Emotion has played an important role in the treatment of individuals, families and groups of people that are suffering from psychological conditions. Two therapies that utilize emotion as a psychotherapeutic approach are Emotionally-focused Therapy (EFT) and Process Experential Therapy.
A short-term psychotherapy, Emotionally-focused therapy or EFT rests in its assumption that an emotion has an inner adaptive potential. The therapy aims to activate this innate potential of emotions in order to help a person change his view of any unwanted self-experience, or alter his current problematic emotional state. Simply put, EFT involves the therapeutic use of emotions to facilitate the proper self-management of such emotions.
EFT is focused on the six basic principles of the therapeutic use of emotions. These are comprised of:
EFT includes 8 to 20 sessions of therapy that is usually applied to clients with anxiety problems and traumatic experiences (e.g. post-traumatic stress disorder). EFT includes the following steps or stages:
Stabilization is the stage where assessment and de-escalation occurs. The first four steps of the therapy are under this stage, which include:
Step 1: Assessment
Step 2: Determining negative cycle and attachment problems or issues
Step 3: Gaining access to the roots of attachment emotions
Step 4: Reframing the problem into a cycle and identifying attachment needs and fears
This stage is also referred to as “change phase” and involves step 5 to step 7:
Step 5: Gaining Access to assessed needs, fears, and self-models
Step 6: Acceptance Promotion (the client and his partner accept the needs, fears and models of self)
Step 7: Structuring Emotional Engagement (the client and his partner begin to stop old behavioural patterns)
Also called as "consolidation phase", Stage 3 includes steps 8 and 9:
Step 8: Assuming New positions in the Cycle (client and his partner enact new experiences)
Step 9: Creating New solutions to matter-of-fact issues
The end-result of EFT is to gain a new attachment bond that becomes the strength of the client and his partner.
A new psychotherapy approach, Process Experiential Therapy uses emotion in processing a client’s cognitive and affective aspects. It involves a true and empathic relationship between the client and the therapist. They work together to achieve a balance between “process directiveness” and “relational directiveness”. These terms simply mean that the client and the therapist are in a collaborative relationship with the aim of exploring (i.e. processing) the experiences of the client and constructing new meanings of those experiences. In this therapy, emotions are organizing processes that improve the client’s problem solving and adaptation capabilities, as well as enhance his endurance to positive change and self-promotion.
Sarah Mae Sincero (Feb 25, 2012). Emotion in Psychotherapy . Retrieved Dec 08, 2024 from Explorable.com: https://explorable.com/emotion-in-psychotherapy
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