Leslie S. Greenberg – författare

A therapy pioneer draws connections between his life and his transformational approach to psychotherapy.The question of whether emotion-focused skills is an inborn talent or can be acquired through learning is an intriguing one. On Becoming Emotion Focused attempts to answer that question - whether such attunement is a product of nature (implicit learning) or nurture (explicit learning) while also illustrating, through the unraveling of author Les Greenberg's personal experiences, how people can best learn to become emotion focused. For Les Greenberg, becoming emotion focused was a theoretical, scientific, and personal journey. The development of a therapeutic manner and skill was far more subjective than the conceptual development of the theory, and involved many individual threads of experience, some explicit, some implicit. In this book, he delves into the core aspects of how he became an emotion-focused psychotherapist, with attempts to make visible what threads informed the development of this approach to theory and practice.The evolution of the theory and practice of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) has been interwoven with Les’ life context and personal development, and it has been a delicate balance to give appropriate weight to each. This book is a unique contribution to the field in revealing the contribution of the theorist’s life to the development of a major theory and practice in psychology. EFT, perhaps more than any other approach, best exemplifies how the implicit and explicit forces blend together to create holistic understanding.

In the past decade, the working alliance has emerged as possibly the most important conceptualization of the common elements in diverse therapy modalities. Created to define the relationship between a client in therapy or counseling and the client's therapist, it is a way of looking at and examining the vagaries and expectations and commitments previously implicit in the therapeutic relationship, explaining the cooperative aspects of the alliance between the two parties.

First published in 1995. Intimate relationships are at the core of our emotional life. There is no other context so infused by and responsive to the ebb and flow of human emotion. A large part of human communication is emotional communication, involving minute signals concerning closeness and distance, and dominance and submission. This information is of central importance in organizing interactions with significant others. In addition, the social interactions most crucial to our senses of well-being, positive adaptation, and physical and emotional health are those that occur with significant others on whom we depend for our sense of security and belonging in the world. This book examines the role of affect in intimate relations and in the redefinition of such relationships in therapy.

The study of psychotherapy has often been limited to the ways in which cognitive and behavioral processes promote personal change. Introducing a ground breaking perspective, Greenberg and Safran's compelling new work argues that the presently-felt experience of emotional material in therapy forms a vital underpinning in the generation of change. By including emotion as a psychotherapeutic catalyst, the book offers a more complete and encompassing approach to the process of psychotherapy than has ever before been available.EMOTION IN PSYCHOTHERAPY draws from the literature of both clinical and experimental psychology to provide a critical review of theory and research on the role of emotion in the process of change. Providing a general theoretical framework for understanding the impact of affect in therapy, this unique volume describes specific change events in which emotions enhance the achievement of therapeutic goals. Case examples and extensive transcripts vividly portray a variety of affective modes--such as completing emotional expression, accessing previously unacknowledged feelings, and restructuring emotions--and illustrate in clear, practical terms how certain processes apply to particular patient problems. Moving beyond the standard approaches to therapy, this volume offers an integrated approach that carefully considers the client's state in the session that must be amenable to intervention as well as any given intervention and its resulting changes. Its attention to both the theoretical and practical considerations of implementing a balanced psychotherapeutic approach--combining behavioral, cognitive, and affective modes--makes this an invaluable volume for practitioners and researchers of all orientations. The book will be of particular interest to clinicians seeking integrative approaches to psychotherapy, and to academic psychologists concerned with expanding the paradigm of cognitive psychology.

This influential volume provides a comprehensive introduction to emotionally focused therapy (EFT): its theoretical foundations, techniques, and clinical practice. EFT is a structured approach to couple therapy that integrates intrapsychic and interpersonal perspectives to help couples create new, more satisfying interactional patterns. Since the original publication of this book, EFT has been implemented and tested with growing numbers of couples in a wide range of settings. The authors, who codeveloped the approach, illuminate the power of emotional experience in relationships and in the process of therapeutic change. The book is richly illustrated with case examples and session transcripts.

