Leslie Greenberg writes that enduring emotional change occurs when two or more existing schemes are synthesised and the creation of higher-level schemes. In development, when opposing schemes are activated at the same time compatible elements from both schemes synthesise to form new higher-level schemes. Schemes of standing and falling can be brought together to create a new scheme for walking in a dialectical process. Schemes of different emotional states can be synthesised in the same way to form new integrations. A schematic emotional memory of fear and withdrawal from an experience of abuse can be synthesised with an empowering experience of anger in the present which motivates approach rather than withdrawal. This can create a new sense of confidence or assertion, according to Greenberg.
Transforming emotion schemes
