Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy
What is Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapy (EFT)? More importantly, how can Emotionally Couple’s Therapy help your relationship? Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapy is a brief, in comparison to other relationship counseling models, couple’s counseling model that helps couples by creating and strengthening emotional connections or bonds. EFT was created in the 1980’s by Sue Johnson and Les Greenberg. Since then, EFT has volumes of research supporting its effectiveness in treating couple’s who are experiencing relationship distress. Because of this Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapy has grown in its popularity among marriage counselors and with couples who are seeking couple’s counseling services.
If your relationship is in trouble then getting help through an experienced couple’s counselor is better than getting no help at all. However, the research in support of EFT shows that it is a highly effective approach to marriage counseling and couple’s counseling. An Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapist can help your relationship by first focusing on helping the couple to identify the negative pattern of interaction in their relationship. What couple’s therapists know is that couple’s who are in distress fall into predictable patterns of interaction which, if left unchecked, eventually threaten the very existence of the relationship.
The patterns are mostly a variation of the most common pattern which is where you have one partner who is more distant, shut down, emotionally closed off while the other partner is often pursuing. The pursuing partner may fall into defensive emotions such as anger or frustration or show defensive reactions such as blaming, attacking, and being critical. The distant partner can react with anger too and defensive behaviors too. The common thread between the pursuing and withdrawing partner is that neither partner shares their underlying emotions, especially the emotion of fear, or their unmet emotional needs with the other. This is the main reason why the couple engages in and eventually becomes stuck in negative patterns.
Once your couple’s therapist helps you and your partner to identify your pattern and all of its nuances the next steps of shifting the negative interactions become the focus. The way that an Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapist helps couple’s to change their pattern is by working from the inside out. What I mean by this is that that the EFT therapist focuses on identifying, accessing, and then utilizing the deeper emotions to create positive change in the relationship. For instance, an angry and blaming partner often will express deeper feelings of fear, hurt, sadness, loneliness and a need to know they are loved. The EFT therapists helps partners to move past their protective mechanism’s and into vulnerability. When this focus on the deeper emotion and vulnerability happens it usually evokes a response of care from the receiving partner. This explicit expression of the attachment emotions and needs stops the negative patterns and leads to more caring, comforting, and connecting interactions in the relationship.
What we see with Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapy is that in matter of time is that the couple feels more safe and secure with one another resulting in new and better ways of dealing with conflict. The key to a successful relationship is having a strong foundation that can serve as anchor during times of distress. Reciprocally sharing deep emotions and emotional needs while also providing care to one another is how couples can build a strong marriage or relationship foundation. Reciprocal sharing and caring is the way to go!
Finding and Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapist Near You!
If you are in the Phoenix, Arizona or Scottsdale, Arizona areas then a Crossroads therapist can help you in your relationship. Most of the counselors at Crossroads are trained in and practice Emotionally Focused Couple’s Therapist. Part of the mission of Crossroads Phoenix and Scottsdale Relationship Centers to help couple’s create, recapture, and sustain emotional connection in their relationship. The Crossroads therapists provide marriage counseling, premarital counseling, couple’s therapy and even family counseling utilizing EFT.
Next Steps…
Get help for your relationship! The first step is to reach out for help. Our team of EFT therapists would be honored to help and your relationship. Our offices are conveniently located throughout the Valley of the Sun including Phoenix, Anthem, and Scottsdale. We offer services throughout the state of Arizona through our private and convenient virtual-online therapy. We would be honored to support you in your healing process. You can start your trauma therapy journey by following these simple steps:
- Contact Crossroads Counseling
- Meet with an EFT therapist
- Begin improving your relationship
Other Services Offered With Crossroads Counseling
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy isn’t the only service Crossroads Counseling offers. We understand there are many mental health concerns you may experience. This is why we also offer services across the state via online therapy. We are happy to offer support for children, teens, families, women, and men with both individual therapy and group programs. Other services offered include anxiety therapy, treatment for depression, trauma and PTSD, grief and loss, and couples therapy. In addition, our team also offers affair counseling, Christian affair recovery, and couples counseling for one. Feel free to learn more about our practice by visiting our about page, FAQ, and blog, or read more about our staff members to start finding your best therapeutic fit! Call us at 623-680-3486,text 623-688-5115, or email info@crossroadsfcc.com. You can ask all the questions you have and see if couples therapy at Crossroads is the right fit for you
To learn more about EFT click here.
