Collage of paper cutouts on a cream background: a dirt path with a single stone, worn sneakers with trailing laces, a skein of yarn, two teacups, a potted plant, a person seated at a window beside a cat, and a folded map with looping blue arrows and a wax seal.

Certificate of Schema Domain

to be completed in your own hand

Processing time: 7 min Items: 30

No sign-up. Issued the same day.

This certificate is issued based on a 30-item test and certifies which of five schema domains is strongest in your answers at this time. You receive a classification, the basis for it, and remarks. Processing time: 7 minutes. The method is a plain self-report that records only how the bearer describes present habits.

Situation: a new friendship is a few weeks old and going well. Your outlook? Booking a trip together for next spring seems an easy call. A beat of silence before my yes to the weekend plan. Part of me plans the summer, part of me expects an ending. Why get attached? This will be over soon. I stop answering their texts before they stop answering mine.

A close friendship has run smoothly for many years. What do you expect of its future? I picture us decades from now, arguing about films. I'd say it will last, with one private question about next year. With them, I plan the holiday and note a plan B. I discount the history and wait for it to come apart. Their ten-year toast sounds like a farewell speech.

A neighbor you barely know offers to carry boxes on moving day. Your response? Yes, please, grab the heavy end and I'll make tea. I accept and ask what made them offer. I let them carry the boxes, but I stay beside the van. Nobody carries boxes for free; the valuables stay in my hands. I answer the neighbor through the locked door.

Situation: a project requires you to hand your unfinished draft to a colleague you just met. Your reaction? "Edit anything you like," I say, and forward the file. A copy of the draft stays on my desktop. Draft sent, with a watermark across the pages. I send it, expecting my ideas to appear under their name. Sending it feels like handing my wallet to a pickpocket.

Describe your place in a hiking club where everyone shares your interest. I save a seat for the newcomer next to me. While the group chats, I walk a step behind. Okay, I join the summit photo at the far end. I stand at the edge of the circle while they talk gear. I am a stranger in this club, among people I know.

At a dinner where the other guests are longtime friends, how do you feel? I pull up a chair and join the nearest conversation. My smile comes easily, with an outsider's tug behind it. While the others laugh, I carry plates to the kitchen. I nod through stories I wasn't part of. I sit through dinner with my coat on my lap.

Filing a routine expense report falls to you alone. Select the closest option. Over coffee, I fill in the form and submit it. Submitted, after one extra look for a missed field. Fill in the form, then let the cursor hover over submit. Someone has to check my report before I submit it. Rather than fail alone, I wait for someone to sit beside me.

Situation: you must set up unfamiliar software and nobody is available to ask. Your course of action? Install, click around, learn as I go. I click through the installer, wincing at the warnings. Both are true: I can learn this, and I could ruin it. Don't touch anything until someone shows me how. Laptop closed, a phone call to someone who can do it.

You wake with a scratchy throat. What goes through your mind? Scratchy throat? I hum along to the radio. I gargle salt water as a precaution. Calm says it's a cold, worry says it's more. Search the symptoms, land on the serious causes. I'm in the clinic waiting room before breakfast.

A weekend bus trip to the next town is booked. How do you feel about it? I buy snacks for the ride and leave the map at home. I pack my bag and tell myself the bus will be fine. I choose the ticket with the refund option. Breakdowns, delays, a missed connection: I run them all in my head. Cancel the ticket: that bus is going to crash.

Situation: a peer in your field has just reached the position you are working toward. Your thought? Good for them; I send congratulations and mean it. I look up how long they took and compare mine. I congratulate them and update my résumé. What I notice is how far my own career lags. I tell my friends I lost that race long ago.

Describe your inner response when a supervisor praises your finished report. I say thanks, enjoy the moment, and tell a friend. "Thanks," I say, adding that it was the easy part. I accept the thanks and wonder if the next one holds. They have to say that; kind words don't measure my ability. I nod at the praise and file it under "doesn't count".

Situation: your library book is overdue, and the late fee applies to every borrower. Your response? I'd pay at the desk and hand back the book. At the desk, I ask whether the fee can be waived. Fine, I pay, and I resent that it applies to me. I know the librarian will wipe the fee after I explain. I put the book on the shelf and walk out without paying.

