Emotionally focused therapy
Encyclopedia
Emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is a short term psychotherapy approach to working with couples and more recently with families. It is substantially based on the principles of emotion theory and attachment theory
Attachment theory
Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...

.

Emotionally focused therapy proposes that emotions themselves have an innately adaptive potential that, if activated, can help clients change problematic emotional states or unwanted self-experiences. Emotions are connected to our most essential needs. They rapidly alert us to situations important to our advancement. They also prepare and guide us in these important situations to take action towards meeting our needs. Clients undergoing EFT are helped to better identify, experience, explore, make sense of, transform and flexibly manage their emotional experiences.

Overview

Sue Johnson
Sue Johnson
Sue Johnson is one of the creators of Emotionally Focused Therapy or EFT. She is a Professor of Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Director of the Centre for Emotionally Focused Therapy. She is also the director of the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute.-Works:*Johnson, S.M. . ...

 states in her book 'EFT with Trauma Survivors' that:

[A]ttachment theory...predicts that when attachment security is uncertain, a partner will pursue, fight, and even bully a spouse into responding to attachment cues, even if this has a negative general impact on the relationship (p. 179).

Emotionally Focused therapy (EFT), also known as Emotion-Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C) is an empirically supported humanistic treatment that arose out of emotion theory and attachment theory. It views emotions as centrally important in the experience of self, in both adaptive and maladaptive functioning, and in therapeutic change. From the EFT perspective change occurs by means of awareness, regulation, reflection, and transformation of emotion taking place within the context of an empathetically attuned relationship. EFT works on the basic principle that people must first arrive at a place before they can leave it. Therefore, in EFT an important goal is to arrive at the live experience of a maladaptive emotion (e.g., fear and shame) in order to transform it. The transformation comes from the client accessing a new primary adaptive emotional state in the session.

Core emotions of attachment and fears of loss of attachment arise deep in the brain. The deeper into the brain one goes the less it is available to the fast pace of everyday awareness. Emotions are physiological neuroendocrine responses to which we react, when they come into awareness, with thoughts and feelings about those feelings. In EFT the aim is to create a new relationship event to act as a kind of transformer and thereby change reactive emotion with positive emotions of attachment.

EFT-C is a short-term (8-20 sessions) structured approach that was originally developed in the 1980s by Leslie Greenberg and Sue Johnson. Now, Emotionally Focused Therapy is also used with families
Family therapy
Family therapy, also referred to as couple and family therapy, family systems therapy, and family counseling, is a branch of psychotherapy that works with families and couples in intimate relationships to nurture change and development. It tends to view change in terms of the systems of...

. There is significant research on this approach and it has been found that 70-75% of couples move from distress to recovery, and that these results appear to be less susceptible to relapse than those from other approaches. As such, EFT-C is an evidence based treatment protocol.

Basic Principles

1. Relationships are attachment bonds
2. Change involves a new experience of the self
3. Rigid interaction patterns create and reflect absorbing emotional states. It's systemic.
4. Emotion is the target and agent of change
5. The therapist is a process consultant
6. Partners are viewed as coping as optimally as they can given their current circumstances i.e. non-pathologizing.


One premise of EFT-C is that emotions bring the past alive. The past validates present day fears, blocks and styles of relating, which then fuels conflict. If there is to be long-lasting change, emotions are engaged and activated in the creation of new relationship events.

Another premise is that attachment is maintained by perceived responsiveness and accessibility and by emotional engagement and contact. When those are uncertain, attachment becomes insecure and then follows protest, clinging, depression or despair and detachment. These become stuck in rigid patterns or negative interaction cycles until the underlying need for secure attachment is addressed.

The interactions of distressed couples are characterized by negative cycles where, for example, one partner pursues while the other withdraws. The therapist helps the couples go to the underlying emotions that keep them stuck in those rigid positions and negative interaction cycles.

Using the notion of transforming emotion with emotion, the EFT-C therapist guides each partner to expressing emotions that pull for compassion and connection. EFT-C promotes soothing and helps clients deal with unstated and therefore unmet attachment needs.

Emotion regulation is involved in three major motivational systems central to couples therapy – styles of attachment
Attachment theory
Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...

, identity or working models of self and other, and attraction. These are elaborated below.

Styles of attachment

Johnson & Sims describe four attachment styles.
1. People who are secure and trusting perceive themselves as loveable, able to trust others and themselves in relationship. They give clear emotional signals, and are engaged, resourceful and flexible in unclear relationships. Secure partners express feelings, articulate needs, and allow their own vulnerability to show.
2. People who have a diminished ability to articulate feelings, tend to not acknowledge their need for attachment, and struggle to name their needs in a relationship. They tend to adopt a safe position and solve problems dispassionately without understanding the effect that their safe distance has on their partners.
3. People who are psychologically reactive and who exhibit anxious attachment. They tend to demand reassurance in an aggressive way, demand their partner's attachment and tend to use blame
Blame
Blame is the act of censuring, holding responsible, making negative statements about an individual or group that their action or actions are socially or morally irresponsible, the opposite of praise. When someone is morally responsible for doing something wrong their action is blameworthy...

 strategies (including emotional blackmail
Emotional blackmail
Emotional blackmail is a term used to cover a central form of psychological manipulation - 'the use of a system of threats and punishment on a person by someone close to them in an attempt to control their behavior'. "Emotional blackmail.....

) in order to engage their partner.
4. People who have been traumatized and who vacillate between attachment and hostility.

