Free Therapist Training›Schema Therapy Toolkit›Mode Map Worksheet
Last updated: November 11, 2026
A schema mode map is a one-page picture of the modes a client moves between: the child modes that carry unmet needs, the critic modes that push and punish, the coping modes that protect against pain, and the Healthy Adult that therapy sets out to strengthen. Drawn with the client and in the client's own words, it turns the case conceptualization into something both people can point to when a mode takes over, in session or at home.
The mode map worksheet from Sentio's free schema therapy toolkit is free as a PDF and an editable Google Doc. It comes with a completed example for an invented client and a schema modes list that describes fifteen common modes in plain language.
Download the PDFMake a copy in Google Docs
What Goes on a Mode Map Worksheet?
The worksheet has three parts: a map with a row for each mode group, one typical mode sequence from trigger to cost, and a log the client keeps between sessions. It holds the detail behind Part 5 of the case conceptualization form, which records the modes in brief.
Part 1. My mode map (use the client's own names for each mode)
| Mode group | The mode, in the client's words | When it shows up | What it says or does | What it needs, or how the Healthy Adult responds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child modes | ||||
| Critic modes | ||||
| Coping modes | ||||
| Healthy Adult | ||||
| Happy Child |
Part 2. A typical mode sequence
| Step | Entry |
|---|---|
| Trigger: what happened | |
| First mode to show up, and what it felt like | |
| The mode that followed, and what it did | |
| What happened next, and the cost | |
| What the Vulnerable Child needed | |
| What the Healthy Adult could do next time |
Part 3. Mode log, between sessions
| Date | What happened | Mode | What I felt, thought and did | What I needed | What my Healthy Adult can do |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
What Does a Completed Mode Map Worksheet Look Like?
The example belongs to Lena, the invented client used throughout the toolkit: a 36-year-old accountant who came to therapy for low mood and exhaustion after a year of fourteen-hour workdays, and who calls herself "useless" after small mistakes. Her therapist drew the map with her during the assessment phase, using the names Lena chose: "the judge" for her Punitive Critic (also called the Punitive Parent), "the coach" for her Demanding Critic (the Demanding Parent) and "autopilot" for her Detached Protector. Her "autopilot" both numbs her feelings, as a Detached Protector does, and keeps her soothed and busy, as a Detached Self-Soother does; she and her therapist kept one name for both because that is how she experiences it. All the details are invented.
Part 1. My mode map (use the client's own names for each mode)
| Mode group | The mode, in the client's words | When it shows up | What it says or does | What it needs, or how the Healthy Adult responds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Child modes | "little Lena" (Vulnerable Child) | When Sam asks for closeness, on weekends with nothing planned, and briefly in session before autopilot takes over | She feels lonely and unseen, and believes no one would notice her unless she is useful. She hides it, even from Sam. | To be noticed and comforted, and to hear that her feelings are not "dramatic." The therapist offers this first, and her Healthy Adult learns to offer it too. |
| Critic modes | "the coach" (Demanding Critic) and "the judge" (Punitive Critic) | The coach: deadlines, reports, any free evening. The judge: mistakes and critical feedback at work. | The coach: "It's not good enough yet. Check it again." The judge: "You're useless, and you deserve to feel bad." | The Healthy Adult answers the coach with realistic standards ("This is good enough to send") and stops the judge firmly ("Mistakes don't make me useless"). The therapist models both in chair work first. |
| Coping modes | "autopilot" (Detached Protector, with Detached Self-Soother features) and "yes-Lena" (Compliant Surrenderer) | Autopilot: when sadness comes up, when Sam asks how she feels, after the judge has spoken. Yes-Lena: whenever someone asks for help, and with her manager. | Autopilot says "I'm fine": she goes numb and busy, works late, scrolls her phone and changes the subject. Yes-Lena agrees to every request, apologizes often, accepts harsh criticism as deserved and tries to be a "good client." | Thank autopilot for protecting a child who had to cope alone, and name its cost: exhaustion and a partner who feels shut out. Give yes-Lena a pause before every answer. |
| Healthy Adult | Healthy Adult (no name of her own yet) | At work when she solves problems calmly, with friends, and more often in sessions now | She is competent and kind: patient with colleagues, warm with friends, and starting to catch the judge in session. | Practice in offering herself the kindness she gives her friends, and in leaving work at a normal time. |
| Happy Child | Happy Child (rare) | Hiking, and singing in the car | She feels light, playful and absorbed, and forgets to check her phone. | Unscheduled time that the coach may not fill, such as a weekend hike with Sam. |
Part 2. A typical mode sequence
| Step | Entry |
|---|---|
| Trigger: what happened | On Thursday afternoon her manager pointed out an error in a client report and asked her to correct it. |
| First mode to show up, and what it felt like | "The judge": "You're useless." Her face went hot, her stomach knotted, and she felt ashamed. |
| The mode that followed, and what it did | "The coach," then "autopilot": she stayed until 11 p.m. rewriting the entire report and felt nothing. |
| What happened next, and the cost | She told Sam she was "fine" and went to bed. She slept badly, was exhausted the next day, and Sam said again that she is "never really there." |
| What the Vulnerable Child needed | To hear that one error does not make her useless, and to tell someone who would listen without criticizing her. |
| What the Healthy Adult could do next time | Name the judge ("That's the judge talking"), correct the error and nothing more, leave by 6 p.m., and tell Sam she had a hard day. |
Part 3. Mode log, between sessions
| Date | What happened | Mode | What I felt, thought and did | What I needed | What my Healthy Adult can do |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monday | A colleague asked me to take over her audit file. | "yes-Lena" | Felt a jolt of panic, thought "I can't let her down," and said yes at once. | Time to check my own workload first. | Say "Let me look at my week and get back to you by noon." |
| Wednesday | Sam asked how I was really doing. | "autopilot" | Said "fine," went numb and picked up my phone. | To let him in. | Put the phone down and tell him one true thing: I'm tired and sad. |
| Saturday | Nothing was planned all afternoon. | "the coach," then "little Lena" | Thought "I should be catching up on work," felt restless and lonely, and opened my laptop. | Rest, and some company. | Close the laptop and ask Sam to go for a hike. |
What Is a Schema Mode?
