emotional disorders. In this article, we suggest that the self, conceptualised as a schematic social cognitive representation of one's traits and attributes, may represent a higher order construct capable of accounting for and unifying observed cognitive processes across many forms of psychopathology. Toward this end, we first review current understandings of the nature of self-representation. Next, drawing on clinical theories incorporating the self, we demonstrate how a consideration of schematic self-representation may help elucidate the cognitive, as well as the affective features of various psychological disorders. Finally, we consider the therapeutic, and especially the methodological implications of adopting a self-based approach to psychopathology. In particular, we review several social cognitive paradigms designed to assess both the structure and the function of the self in emotional disorder.