Emotion focused couples therapy for trauma survivors

See also

  • Attachment theory
    Attachment theory
    Attachment theory describes the dynamics of long-term relationships between humans. Its most important tenet is that an infant needs to develop a relationship with at least one primary caregiver for social and emotional development to occur normally. Attachment theory is an interdisciplinary study...

  • Attachment in adults
    Attachment in adults
    Attachment in adults deals with the theory of attachment in adult romantic relationships.Attachment theory was extended to adult romantic relationships in the late 1980s. Four styles of attachment have been identified in adults: secure, anxious–preoccupied, dismissive–avoidant, and fearful–avoidant...

  • Attachment in children
    Attachment in children
    Newborn humans infants cannot survive without a caregiver to provide food and protection, and will not thrive without other types of support as well. While infants have relatively few inborn behaviors—such as crying, rooting, and sucking—they also come with many behavioral systems ready to be...

  • Attachment measures
    Attachment measures
    Attachment measures refer to the various procedures used to assess attachment in children and adults.Researchers have developed various ways of assessing patterns of attachment in children. A variety of methods allow children to be classified into four attachment pattern groups: secure,...

  • Attachment-based psychotherapy
    Attachment-based psychotherapy
    Attachment-based psychotherapy is a psychoanalytic psychotherapy that is informed by attachment theory. As a branch of relational psychoanalysis, attachment-based psychotherapy combines the epidemiological categories of attachment theory including the identification of the attachment styles...



  • Affectional bond
    Affectional bond
    In psychology, an affectional bond is a type of attachment behavior one individual has for another individual, typically a caregiver for her or his child, in which the two partners tend to remain in proximity to one another...

  • Human bonding
    Human bonding
    Human bonding is the process of development of a close, interpersonal relationship. It most commonly takes place between family members or friends, but can also develop among groups such as sporting teams and whenever people spend time together...

  • Jealousy
    Jealousy
    Jealousy is a second emotion and typically refers to the negative thoughts and feelings of insecurity, fear, and anxiety over an anticipated loss of something that the person values, particularly in reference to a human connection. Jealousy often consists of a combination of presenting emotions...

  • Monogamy
    Monogamy
    Monogamy /Gr. μονός+γάμος - one+marriage/ a form of marriage in which an individual has only one spouse at any one time. In current usage monogamy often refers to having one sexual partner irrespective of marriage or reproduction...

  • Object relations theory
    Object relations theory
    Object relations theory is a psychodynamic theory within psychoanalytic psychology. The theory describes the process of developing a mind as one grows in relation to others in the environment....



  • Interpersonal attraction
    Interpersonal attraction
    Interpersonal attraction is the attraction between people which leads to friendships and romantic relationships. Interpersonal attraction, the process, is distinct from perceptions of physical attractiveness which involves views of what is and is not considered beautiful or attractive.The study of...

  • Interpersonal communication
    Interpersonal communication
    Interpersonal communication is usually defined by communication scholars in numerous ways, usually describing participants who are dependent upon one another. It...

  • Interpersonal compatibility
    Interpersonal compatibility
    Interpersonal compatibility is a concept that describes the long-term interaction between two or more individuals in terms of the ease and comfort of communication.-Existing concepts:...

  • Intimate relationship
    Intimate relationship
    An intimate relationship is a particularly close interpersonal relationship that involves physical or emotional intimacy. Physical intimacy is characterized by romantic or passionate love and attachment, or sexual activity. The term is also sometimes used euphemistically for a sexual...

  • Terms of endearment
    Terms of Endearment
    Terms of Endearment is a 1983 romantic comedy-drama film adapted by James L. Brooks from the novel by Larry McMurtry and starring Shirley MacLaine, Debra Winger, and Jack Nicholson...

  • Love
    Love
    Love is an emotion of strong affection and personal attachment. In philosophical context, love is a virtue representing all of human kindness, compassion, and affection. Love is central to many religions, as in the Christian phrase, "God is love" or Agape in the Canonical gospels...



Further reading

  • Greenberg, L. S., & Goldman, R. (2008). "Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love and Power." Washington, DC: American

Psychological Association.
  • Johnson, S.M. (2004). The practice of emotionally focused marital therapy: Creating Connection. New York: Bruner / Routledge. - Second Edition of 1996 book.

  • S.M. Johnson, Brent Bradley, J Furrow, A Lee, G Palmer (2005) Becoming an Emotionally Focused Couples Therapist : A Work Book. N.Y. Brunner Routledge.

  • Greenberg, LS and Watson, JC (2005) Emotion-Focused Therapy for Depression. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association Press.

  • Johnson, S.M. and Valerie Whiffen(2003)(Eds). Attachment Processes in Couples and Families. Guilford Press.

  • Johnson, S.M. (2002). Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors: Strengthening Attachment Bonds. Guilford Press.

  • Johnson, S.M., & Greenberg, L.S. (1994)(Eds). The heart of the matter: Perspectives on emotion in marital therapy. New York: Brunner Mazel.

  • Greenberg, L.S., & Johnson, S.M. (1988). Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples. New York: Guilford Press.
  • Gurman, A., & Jacobson, N. (2002). Clinical Handbook of Couples Therapy. Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy: Creating Secure Connections, p. 221-250.

  • Rice, L. & Greenberg, L. (Eds.) (1984). Patterns of change: An intensive analysis of psychotherapeutic process. New York: Guilford Press.

External links

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