A schema mode is the state a person is in at a given moment: the feelings, thoughts and behavior in charge right now. A schema works on a longer time scale. It is a long-standing pattern of feelings, beliefs, memories and body reactions that formed when core emotional needs went unmet, and it can lie quiet until something resembling the old situation sets it off. The mode is what takes over then, so a clinician meets schemas in the room through the modes they produce. Lena's Unrelenting Standards/Hypercriticalness schema is with her all the time, but it shows itself as "the coach," the voice that says a finished report needs one more rewrite.
Modes have a large place in the literature: schema mode work has its own chapter in Young et al. (2003), Arntz and Jacob (2011/2013) built an introductory guide around the mode approach, and Edwards (2022) treats modes as the basis of case conceptualization.
What Are the Schema Modes?
The schema modes fall into four groups: child modes, which carry core needs and feelings; critic modes, which turn harsh or demanding messages from early life on the self; coping modes, which protect against pain; and the Healthy Adult. Young et al. (2003), Arntz and Jacob (2011/2013) and the Schema Mode Inventory call the critic modes parent modes, and later books call them critic modes (Brockman et al., 2023). The table lists the fourteen modes of the short Schema Mode Inventory (Lobbestael et al., 2010), adds the Angry Protector from later literature (Arntz et al., 2021; Brockman et al., 2023), and groups the coping modes by coping style, as Arntz and Jacob (2011/2013) and Brockman et al. (2023) do.
| Mode group | Mode | What it looks like |
|---|---|---|
| Child modes | Vulnerable Child | The person feels the pain of unmet needs, such as loneliness, fear, sadness or shame, and may seem young, tearful or helpless. |
| Angry Child | The person feels furious that core needs are not being met and vents it, often more strongly than the moment calls for. | |
| Enraged Child | Anger turns into rage, and the person may shout, lash out or break things while feeling out of control. | |
| Impulsive Child | The person does what feels good right now, without regard for limits, other people or what comes later. | |
| Undisciplined Child | Dull or difficult tasks feel unbearable, so the person puts them off or abandons them as soon as effort is needed. | |
| Happy Child | The person feels loved, safe, playful and curious, as a child does when core needs are met. | |
| Critic modes (parent modes) | Demanding Critic (Demanding Parent) | An inner voice pushes for perfection, achievement or putting others first, so that nothing is ever enough and rest feels undeserved. |
| Punitive Critic (Punitive Parent) | An inner voice condemns the person for mistakes, or for having needs and feelings at all, and says they deserve to suffer. | |
| Coping modes: surrender | Compliant Surrenderer (Compliant Surrender in the SMI) | The person gives in to the schema, going along with others and putting up with poor treatment to keep the peace or win approval. |
| Coping modes: avoidance | Detached Protector | The person shuts emotions down and keeps others at a distance, seeming numb, flat, distracted or "fine" while feeling empty inside. |
| Detached Self-Soother | The person turns feelings down with absorbing or comforting activity, such as overwork, gaming, eating, substance use or endless scrolling. | |
| Angry Protector | The person uses irritation or a wall of anger to keep others at arm's length and vulnerable feelings hidden. | |
| Coping modes: overcompensation | Self-Aggrandizer | The person acts superior, special or entitled and seeks status and admiration, which keeps shame out of view. |
| Bully and Attack | The person controls, threatens or intimidates others, attacking first so as not to be the one who gets hurt. | |
| Healthy Adult mode | Healthy Adult | The competent, caring adult part looks after the person's needs, comforts the Vulnerable Child, keeps the angry and impulsive sides in check and stands up to the critics. |
Young et al.'s (2003) model had ten modes in four groups (Lobbestael et al., 2010), and the list has grown since: Edwards (2022) lists more than eighty modes, and an international workgroup has put forward a taxonomy of forty dysfunctional modes, many of them new (Arntz et al., 2021).
