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Marriage and Family Therapy (Emotion Focused)

Denielle Pascual, Jayd’n Landreth, and Yareli Cabrera

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Background on Founder Sue Johnson

  • Sue was born December 19th, 1947 In Chatham,United Kingdom
  • Her parents owned an English Pub where she spent a lot of her time watching people socialize
  • Mrs. Johnson said she watched her own parents destroy their relationship slowly which ultimately impacted her views on relationships as a whole
  • Sue completed graduation at university of british columbia in 1984 with a doctorate in counselling psychology
  • She has two kids and a husband
  • Enjoys Argentine Tango which inspired her to create the EFT 5 step Tango
  • Has written many books including Hold Me Tight and Love Sense

“Once we understand that romantic love is based on an attachment bond, we can develop our ‘love sense’ and our ability to develop long-lasting relationships”

-Sue Johnson 2012

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Background on Founder Leslie Greenberg

  • Leslie was born September 30th, 1945 in Johannesburg, south africa
  • He was raised in a house with a third acre of land and running around the land with bare feet. Described as a “carefree life” his family owned three servants which he later on realized were persecuted and oppressed. In his adolescent years his father used had hardship with mental health causing his family to lose their home and live with an aunt.
  • Originally received his bachelor degree in nuclear engineering in 1967

Became a refugee in Northern America to leave south africa and finnish Masters in 1970

  • Graduated with his phd in psychology in 1975
  • Is married and his wife is also a psychologist
  • Has written several books including The Dynamics Of Emotion Love And Powering

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Sue Johnson Leslie Greenberg

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Human Nature

Leslie Greenberg believed…

  • that the basic tendency of human nature is survival
  • that Needs are constructed out of emotion and so needs are a secondary Phenomenon
  • that needs are based off life experiences
  • If something feels good and is good for the organism the body will develop that into a need.

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Sue Johnson believed…

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  • bonding goes from the cradle to the grave. Staying close to a protective loved ones is the main survival strategy of human nature
  • humans are designed to be empathetic. The innate tendency is to feel with and for others
  • Being the “best you can be” is only possible when humans are deeply connected to another. isolation is not people.

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Ultimate concerns

  • Marital distress
  • Emotional insecurity
  • Unhealthy family systems

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How Change Occurs

  • Marital adjustment
  • Promoting goals
  • Identifying patterns
  • Reassurance from a position of vulnerability (new responses)

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Therapeutic relationship

The Essence of Process- Experiential/ Emotion Focused Therapy- Leslie Greenberg

  • Emotion is adaptive
  • Emotion has to do with human function, dysfunction, and change
  • Emotion schema (implicit human experience) that self-organizes the consciousness

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Therapist intervention with the emotional schema- help transform emotion schema with emotion and empathy. EFT therapist helps the client re-evaluate their emotion schemas.

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Goal for the EFT therapist- not only to reach homeostasis, but to establish a safe emotion connect in the system

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Relationship between client and therapist is similar to Carl Rogers theory:

  • Therapist follows clients internal experience and emphasizes clients experience
  • Therapist makes sense of the client's internal experience
  • If disagreement occurs during a session, the client is perceived as the expert in their own experience
  • Therapist is non-imposing
  • The Relationship between the therapist and client must be secure, so that client can express emotional pain and difficulties
  • EFT therapist uses rogerian techniques (asks open ended questions)

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Therapeutic bonding- therapist has empathy, authenticity, and positive regard toward the client their client

The Presence of the therapist is accepting and affirming in the sessions ,so that the client can be vulnerable with their emotions during the session

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Video

https://youtu.be/gZ7ELF8mE3Q

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Class activity

According to John Bowlby’s theory there is the secure attachment, anxious/resistant attachment, and avoidant attachment style. Out of these attachment styles, which one do you resonate with the most? How do you think your attachment style has reflected in your relationships?

https://attachment.personaldevelopmentschool.com/quiz/

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Techniques and Intervention

EFT focuses on expressing strong emotions like anger, while bettering a connections between the couple. Therapist identifies couples attachment style to recognize their attachment style to name and reconstruct emotion.

Therapist and Client

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  1. Present process- inside the partners or between the partners. Therapist may ask questions such as, Is this what happens at home? Can you give me some insight on what is happening right now? The therapist focus is on the emotional process

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  • Deepens emotion- EFT therapist will ask, how are you feeling right now? If that tension had a voice what would that be? Go deeper into primary emotions (ex: emotions that happen in the moment- getting angry in the moment)

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  • Clarify the interaction- therapist sets up an interaction after a new experience with the couple

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  • EFT therapist processes the new step- creates corrective experience within the couple, so that the couple connects

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  • Ties up (summarizes) the session- EFT therapist will reassure the couple and say things like “look at what you did during this session ” The therapist recognizes that the couples shared new emotions and validates the couples work during the session

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Outcome of EFT- restructure the bond, talk about needs, and consolidation.

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Strengths and Weaknesses

  • Strengths of EFT- focus is on the family and not the psychopathology of the individual
  • Looks at the family system and subsystem
  • Since EFT is usually around 20 sessions it has been found to be concise
  • Considers systems and subsystems such as culture, ethnicity, beliefs, and religion
  • Form of therapy that is more aware of racial, social, and cultural systems
  • EFT has been shown to adapt to couples going through depression and PTSD

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  • Weaknesses of EFT- it has a systematic perspective on family function and dysfunction (this can be a weakness for families that do not see it as systemic conflict)
  • Not every problem within the family has to do with the system, so this kind of therapy can be misapplied
  • Susan M crique on EFT- if the couple presents a threat, it is not possible to create a vulnerable and safe place. In that case it questions the ethics of EFT (ex: if there was some kind of physical violence between partners) the therapist can’t really do much if this happens

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Bio, Social, Psycho and Religious model

Biological:

  • It does not have a strong hold.
  • EFT does not really focus on biological.

Social– How does it see systemically?

  • EFT falls within the tradition of family systems therapies, drawing on systemic techniques.

Psychological– In what ways is it looking at the psychological individual?

  • EFT looks at distress in relationships through the lens of attachment insecurity and separation distress

Religious:

  • EFT has opened its doors to its clients spiritually.

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Sources

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