There is a line of people ahead of you at the post office. Select the closest option. While the line moves, I read the notice board. Waiting my turn, I count the heads ahead of me. My feet wait; my mind is already at the front. I ask the person ahead to let me go first. Why queue? The window is right there.

A coworker booked the meeting room before you did, and you need it now. Your course of action? Their booking came first, so the lounge becomes my office. I ask them when the room will be free. I hover by the door and tell myself it's their slot. I'd tell them my meeting matters more and ask them to move. I walk in and start setting up my laptop.

Describe how you pursue a long study goal when nothing rewards you along the way. Studying without a prize suits me fine. I study with my phone face-down beside the book. "Reading counts," I say, and skip the exercises. Rather than push on, I let the book gather dust. No reward, no study: I delete the study plan.

Situation: you planned to save money this month, and a tempting sale begins. Your response? I nod at the sale sign and head home. I open the sale email and flag one item for later. Okay, one jacket goes in the basket, the rest go back. Savings can start next month; today I shop. Savings plan? The card is out before I think of it.

You are partway through repetitive data entry for a project that matters to you. What do you do? I start a podcast and work down the columns. I'm typing rows while an urge to skip ahead rises. I finish a block of rows and abandon the rest for today. I type one last row, close the file, and leave it unfinished. I email my manager that the entry cannot be finished.

You have a firm preference about where to live, and a close friend may disagree. Your response? Telling my friend my choice, and why, comes naturally. My voice softens on the last words as I state my choice. I give my pick, then add: "but you decide." "Whatever you prefer works for me," I say. It is my friend's call where I live.

A friend has already said they prefer a different restaurant than you do. What do you say? I can name my restaurant and offer them the next pick. I feel my pick wobble the moment I say it. I argue my case, lose, and follow them to theirs. Theirs it is; I put my pick away. When they speak, my own list of places vanishes.

Situation: you want to leave on time, and a coworker's deadline will suffer if you do. Your response? I wave goodbye and go on time. On my way out, irritation at the guilt flashes through me. I cover part of their work and leave, resentful either way. I'd cancel my evening plans and bury the resentment in their file. Instead of leaving, I take their whole pile, smiling.

Situation: only one of two day-off requests can be approved, yours or a colleague's. Select the closest option. Whatever the manager decides is fair; my request stays in. I submit mine and find it unfair that only one day exists. I weigh both requests and resent whichever one I send. Let them have the day. My jaw tightens. There is no request from me, only a knot in my chest.

You are choosing a paint color for your own apartment. What decides it? Which color? The green I love, on all four walls. I can pick the green and picture a guest's raised eyebrow. I tape both swatches to the wall and let a guest vote. I go with the grey, because visitors will approve of it. Paint whatever the neighbors would admire.

You finish a project, and nobody has said a word about it. How do you feel? I can enjoy a finished project with nobody watching. I mention the project to a coworker in the hallway. It's good work, and better if someone says so. No word from anyone, so the project feels unfinished. The project goes in the bin because nobody noticed it.

A job offer pays more but adds a long commute. How do you weigh it? I list the raise and the commute side by side and decide. Counting the raise first, I jot the commute in the margin. I price the commute in lost evenings against the raise. What I picture is traffic, and the raise loses its shine. I send the recruiter a no at the word commute.

Describe your thoughts after a presentation that went well apart from one typo. It was a good talk; one typo is a footnote. I write the typo on a sticky note and enjoy the compliments. I thank the team and reopen the typo slide. What I replay is the typo; the compliments recede. I see the whole presentation as that one typo.

A colleague's farewell speech moves you deeply while others watch. What do you do? I cry in my seat and let everyone see. I wipe my eyes openly, then clear my throat to cover it. One tear escapes, and I swallow the rest. Hold it in. Not here, not in front of them. It is a blank face and folded hands through the speech.

A cyclist nearly clips you on the path, and a sharp remark comes to mind. Your course of action? I turn and tell them exactly what I think of that. While they pedal away, I call "careful" after them. I give them a long glare and say nothing. I'd rather bite my tongue than say it out loud. I walk on with my mouth sealed and my face calm.

