Emotional Vulnerability (Core Emotional Pain) as the Focus of Emotion Focused Therapy |
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- The chronic painful emotions of loneliness/sadness, shame, and fear, as well as their corresponding unmet needs (e.g., to be connected, to be valued, to be safe), are the primary focus of Emotion Focused Therapy.
- Addressing and transforming these chronic feelings through EFT interventions will lead to symptom alleviation and improved mental health in clients with depression, anxiety and related disorders.
- This emotional transformation happens in therapy through the generation of adaptive emotional responses (e.g., self-compassion, healthy boundary setting anger) to the unmet emotional needs embedded in these chronic painful emotions and as a consequence of the ensuing restructuring of problematic emotion schemes.
- The process is sequential, moving from building a capacity to access and tolerate painful emotions to focusing on the self-other and self-self processes at the center of problematic emotion schemes, accessing chronic primary maladaptive emotions, and ultimately transforming those emotions through the generation of adaptive healthy emotional responses.
- Because all emotions can also be experienced in an adaptive form, when referring to chronic painful loneliness/sadness, shame, and fear, we specifically talk about maladaptive manifestations of these emotions.
- Loneliness can be an adaptive emotional experience that informs us that we have needs for connection, love, closeness and community, it prompt us to function in an adaptive way to fulfill our needs for interaction and belonging with others. Maladaptive forms of loneliness/sadness do not inform adaptive action but instead lead to resignation (e.g., depression) or anxiety about forthcoming experiences of sadness, loneliness, or loss.
- Shame can inform us that we have transgressed against our own values (or external values that we respect) and that we may want to make amends for the transgression. Shame that informs adaptive actions typically is unrelated to the emotional vulnerability at the center of psychological difficulties. The experience of the self as shameful, defective, or unworthy may include the experience of the self as unworthy of acceptance and company of others.
- Fear informs us about danger and our need for safety. Experiences of fear that lead to adaptive action (e.g., seeking protection, mobilizing resources to extenuate threat), are not typically central to psychological difficulties in which the feelings of fear are unbearable and lead to the development of chronic fear-based emotional processing that prevent the person's healthy functioning.
(Timulak, Keogh, 2002) |
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Emotion Focused Therapy Explained by Dr. Timulak |
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EFT trainings provides in-depth skill training through a combination of brief lectures, video demonstrations, live modelling, case discussions and extensive supervised role-playing practice. |
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Emotion Focused Therapy Support Group Monthly Gathering Sunday August 21st from 12 to 2 PM California time zone In these gatherings we'll watch a video demo of EFT work with a client by the pioneers, discuss the theory and practice of EFT and answer questions. If you are interested in joining our gathering please click on the link or RSVP to EFTSoCal@gmail.com This group is Free of charge Open to all mental health clinicians with or without any EFT training |
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Continuing Education Hours SoCal Institute of EFT trainings are co-sponsored by the Insight Center. The Insight Center is approved by the American Psychological Association to sponsor continuing education for psychologists. The Insight Center maintains responsibility for this program and its content. The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts APA CEs. |
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For previous Newsletters with educational blogs please click below |
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General model of Emotion Focused Therapy approach is based on that: - Emotions are an adaptive orienting system and a source of information about thoughts, feelings, action readiness, motivations, and interpersonal interactions.
- Client experiencing (attention to and exploration of feelings and meanings) is the primary source of new information in therapy (as opposed to skills training, challenging maladaptive thoughts or interpretations).
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You have to arrive at your emotions before you can leave them. Les. Greenberg, PhD. |
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