These interactions can soon become stuck in rigid, dysfunctional patterns (what EF therapists call ‘negative cycles’) and stay that way until the underlying need for secure attachment is identified and addressed.ĮFT aims to do more than changing the way people communicate, to help them negotiate issues the EFT therapist helps the couple create a more secure emotional bond, more relationship satisfaction, intimacy, trust, and a general sense of feeling secure with their partner.ĮFT focuses on the present. This is why interactions of distressed couples are usually characterised by negative cycles, where one partner is pursuing while the other withdraws. When those are felt to be uncertain, attachment becomes insecure and partners will fall into a pattern of protest, clinging, depression or despair and detachment. Attachment theory views emotions as essential in the experience of self.Īttachment is sustained by responsiveness and availability of the partner or attachment figure, and by emotional engagement and contact. They can also steer us in these important situations to take action towards meeting our needs. As such, EFT is an evidence-based treatment.Įmotions are associated with our key needs and can alert us to situations important to our development and well-being. Approximately 75% of couples move from distress to recovery, and the gains are sustained for months to years following the end of treatment. With this wealth of research, EFT therapists are equipped with a map for relationships: how they work and how they go wrong, and what is needed to put them right.ĮFT has substantial clinical effectiveness, including with depressed couples and couples facing trauma. The approach is based on many years of research into bonding, both between mother and child and between romantic partners. What is emotionally focused couples therapy?Įmotionally focused therapy (EFT) is a therapeutic approach that originated in Canada in the 1980s when Dr Sue Johnson and Dr Les Greenberg developed their psychology research and clinical applications with the aim of improving attachment and bonding in adult relationships.Īfter the initial collaboration, the work of Dr Sue Johnson and Dr Les Greeberg took slightly different paths Dr Les Greeberg re-focused his interest in clinical applications with individuals and developed his ‘emotion-focused’ approach, while Dr Sue Johnson continued to further develop ‘emotionally focused therapy’ in its clinical application with couples. And it is systemic in that it looks at the whole relationship, the patterns in the relationship where the couple gets stuck, and both the couple's family and relationship history. EFT is experiential in that it focuses on how people experience their relationships how they put together their emotional experiences, and how they express these emotions.
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