About EFT
Emotionally Focused Therapy: A How-to Manual for Building Strong Bonds in your Marriage
EFT is:
- Empirically validated: Itʼs one of the few approaches to couple therapy shown by research to be effective – even with highly distressed couples. An impressive 90% of couples experienced at least some improvement in their relationship
- Based on John Bowlbyʼs Attachment Theory: As applied to adult love relationships, it recognizes the ongoing need we all have for reliable attachment figures in our intimate relationships and assumes that a secure attachment with our partner provides the solid base that helps us manage emotional distress.
- An experiential approach: Couples change by identifying and expressing their ongoing need for strong, accessible, responsive emotional connections. Emotions are the focus because they are compelling and instructive; they tell us whatʼs important to us.
- Growth oriented: The focus is on individual and couple strengths and recognizes that human beings have an inherent drive towards growth and healthy relationships.
- Collaborative: A strong alliance – where couples are the experts on their own experience and can express this in therapy – is key. The therapistʼs role is that of process consultant, helping partners connect their own internal experience with their couple interactions.
- Focused on the present: While history often plays an important role in shaping our ways of relating, it is the emotionally driven interactions in the here and now that are the focus of therapy.
- Emotionally engaging: The active, evocative approach is especially effective at drawing out men, who often have more difficulty accessing and expressing their emotions.
- Clear and concise: Susan Johnson, the principal developer of EFT for couples, has clearly elaborated a therapy model that relies on attachment theory as the basis for understanding adult love relationships, including the nature of conflict and the change process in couple therapy.
