Journal of Research in Medical Sciences1735-199517620120715Cognitive schemas among mental health professionals: Adaptive or maladaptive?84858485ENSahooSaddichhaNational Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences, Bangalore, Karnataka, India. saddichha@gmail.comAjayKumarNirmalaPradhan20120715Objectives: Maladaptive cognitive schemas can lead to biases during clinical assessment or psychotherapeutic interventions. This study aimed to explore the cognitive schemas among mental health professionals. Materials and Methods: 100 mental health professionals, of both genders, equally divided between psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, and psychiatric nurses, were approached and administered the Young Schema Questionnaire - Short Form after written informed consent. Results: Males had higher maladaptive schemas than female respondents across all schema domains, viz., disconnection/rejection, impaired autonomy, impaired limits, other-directedness, and overvigilance (P ≤ 0.05). Psychiatrists had higher maladaptive schemas than psychologists (P ≤ 0.05). Age was weakly but positively corelated with the schemas of self-sacrifice (P = 0.038) and unrelenting standards (P = 0.002).Conclusions: Mental health professionals also may have maladaptive schemas, which needs to be addressed through schema therapy.Key words: Cognitive schemas, core beliefs, mental health professionals