Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
“We must recognize that we are more than ‘homo sapiens’. We are ‘homo vinculum’ -the one who bonds with others. And these bonds are what will save us. They always have.” -Sue Johnson, Founder of EFT, Author of Created for Connection
I use my training in EFT with most of my clients, whether we are working on individual, couple's, or family counseling goals. Since beginning this training and using it with my clients, I have witnessed firsthand how impactful this therapy model is, particularly in helping my clients create change that lasts long-term.
From the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy:
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a well-known humanistic approach to psychotherapy formulated in the 1980’s and developed in tandem with the science of adult attachment, a profound developmental theory of personality and intimate relationships. This science has expanded our understanding of individual dysfunction and health as well as the nature of love relationships and family bonds. Attachment views human beings as innately relational, social and wired for intimate bonding with others. The EFT model prioritizes emotion and emotional regulation as the key organizing agents in individual experience and key relationship interactions.
EFT is best known as a cutting edge, tested and proven couple intervention, but it is also used to address individual depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress (EFIT – Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy) and to repair family bonds (EFFT – Emotionally Focused Family Therapy). This model operationalizes the principles of attachment science using non-pathologizing experiential (paralleling Carl Rogers) and relational systems techniques (paralleling Salvador Minuchin) to focus on and change core organizing factors in both the self and key relationships.
Most EFT research to date has focused on outcome and process of change studies with couples, and EFT for couples is the gold standard for empirically validated intervention in this field. Future research will focus on EFIT and EFFT. EFT has also generated many relationship education programs, for example Hold Me Tight: Conversations for Connection and its online version www.holdmetightonline.com, and Healing Hearts Together for couples dealing with cardiac dysfunction.
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(ICEEFT, 2022. https://iceeft.com)