First published in 1995. Intimate relationships are at the core of our emotional life. There is no other context so infused by and responsive to the ebb and flow of human emotion. A large part of human communication is emotional communication, involving minute signals concerning closeness and distance, and dominance and submission. This information is of central importance in organizing interactions with significant others. In addition, the social interactions most crucial to our senses of well-being, positive adaptation, and physical and emotional health are those that occur with significant others on whom we depend for our sense of security and belonging in the world. This book examines the role of affect in intimate relations and in the redefinition of such relationships in therapy.

In this book, Lynne E. Angus and Leslie S. Greenberg present a groundbreaking, empirically based model that integrates working with narrative and emotion processes in emotion-focused therapy (EFT).Individual chapters describe how the interaction between emotion and narrative creates a constantly evolving sense of self how clinicians can address both narrative and emotion processes to help clients create more adaptive, empowering meanings and sense of self and the importance of a strong therapeutic alliance. Engaging, in-depth case studies illustrate how the model can be applied to treatment of depression and emotional trauma.

Exploring Three Approaches to Psychotherapy gives readers in-depth analysis of what occurs in therapy as practiced according to three different orientations: cognitive, emotion-focused, and psychoanalytic.Leading psychotherapists Leslie S. Greenberg, Nancy McWilliams, and Amy Wenzel explain the theory and principal techniques of their respective models, and specifically how they are applied in the therapy demonstrations shown in the videos Three Approaches to Psychotherapy With a Male/Female Client.This book grants readers access to the authors' insights about how the three approaches work in practice, offering a rare look into the minds of three therapists as they explore and comment on the therapy demonstration sessions.

Emotion-Focused Therapy provides an introduction to the theory, history, research, and practice of this emotion-centered, humanistic approach to psychotherapy.Emotion-focused therapy is a complete theory of human functioning based on the adaptive role of emotion and founded on the idea that emotional change is central to enduring change. This therapy emphasizes the awareness, acceptance, understanding, and transformation of emotion, and proposes that emotions themselves have an adaptive potential that, if activated, can help clients to change. Emotion-focused therapists help clients to experience their emotions in the safe setting of therapy so that, rather than avoiding or controlling their feelings, clients learn to use them as a guide to what is important or necessary in their lives.In this book, Leslie S. Greenberg presents and explores this versatile and useful approach, its theory, history, therapy process, primary change mechanisms, the empirical basis for its effectiveness, and recent developments that have refined the theory and expanded how it may be practiced. This revised edition includes a wealth of recent research findings on important constructs such as emotional needs, as well as new developments in the use of emotion-focused therapy in treating anxiety disorders.

Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)--characterized by near-constant worry that often coincides with intense feelings of shame and despair--is a highly treatment-resistant disorder, with clients often relapsing after making some progress. Master therapists Jeanne C. Watson and Leslie S. Greenberg argue, however, that emotion-focused therapy (EFT) is uniquely capable of targeting the maladaptive emotional schemes that underlie GAD and helping clients maintain lasting, positive change.  In this practical guide, Watson and Greenberg teach mental health practitioners how to employ EFT methods in their work with GAD clients. The authors first review EFT amp rsquo s conceptualization of GAD, emphasizing the key role that emotion plays in pervasive anxiety. They then translate those foundational principles into detailed techniques and strategies as they walk readers through the EFT process, beginning with the establishment of a healing therapeutic relationship. Chapters review different stages of EFT, describing specific therapeutic exercises, such as empty-chair and two-chair tasks, that allow clients to vocalize and directly address their deep-rooted emotional pain, anxieties, and relational injuries with significant others. Through this work, clients eventually learn to self-soothe and transform their maladaptive coping mechanisms into healthier ones. Sample client-therapist dialogues demonstrate how these EFT techniques can be applied in actual practice.

This handbook offers a comprehensive tour of EFT research and applications for all common mental health issues including depression, anxiety, interpersonal trauma, personality disorders, and eating disorders.Through Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), clients learn to rule their emotions, instead of letting their emotions rule them. With guidance from a skilled EFT therapist to help them identify, experience, accept, and tolerate difficult emotions, people can learn to regulate, explore, make sense of, transform, and flexibly manage their emotions. As a result, they become more skilled in responding adaptively to situations as they arise.  EFT therapists help individuals and couples engage in productive emotional processing. They also offer methods to help clients become aware of their emotional needs. In this book readers will learn to: conceptualize clients amp rsquo core emotions in order to form a focus of therapy guide clients through the process of emotional change, and structure therapy in an ongoing fashion, recognize key emotional markers, and facilitate the tasks needed to move to the next phase.

