Fear of Losing Control & Emotional Constriction Schemas

A conversation on two YSQ-R schemas that changed how I think about emotional inhibition.

A conversation about refining Emotional Inhibition.

What we’ve traditionally called “emotional inhibition” has always been doing a lot of work.

In the original schema model, these patterns sat within a single schema. Through my research developing the YSQ‑R, I separated this into two distinct schemas: Fear of Losing Control and Emotional Constriction.

In this conversation with Nadene van der Linden from Schema Therapy Made Simple, I unpack that distinction and why it matters not just statistically, but clinically.

One is about the fear that if emotion is expressed, something will go wrong.

The other is about shutting down emotion altogether.

They can look similar from the outside. But they are not the same thing in the room.

And when we separate them properly, formulation becomes clearer, and intervention becomes more targeted.

In this episode

  • Fear of Losing Control schema

  • Emotional Constriction schema

  • How these differ from Emotional Inhibition

  • Clinical presentation

  • Developmental origins

  • Case-based examples

  • Practical intervention ideas

Schema Therapy and YSQ-R Resources: Including translations, published Articles, an introductory guide and more!

A clinical conversation on the Fear of Losing Control and Emotional Constriction schemas — including how they present, where they come from, and why separating them leads to clearer formulation and more targeted intervention.

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