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Les Greenberg, PhD. Father of Emotion Focused Therapy
Leslie Greenberg, Ph.D. is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario. He is the main developer of Emotion-focused therapy and the board advisory member of International Society for Emotion Focused Therapy, ISEFT. He was the Director of the York University Psychotherapy Research Clinic where he conducted many studies on EFT and trained many EFT therapists. He has authored the major texts on Emotion-focused approaches to treatment. He is the senior author on the original texts on Emotion-focused approaches to treatment of individuals and couples such as Facilitating Emotional Change (1993) and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (1988).
More recent books that he was the main author or co-author include; Changing Emotion with Emotion (2021), Emotion Focused Counseling in Action (2021), Clinical Handbook of Emotion Focused Therapy (2019), Emotion Focused Therapy, Theories of Psychotherapy series (2016), Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching Clients to work through their Feelings (2015), Case Formulation in Emotion Focused Therapy (2014), Emotion Focused Therapy for Generalized Anxiety (2017), Emotion-focused therapy of Depression (2006) and Emotion-focused Couple therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love and Power (2008), EFT for Depression (2005). His newest book coming up in 2024 is Working with Shame and Anger in Psychotherapy.
Dr. Greenberg has published extensively on research on the process of change. He received the 2004 Distinguished Research Career award of the Society for Psychotherapy Research: An International interdisciplinary society. He is a founding member of the Society of the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI) and a past President of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR). He has been awarded the Canadian Council of Professional Psychology Program Award for Excellence in Professional Training and the Canadian Psychological Association Professional Award for distinguished contributions to Psychology as a profession as well as the Carl Rogers award of the American Psychology Association’s Society for Humanistic Psychology.
He is recipient of the APA award for Distinguished Professional Contribution to Applied Research. He is on the editorial board of many psychotherapy journals, including the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration and the Journal of Marital and Family Therapy. He conducts a private practice for individuals and couples and trains people in Emotion–focused approaches.
Dr. Greenberg uses a combination of lectures, videotape demonstrations and focused question & answer periods to maximize skill acquisition. His teaching is practical and specific. Workshop participants leave with techniques they can readily integrate into their everyday practices. Dr. Greenberg's workshops are renowned for their atmosphere of authenticity and warmth.
Comments on Greenberg’s Work
“There is no doubt that Greenberg is both a pioneer and the
field’s premier investigator in the important work of applying the
basic research on emotions to the process of psychotherapy… a
fabulous compendium of strategies for working with emotions.”
—Marsha M. Linehan, Ph.D
“Immensely valuable [for] psychotherapists of all persuasions…
theoretically innovative and clinically practical.”
—Michael J. Mahoney, Ph.D.
“Most psychotherapists and theories of psychotherapy
recognize, in one way or another, the centrality of emotion in
both psychopathology and therapeutic change. [Dr.
Greenberg’s] ‘emotionally-focused’ therapeutic approach [is
one] that virtually all therapists will find useful.”
—Morris Eagle, Ph.D.
“Although emotion has long been recognized as playing a
significant role in the development, maintenance and change of
most clinical problems, the guidelines for working with emotions
therapeutically have always left something to be desired. Not so
with [those of] Greenberg… [his are] lucid, jargon-free… a
landmark contribution.”
— Marvin R. Goldfried, Ph.D.
“Truly outstanding work [for] every researcher and practitioner
involved with psychotherapy.”
—David H. Barlow, Ph.D.