This volume investigates the role of emotion in the development and maintenance of psychological problems, and in effecting psychological change. The authors examine emotion as it is conceptualized and used in three of the most widely practiced approaches today--psychodynamic, cognitive behavior, and emotion-focused psychotherapy. In each chapter, the authors discuss the impact of emotion on child development and learning, the relationship between emotion and motivation, and the ways in which emotion can be harnessed in treatment to improve psychological functioning and strengthen interpersonal relationships. Clinical vignettes show readers how to arouse, identify, and channel emotions in therapy, while also utilizing emotion to develop and maintain an effective therapeutic alliance.

This book shows how forgiveness-oriented Emotion‑Focused Therapy (EFT) helps individuals and couples process and transform distressing negative emotions by accessing internal resources of strength and self compassion. Many individuals and couples come to therapy because of unresolved feelings of anger and hurt due to experiences of being wronged, betrayed, or violated. Over the past 2 years, Leslie Greenberg and his colleagues have undertaken clinical research to articulate a model of emotional injury resolution and map out a therapy‑assisted path to forgiveness.This book offers step‑by‑step guides for conducting EFT and EFT for couples, along with analyses of extensive clinical case material. It shows readers how to: promote clients' ownership of their emotional experience empower clients to appropriately assign responsibility for harm done help clients see themselves as having the personal resources and resilience to recover from the emotional injury Therapists will also learn to help clients determine whether forgiveness-with or without reconciliation with the injurer-is the right path for them, or whether therapy should focus instead on letting go of negative feelings.

Mental health providers confront emotional suffering every day, yet working with emotion is rarely explicitly taught in clinical graduate programs. There is evidence that emotional experience in therapy relates to therapy outcome across multiple diagnoses. This research has given rise to strategies that address the core maladaptive processes that cause distress and dysfunction, rather than specific diagnoses.This book presents principles and methods for working with emotion in psychotherapy to target the internal mechanisms that underlie anxiety, depression, and other common clinical disorders. Chapters in this volume focus on methods that help clients with all types of disorders to amp ldquo arrive at, amp rdquo or fully experience, their painful maladaptive emotions, and then amp ldquo leave amp rdquo these emotions by accessing new, adaptive emotions. These methods include helping clients sit with painful feelings, access bodily felt experience, identify unmet needs, and articulate the meaning of an emotion. Excerpts of moment-to-moment clinical dialogue demonstrate techniques such as memory reconsolidation, providing corrective emotional experiences, chair work, and imaginal reentry to past situations.

This new edition offers practical exercises and a training program for cultivating presence in students and trainees.Therapeutic presence-one amp rsquo s ability to exist fully in the moment with a client-is crucial to effective psychotherapy practice. Since the first edition of Therapeutic Presence was published nearly a decade ago, further research has emphasized the role and deepened our understanding of this essential building block of effective therapeutic relationships.  This book is a detailed guide on cultivating therapeutic presence for new and seasoned therapists alike. The authors amp rsquo model is based on the results of their extensive study, and revolves around three key aspects of therapeutic presence: Using mindfulness and experiential exercises to create the conditions for presence, both prior to and in sessions Generating attunement to self and others, as a precursor that facilitates therapeutic presence and Recognizing the felt experience of in-session presence. With practical, research-based scenarios and exercises, as well as a full training program for cultivating presence in students and trainees, this text will help train the next generation of therapists in the nuts-and-bolts of empathic attunement and a strong therapeutic alliance to create effective therapy.

Updates a classic emotion-focused therapy reference with over 20 years of research and theory.The first edition of this book became the standard reference and training work for a generation of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) practitioners. This second edition aims to inspire a new generation of emotion-focused therapists by offering fully updated coverage of EFT theory and practice, alongside the most exciting theoretical, practical, and organizational developments of the past 20 years. Updates to this new edition include:New models for emotional deepening and EFT case formulation.New questions and activities for self‑reflection.Clearer formulations of the nature and functions of specific emotions (e.g., anger, shame).Twice as many references as in the first edition.A supplemental website with course materials to enhance teaching of EFT.In EFT, therapists cultivate a deeply empathic, caring presence. They follow their client's lead while delivering gentle, flexible guidance. The goal is to facilitate a process of emotional deepening in clients as they progress from global distress to an acceptance of core pain, enabling them to emerge with a new perspective through useful, adaptive emotions.