How Do You Draw a Mode Map With a Client?
The therapist shares the case conceptualization with the client in mode names that mean something to the client, and tracks the sequences in which the modes appear, such as the Vulnerable Child and a parent (critic) mode followed by a coping mode (Edwards, 2022). A recent episode of the presenting problem, taken slowly, makes a good starting point: what happened, what the client felt first, what the inner voice said, what the client did next, and what it cost. Each state that emerges goes on the map under the client's name for it, such as "the judge," a quick way for both people to point to the mode in session. The Healthy Adult and the Happy Child belong on the map too, however small, as the strengths treatment builds on.
The Cambridge Guide to Schema Therapy places the mode map in the assessment and education phase, as a summary of the key points of the case conceptualization, and working it out together helps clients feel understood and aware of their modes (Brockman et al., 2023). The map stays in use in the change phase, where each mode calls for its own work: care for the Vulnerable Child, limits on the critics, empathic confrontation of the coping modes, and chair work that gives each mode a voice.
Keep reading
Schema Therapy Case Conceptualization Form, where the mode map fits in the full formulation
Chair Work Session Guide, how trained clinicians give each mode on the map its own chair
Schema Therapy Client Handout, plain-language mode descriptions and a mode diary to share with clients
Practice Time, free short videos on the Healthy Adult mode and the critic mode (episodes 19 and 21)
Frequently Asked Questions
How many schema modes are there?
There is no fixed number. Lobbestael et al. (2010) count ten modes in four groups in Young et al.'s (2003) model, and the 118-item short form of the Schema Mode Inventory that they validated measures fourteen. Later work has added many more: Edwards (2022) lists more than eighty, and an international workgroup has put forward a taxonomy of forty dysfunctional modes, many of them new (Arntz et al., 2021). A client's own mode map holds only the modes that fit that client.
What is the difference between a schema and a mode?
A schema is a long-standing pattern of feelings, beliefs, memories and body reactions that formed when core emotional needs went unmet, and it can lie quiet until something sets it off. A mode is the state that is active at a given moment: the feelings, thoughts and behavior that take over when a schema is triggered and the person copes with it. Clinicians see schemas through the modes they produce.
What is the Healthy Adult mode?
The Healthy Adult is the competent, caring adult part of a person. It looks after the person's own needs, comforts the Vulnerable Child, holds the angry and impulsive sides in check, and stands up to the critic modes. Through limited reparenting the therapist first meets some of the needs the client missed in childhood, within professional boundaries, and the client's Healthy Adult gradually takes that role over (Lockwood, 2008).
Can the Schema Mode Inventory identify a client's modes?
Yes. The Schema Mode Inventory (SMI) measures how often a client experiences each mode, and the 118-item short form validated by Lobbestael et al. (2010) covers fourteen modes, from the Vulnerable Child to the Healthy Adult. Clinicians obtain it from the Schema Therapy Institute, whose license terms forbid reproducing its items in publications or online without written permission. The scores add a second line of evidence to the mode map, beside the interview and the client's own descriptions.
References
Arntz, A., & Jacob, G. (2013). Schema therapy in practice: An introductory guide to the schema mode approach. Wiley-Blackwell. (Original work published 2011)
Arntz, A., Rijkeboer, M., Chan, E., Fassbinder, E., Karaosmanoglu, A., Lee, C. W., & Panzeri, M. (2021). Towards a reformulated theory underlying schema therapy: Position paper of an international workgroup. Cognitive Therapy and Research, 45(6), 1007–1020. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10608-021-10209-5
Brockman, R. N., Simpson, S., Hayes, C., van der Wijngaart, R., & Smout, M. (2023). Cambridge guide to schema therapy. Cambridge University Press. https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108918145
Edwards, D. J. A. (2022). Using schema modes for case conceptualization in schema therapy: An applied clinical approach. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, Article 763670. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.763670
Lobbestael, J., van Vreeswijk, M., Spinhoven, P., Schouten, E., & Arntz, A. (2010). Reliability and validity of the short Schema Mode Inventory (SMI). Behavioural and Cognitive Psychotherapy, 38(4), 437–458. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1352465810000226
Lockwood, G. (2008, December 27). Limited reparenting. International Society of Schema Therapy. https://schematherapysociety.org/Limited-Reparenting
Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema therapy: A practitioner's guide. Guilford Press.