Situation: your report meets every requirement in the assignment. How do you judge it? I close the folder, satisfied it does what I wanted. "Done," I say, and a better closing line crosses my mind. Passes the brief, misses my own bar. I read it through and find it falls short of my standard. Starting over from a blank page beats keeping this draft.

An independent review rates your work at the level you aimed for. Your reaction? I know my aim was met, so I take the rating gladly. The review says well done; my eyes hunt for what it missed. I accept the rating and reread the section I like least. I set the rating aside and judge the work myself. Their score is a mistake; the work itself falls short.

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About This Certificate

The test measures which of five schema domains, as grouped in a long-established schema-therapy model, is expressed most strongly in the bearer's present self-reported tendencies.

Test author Editorial Staff

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Attachments

Attachment 1. Methodology

The result tells you where your habits of expectation pull hardest at present. It rests entirely on how you describe yourself today, so a different season can bring a different result, and nothing in it is permanent.

Every area covered by the test has a place in everyone's life. The area named here is the loudest right now, not the only one at work, and the result does not place you above or below other people.

Thirty questions, six per area, give each area its own reading. The areas come from a schema-therapy framework that bundles narrower recurring patterns into five broad groups, called domains. For background, see what the word schema means in psychology and a catalog of the specific patterns.

The five-group bundling is popular, yet the research is firmer on the narrow patterns than on the way they are sorted, so the group labels are a practical convenience. None of them is a good or bad one to land in.

The questions are original. They draw on openly available psychological descriptions and do not copy, imitate, or stand in for the licensed clinical questionnaire normally used to measure this area.

What you receive describes a tendency, and a tendency is not a diagnosis. Only a qualified professional can assess you, and this result is no substitute for that.

Attachment 2. Frequently Asked Questions

What is a schema in psychology?

A schema is a deep-seated frame of mind through which a person interprets new situations. It carries expectations and feelings, so an event gets a meaning before it is examined. Because the frame filters what gets noticed, contrary evidence is easy to miss, which makes a schema stable and slow to change.

What are the 18 schemas?

The original model describes eighteen narrow patterns and sorts them into five wider groups. This test returns one result about those broad groups and says nothing about each narrow pattern on its own.

Is this test the same as the clinical schema questionnaire?

No. The questionnaire used in clinics is a licensed instrument for trained professionals. This test was written independently from open sources, shares none of its items, and cannot replace it.

What is a schema domain?

A domain is a wider group into which the model places its specific patterns. Each group centers on a different part of daily life, such as closeness with others, responsibility, or rules.

Can a schema test diagnose anything?

No. A questionnaire answered at home can point to a tendency worth attention, nothing more. Naming any condition takes an individual evaluation by a licensed clinician, and a conversation with one is a reasonable step if the result raises concerns.

Attachment 3. References

Young, J. E., Klosko, J. S., & Weishaar, M. E. (2003). Schema Therapy: A Practitioner's Guide. New York: Guilford Press.
Young, J. E., & Brown, G. (2003). Young Schema Questionnaire — Long Form 3 (YSQ-L3). Sarasota, FL: Professional Resource Exchange.
Yalcin, O., Lee, C., & Correia, H. (2020). Factor Structure of the Young Schema Questionnaire (Long Form-3). Australian Psychologist, 55(5), 546–558. doi:10.1111/ap.12458
Thimm, J. C. (2022). The higher-order structure of early maladaptive schemas: A meta-analytical approach. Frontiers in Psychiatry, 13, 1053927. doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2022.1053927

Certificate of Schema Domain

Disconnection & Rejection

Impaired Autonomy

Impaired Limits

Other-Directedness

Overvigilance & Inhibition

About This Certificate

Attachments

What is a schema in psychology?

What are the 18 schemas?

Is this test the same as the clinical schema questionnaire?

What is a schema domain?

Can a schema test diagnose anything?

Applicant Statistics

Referral

Certificate of Schema Domain

Disconnection & Rejection

Impaired Autonomy

Impaired Limits

Other-Directedness

Overvigilance & Inhibition

About This Certificate

Attachments

What is a schema in psychology?

What are the 18 schemas?

Is this test the same as the clinical schema questionnaire?

What is a schema domain?

Can a schema test diagnose anything?

Related Certificates on File

Applicant Statistics

Referral