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How EFT differs from other approaches

1. EFT integrates an intra-psychic focus on how individuals process their experience, with an interpersonal focus on how partners organize their interactions into patterns and cycles.  It considers how systemic pattern and inner experience and sense of self evoke and create each other.

·         The therapist attempts to guide the distressed couple away from negative and rigidly structured internal and external responses, toward the flexibility and sensitive responsiveness that are the bases of a secure bond between intimates.  This process is a journey-

·         From alienation to emotional engagement

·         From vigilant defense and self-protection, to openness and risk taking (emotional)

·         From a passive helplessness in the face of the negative interactions of the relationship to a sense of being able to actively create positive interactions

·         From desperate blaming of the other, to a sense of how each partner makes it difficult for the other to be responsive and caring

·         From a focus on other’s flaws, to discovery of one’s own fears and longings

·         But primarily from isolation to connectedness.

1. The role of the EFT therapist is not that of a couch teaching communication; strategies; or negation skills; but is rather a ‘process consultant’ helping couples reprocess their experiences of the relationship, help restructure their relationship interactions.
2. The primary focus of therapy is on the ‘here and now’ though ‘family of origin’ issues are attended to if they are played out in present interactions.
3. The goal of EFT is to reprocess experience and reorganize interactions to create a secure bond between partners, a sense of secure connectedness – the focus is always on attachment concerns including safety, trust, and overcoming obstacles to these.
4. EFT is a short term therapy which maintains focus on the emotion: unfolding key emotions and using them to prime new responses to one’s partner in therapeutic enactments is the heart of change in EFT (Johnson, 2004).
5. The enhancement and/or development of a secure adult attachment relationship is the primary focus and goal of EFT couple therapy. 

All information regarding EFT is quoted for paraphrased from ‘The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connections’ (Johnson, S.M., 2004) or ‘Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy with Trauma Survivors: Strengthening Attachment Bonds’ (Johnson, S.M., 2002).  This information represents to basic tenets of EFT and any errors are unintentional.

Delegates are strongly recommended to pre-read ‘The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connections’ available on order at Archive Book Store, Claremont, prior to the workshop.

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