Emotion focused therapy (EFT) has been developed in the last 30 years by Dr. Les Greenberg and colleagues, being acknowledged by the American Psychological Association as an evidence based treatment for depression. EFT has also been studied in specific fields as complex trauma, social anxiety, eating disorders and generalized anxiety disorder, in addition to couples and family therapy. (Goldman & Greenberg, 2015).
EFT stands out for being an integrative approach, influentiated by humanistic principles, experiential therapy, constructivism and neurosience research. As a neohumanistic experiential approach, EFT highlights the importance of a safe and trustful therapeutic relationship, combining empathy and experiential interventions that were developed and thoroughly studied to help clients in their process of change.
The main goal of EFT is the transformation of client´s emotional schemes and personal meaning. Emotions are conceived as the core organizers of human experience, not thoughts. People come to psychotherapy offices looking for help on how to deal with their sadness, shame, fear, rage and guilt. In EFT, we wanna work directly with emotion. Although narratives are important, we hope to see them changing in therapy from corrective emotional experiences and not from working on thoughts. Once an emotion is activated it turns out to ve impenetrable to reason. That´s why is so hard to change an emotion through reasoable and rational alternatives. In EFT, we wanna CHANGE EMOTIONS WITH EMOTIONS , not with cognitions. That ´s how we change sadness with anger, shame with compassion, fear with protection, anger with sadness and other mixes of emotions.
The interaction between client and therapist has two significant dimensions in EFT: following and leading. Sometimes the client needs to be guided and leaded to the processes that are really important to work on. Othertimes they are already activated emotionally and just have to be followed by an empathic, sensitive and attuned therapist. EFT rescues authenticity, compassion and kindness among human beings. Therapists are able to help clients to get in touch with their core pain, to go to hidden and disturbing places that were disowed, and then create new meaning. A famous axiom to explain EFT ideas is that you can´t leave a place before you get there. You can´t change an emotion before you feel it.
Rua Engenheiro Enaldo Cravo Peixoto, 215 – Sala 310 – Tijuca – Rio de Janeiro
