The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy

"Sue Johnson's "The Practice of Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy is a truly remarkable book. In it, Johnson pulls off the extremely rare combination of speaking in a voice that is accessible and clinically meaningful to couple therapists yet remaining solidly anchored in research evidence. This is the definitive text describing Emotionally Focused Marital Therapy, one of the few approaches to marital therapy that has been proven to be effective. Filled with clinical vignettes and hands-on examples of what to do when, this book should be of great value to all couple therapists. Poignant and well written, it is certain to be a classic in the field of marital therapy. ." -Jay Lebow is a senior therapist at the Family Institute at Northwestern and Clinical Associate Professor at Northwestern University "The leading couple therapist of our day has done it again! This brilliantly revised and expanded work will make learning and doing this highly effective, empirically validatedform of therapy much easier. This book will find a prominent place in the minds, hearts, and libraries of all serious couple therapists, and countless couples and families will benefit as a result. Bravo Sue Johnson!." -Scott R. Woolley, Ph.D., Director, MFT Graduate Programs, CSPP, Alliant International University "Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) is a deceptively simple approach to work with couples in therapy because the tenets, practices, and integration are so clear because there clearly is a lot of art to doing this work. The book is nicely written with sufficient technical language to be useful and at the same time eminently accessible and enjoyable to read. This edition provides moredetail than the first about the processes involved both internally and interpersonally between partners. The steps in therapy also are described in more detail and the chapters on working with trauma and families are new. I believe that the book would be useful for both those new to the approach and as a reference for more experienced therapists. Recommended for graduate students and experienced therapists.." -Thorana S. Nelson, Ph.D/Utah State University

Introduction. The Field of Couple Therapy and EFT. An Attachment View of Love: The EFT Philosophy. The EFT Theory of Change: Within and Between. The Basics of EFT: Tasks and Interventions. Expanding Experience and Shaping Dances. Defining the Dance and Listening to Music. EFT: Steps 1 and 2 . Changing the Music - Towards De-escalation. EFT: Steps 3 and 4. Deepening Engagement. EFT: Steps 5 and 6. Emotional Engagement, Enactments and Bonding . EFT: Step 7 and Change Events. The Consolidation of a Secure Base. EFT: Steps 8 and 9. Key Clinical Issues and Solutions. Becoming an EFT Therapist. Emotionally Focused Family Therapy. Restructuring Attachment. Relationship Traumas: Addressing attachment injuries. Forgiveness and Reconciliation. An EFT Session - Micro-analysis of a Change Event. A Second EFT Session - Micro-analysis of a Change Event. Epilogue.