Emotion Focused Therapy Flashcards
two different paths of producing emotion
shorter and faster amygdala pathway; longer, slower neo-cortex pathway
types of emotion: primary
good information about needs, goals; direct reaction to situation, rapid automatic processing
types of emotions: secondary
defend against primary emotions; emotional reactions to primary thoughts; can also be responses to thoughts
types of emotions: instrumental emotions
expressed to influence or control others; may be deliberative or out of habit
emotion schemes
internal organizations of emotional responses
internal emotion memory structures that include the following components
cognitive, motivational, affective, behavioral
emotion memory structures: cognitive
appraisals, expectations and beliefs
emotion memory structures: motivational
needs, concerns, intentions, goals
emotion memory structures: affective
physiological arousal and sensory bodily feeling
emotion memory structures: behavioral
expressive-motor responses and action tendencies
how do problems develop?
lack of awareness of avoidance of internal states, maladapative emotion schemes, failure in emotion regulation, problem in narrative construction and existential meaning making
marker: problematic reaction
task: systematic evocative unfolding
- puzzlement about an emotional or behavioral response to certain situations
- vivid evocation of experience to promote re-experiencing the situation and reaction to establish the connection between situation, thoughts, feelings, in order to arrive at the implicit meaning of the situation that makes sense of the reaction (occurs frequently in counseling)
marker: conflict split
task: two chair work
verbal statement by the client that two aspects of self are in opposition to each other “internal critic”; more conceptual processing weighted towards “should” and negative evaluations
-dialogue: bring two sides in creative contact; focus not on why the conflict occurred; but, the process of living through the conflict in the present to forge new solutions
marker: unclear felt sense
task: focusing
if experiential element is missing-client talks abstractly and intellectually focusing on external details; if verbal-conceptual element is missing–person left with a vague sense of “something wrong”
-facilitate development of inner felt sense
task: focusing (continued)
focusing:
facilitate development of inner felt sense
clearing a space: client imagines inner space, selects problem or experience to focus on
felt sense: C attends to the whole felt sense; attains global felt sense
finding a handle: C explores, tests appropriate labels or images for felt sense
felt shift: C explores labeled felt sense more deeply until bodily felt sense of discomfort eases and experienced lack of clarity dissipates
carrying forward from felt shift: after staying with new, changed feeling, client explores for change outside of therapy
