WHAT  IS  EMOTIONALLY　FOCUSED　THERAPY (EFT)?

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a well-known humanistic therapy approach developed in the 1980’s together with the science of adult attachment and developmental theory of personality and intimate relationships. Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C) was originally created by Dr. Leslie Greenberg and Dr. Susan Johnson as Sue's subject of her doctoral dissertation (Greenberg & Johnson, 1988). Dr. Sue Johnson further developed and popularized EFT-C, which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 30 years of peer-reviewed clinical research. EFT, which is based on attachment theory, is best known to be an evidence-based couple therapy, and acknowledged by the American Psychological Association, but it is also used to address individual struggles such as depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (EFIT – Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy) and to repair family bonds (EFFT – Emotionally Focused Family Therapy). 

 

EFT 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 core organizing agents in individual experience and key relationship interactions.

 

One of EFT’s goals is to create a secure attachment bond in a relationship. This model operationalizes the principles of attachment science using non-pathologizing experiential and relational systems techniques to focus on and change core organizing factors in both the self and key relationships.

 

Website of International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) is here.