This book examines shame and anger, their relationship with one another, and how mental health providers can work with each of them to produce therapeutic change.Although very different emotions, shame and anger are highly related in therapy. Because shame and anger have both adaptive and maladaptive forms, intervention differs depending on what type of shame or anger is being experienced and in what sequence they occur. Therapists need to consider the type of shame or anger they are dealing with and how the two emotions interact before they can make process diagnoses of what is occurring at different moments in a session.This book emphasizes the benefits of accessing and experiencing shame and anger viscerally to promote emotion change in therapy. It teaches therapists how to help clients access their shame or anger in a safe therapeutic setting to make this emotion amenable to transformation, and create new narratives based on the transformed feelings.

In this seminal volume now available in paperback, master clinician and founder of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) Leslie Greenberg presents a comprehensive overview of EFT-a treatment that helps clients identify, experience, accept, explore, interpret, transform, and flexibly manage their emotions.Essentially, the approach helps clients increase their emotional intelligence and achieve greater well-being. EFT amp rsquo s influence has grown in the decade since the first edition of this book was published. There have been significant theoretical and empirical advances, and the approach has been applied successfully to new clinical populations.This second edition of Emotion-Focused Therapy incorporates the latest theory and research on EFT. It also includes a new chapter on specific marker-guided interventions and case formulation, as well as chapters on forgiveness and working with emotion in organizational leadership. This essential guide to EFT is required reading for all therapists who believe that accessing emotions can be a source of healing and wisdom.

While emotions are often given a negative connotation people are described as being too emotional or as needing to control their emotions this book demonstrates that emotions are organizing processes that enhance adaptation and problem solving. Within an experiential therapy framework, the volume shows how to work with moment-by-moment emotional processes to resolve various psychological difficulties. The first two sections introduce the process experiential approach to treatment. Exploring the interrelationships among emotion, cognition, and change, the authors develop a powerful, clinically relevant theory of human functioning. The third section, a detailed treatment manual, outlines the general principles and methods of therapy and provides step-by-step directions for six specific types of interventions. Excerpts from actual transcripts exemplify the various methods, illuminating the moment-by-moment process for both the client and the therapist.

Integrating the work of leading client-centered, gestalt, interpersonal, focusing, and process-oriented therapists, Handbook of Experiential Psychotherapy covers both conceptual foundations and current treatment applications. Contributors present well-articulated approaches to treating depression, PTSD, anxiety, and other problems, emphasizing the need to work with the client's own moment-by-moment experience of disturbing states and processes. The volume delineates a variety of experiential methods--from working with clients to symbolize bodily felt sense, evoke memories, and express intense feelings, to helping them reflect on their experience, maintain gains from session to session, and create new meanings for themselves. The role of the therapist's relational stance in promoting particular emotional processes is also examined, and newly developed models of experiential diagnosis and case formulation are described.

In previous books, Leslie S. Greenberg has demonstrated the importance of integrating emotional work into therapy and has laid out a compelling model of therapeutic change. Building on these foundations, WORKING WITH EMOTIONS IN PSYCHOTHERAPY sheds new light on the process and technique of intervention with specific emotions. Filled with illustrative case examples, the book shows clinicians how to identify a given emotion, discern its role in a client's self-understanding, and understand how its expression is furthering or inhibiting the client's progress. Of vital importance, the authors help readers think more differentially about emotions; to distinguish, for example, between avoided emotional pain and chronic dysfunctional bad feelings, between adaptive sadness and maladaptive depression, and between overcontrolled anger and underregulated rage. A conceptual overview and framework for intervention are delineated, and special attention is given throughout to the integration of emotion and cognition in therapeutic work.

This influential volume provides a comprehensive introduction to emotionally focused therapy (EFT): its theoretical foundations, techniques, and clinical practice. EFT is a structured approach that integrates intrapsychic and interpersonal perspectives to help couples create new, more satisfying interactional patterns. The authors illuminate the power of emotional experience in relationships and in the process of therapeutic change. The book is richly illustrated with case examples and session transcripts.