Emotionally Focused Therapy in Brief
Emotionally Focused Therapy ("EFT") is a research-validated approach to couple, family and individual psychotherapy primarily developed by psychologist Sue Johnson, Ed.D. EFT offers a non-blaming, validating, and highly effective therapeutic experience, which has been rigorously studied using the best available methods since the 1980s. Therapists certified and formally trained and supervised to be Emotionally Focused Therapy practitioners are reliably able to deliver this approach, and our organizing body, the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), formally certifies all therapists, supervisors, and trainers in accordance to the latest art and science on the approach.
EFT differs from other approaches to therapy in that the focus in treatment is on helping clients identify reactive negative patterns of interaction and emotion, safely and deeply experiencing the emotions and associated needs underlying each partner's position in the pattern, and restructuring interactions around these naturally occurring attachment emotions, needs and longings. We are collaborative, warm, interactive, validating, and soothing practitioners. We do not pathologize our clients, teach skills, act like THE experts in the room, or take sides to mediate or referee a disagreement. We aim to be present, curious, emotionally attuned and accompanying rather than intellectual, clever, judgmental or distant.
Our trainers have written many widely available professional and lay person texts, and we advocate that healthy, engaged, and responsive relationships are the keystone to our societies and human functioning in general. We privilege secure attachment between romantic partners, parents & their children (of any age), and therapists & clients, and we advocate for people to love and accept themselves too. EFT offers therapists and their clients a transformative experience that stands apart from its therapeutic cousins and is based in humanistic ethics and scientific evidence.
EFT differs from other approaches to therapy in that the focus in treatment is on helping clients identify reactive negative patterns of interaction and emotion, safely and deeply experiencing the emotions and associated needs underlying each partner's position in the pattern, and restructuring interactions around these naturally occurring attachment emotions, needs and longings. We are collaborative, warm, interactive, validating, and soothing practitioners. We do not pathologize our clients, teach skills, act like THE experts in the room, or take sides to mediate or referee a disagreement. We aim to be present, curious, emotionally attuned and accompanying rather than intellectual, clever, judgmental or distant.
Our trainers have written many widely available professional and lay person texts, and we advocate that healthy, engaged, and responsive relationships are the keystone to our societies and human functioning in general. We privilege secure attachment between romantic partners, parents & their children (of any age), and therapists & clients, and we advocate for people to love and accept themselves too. EFT offers therapists and their clients a transformative experience that stands apart from its therapeutic cousins and is based in humanistic ethics and scientific evidence.
Emotionally Focused Therapy - A therapist's Guide
In addition to what is described above to be easily accessible for any person interested, we recognize that there are some additional details that most therapists like to know before reading further about EFT.
EFT is a research-based model of psychotherapy developed through extensive task analytic research, and researched further in the twenty years since its development through randomized clinical trials, change process research, and naturalistic studies. The couples modality (EFCT) is most researched, with very high efficacy results, but the family (EFFT) and the individual modalities (EFIT) have been researched as well with similar results. Also, the supervision and training processes have been researched. So, we don't just do things on a hunch. Art & Science!
EFT is an integrated model of psychotherapy. Imagine Carl Rogers (Humanistic/Existential Therapy), Salvador Minuchin (Structural Family Therapy), and John Bowlby (Attachment Theory) sat down for a cup of TEA and talked about therapy. This conversation took place in Sue Johnson's mind during her doctoral training, and EFT is what emerged. And "TEA" is capitalized to signify an acronym that explains much of what we do in EFT:
T - Task Alliance - We develop and maintain an alliance with our clients around moment-to-moment tasks of therapy
E - Emotional Depth - We see emotion as the target and agent of change, and thus need to focus explicitly on depth of experience
A - Affiliative Interactions - We facilitate corrective emotional experiences live in the room between partners, family members, and parts of one's self to accelerate natural healing processes in couples, families and individuals
The model is elegant in its simplicity, but challenging to learn and master, and there's always more we are learning in our practices, in research, and in community:
-how to integrate issues of sexuality
-effective interventions for addictions
-effective interventions for post traumatic stress disorders
-effective interventions for interpersonal violence
-modifications to be culturally responsive, anti-oppressive and promote social justice
The ICEEFT community is a unique body of psychotherapists offering support to one another to be the best self as therapist that we can be to our clients, our own families, our selves, and our colleagues. If this model and this community sounds inspiring to you (which we hope it does!), we invite you to check out www.iceeft.com or www.carolinaeft.com, attend a local event or EFT training, or to check out resources where you can learn more at your own pace.
EFT is a research-based model of psychotherapy developed through extensive task analytic research, and researched further in the twenty years since its development through randomized clinical trials, change process research, and naturalistic studies. The couples modality (EFCT) is most researched, with very high efficacy results, but the family (EFFT) and the individual modalities (EFIT) have been researched as well with similar results. Also, the supervision and training processes have been researched. So, we don't just do things on a hunch. Art & Science!
EFT is an integrated model of psychotherapy. Imagine Carl Rogers (Humanistic/Existential Therapy), Salvador Minuchin (Structural Family Therapy), and John Bowlby (Attachment Theory) sat down for a cup of TEA and talked about therapy. This conversation took place in Sue Johnson's mind during her doctoral training, and EFT is what emerged. And "TEA" is capitalized to signify an acronym that explains much of what we do in EFT:
T - Task Alliance - We develop and maintain an alliance with our clients around moment-to-moment tasks of therapy
E - Emotional Depth - We see emotion as the target and agent of change, and thus need to focus explicitly on depth of experience
A - Affiliative Interactions - We facilitate corrective emotional experiences live in the room between partners, family members, and parts of one's self to accelerate natural healing processes in couples, families and individuals
The model is elegant in its simplicity, but challenging to learn and master, and there's always more we are learning in our practices, in research, and in community:
-how to integrate issues of sexuality
-effective interventions for addictions
-effective interventions for post traumatic stress disorders
-effective interventions for interpersonal violence
-modifications to be culturally responsive, anti-oppressive and promote social justice
The ICEEFT community is a unique body of psychotherapists offering support to one another to be the best self as therapist that we can be to our clients, our own families, our selves, and our colleagues. If this model and this community sounds inspiring to you (which we hope it does!), we invite you to check out www.iceeft.com or www.carolinaeft.com, attend a local event or EFT training, or to check out resources where you can learn more at your own pace.