Mervin Smucker (2016). Meaning, Story and Psychotherapy-2.

Psychotherapists such as Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and Aaron Beck classify and categorize the kinds of deep-level narratives we use to interpret events as archetypes, complexes, or core beliefs (schemas). Freud posited the “unconscious” as the realm where such stories reside. Jung posited the “collective unconscious,” which he conceived of as broadly cultural and even cross-cultural, while Beck’s pioneering work in cognitive therapy draws on the work of earlier psychoanalytic thinkers to posit “schemas” as a form of cognition. When these schemas are maladaptive, they often predispose people to interpret events through stories shaped by deep-seated fears relating to core beliefs of abandonment, mistrust, inherent unlovability, worthlessness, incompetence, and/or vulnerability.  Psychotherapy helps people to uncover their narratives and confront underlying maladaptive schemas, with the goal of developing more adaptive schemas and healthier narratives.

Mervin Smucker