Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) focuses on emotions. The basic position in EFT is that mental problems are due to a disturbed or lack of contact with our emotions. The aim of the treatment is therefore to help you understand, tolerate and express your feelings in healthier ways. In this article you can read more about how EFT is used.
All people have some basic emotional needs that we need to fulfill in order to have good mental health. Our emotions are the language we use to speak to these needs. For example, the feeling sadness tells about the need for support and connection to others, and we can feel this need through a lump in the throat, tears in the eyes or a heaviness in the body. By giving ourselves what we need emotionally, we get better health. Our feelings can sometimes feel chaotic or unclear, and sometimes we can react with a completely different feeling than the one we really need. An example of this is the man who gets angry at his wife when he is really sad. Expressing anger to his wife will not fulfill this man's emotional needs.
The treatment will be about exploring how you relate to your feelings, and training to feel for, allow the feelings to be there, give meaning to and express the feelings that arise. Different tools are used in the lesson to go into the difficult feelings, in order to be able to change them. EFT can be used in individual therapy, couple therapy and family therapy. EFT has been shown to be able to help couples and families to better communication and better understanding of themselves and each other. EFT has also shown a good effect for the treatment of mental disorders such as anxiety and depression.
(Source: Stiegler, J. R. (2020) Emotion-focused therapy - understanding and changing emotions. Gyldendal, Oslo.)
