emotionally focused couples therapy (Johnson) Flashcards
who is Sue Johnson and her theoires
-One realizes that that the interactional pattern between the members of the couple makes perfect sense from an attachment perspective
-EBT views couple distress as being maintained by absorbing negative affect
what is absorbing negative affect
-Reflects and primes rigid, constricted patterns of interaction of various depressed and attack
-People get trapped in constricted patterns of interaction of various degrees of attack, withdrawal and dissociation.
-These negative rigid patterns threaten attachment and make it impossible for a safe and secure bond.
-what are runaway trains
be aware of them
-“Distressed marriages are considered insecure bonds which need to be restructured so that partners can experience each other as emotionally accessible and responsive.”
-You need a partner who is accessible and responsive
what are you teaching in this kind of therapy
trust
-By accessing affect paired with engendering attachment behaviors.
-Experience trumps explanation
-Getting exposed to a level of trust with the other in the room
-EFT compared to other kinds of therapy
-The standard process was for the therapist to create the escalations in a safe and workable manner.
-EFT, pushes the couple to show their escalation
-EFT is practically exposure therapy to intense interactions.
-interrupt the cycle that highlights negative emotions in order to replace with a more positive cycle.
key moves in therapy
-Change the person’s sense of self
-Look for the glance of support, the blush of love, to highlight
-Evoke emotions in the session.
-Reframe fear, vulnerability, sadness, pain anger and resentment in a believable recognition of a desired affect.
-The active reprocessing of a current powerful emotion int the presence on the partner and the enacting of a new sequence of responses based on that emotion are the key elements in this therapy.
-Affectively oriented encounters create change in communication styles as partners experience themselves and the other differently.
what does the clinician pair in this kind of therapy
The clinician takes content issues and pairs it with core emotional aspects.
-“Can I reach you?”
-“Are we connected?”
-“Will you open up to me?”
Primal Needs: Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Emotional Engagement
explain experimental and interactional
-Present focus
-Self and system define and determine each other
-Problematic behavior is seen as a response to past and present threats to secure attachment
how is this kind of therapy like parenting an infant
-Attention
-Mirroring
-Full focus on them
primary goals of this therapy
-Make sense of what they are doing
-Attachment style with one another
-Foster the creation of a secure bond between partners through the creation of new interactional experiences that redefine the relationship.
things each partner needs to do
-Acceptance of the other’s “needs and longings”
-You must have Buy In from Both Partners
-The process must make sense to both people.
-In this session, I am not sure she is connecting equally, but it is a good session
3 stages of Johnson’s EFT
1) Assess and De-escalate
2) Change interactional positions and create new bonds
-“Blamer Softening”
3) Consolidation and Integration
9 steps of EFT
- How their responses mediate the closeness or the separateness of the bond
- Identify and clarify negative interactions that maintain insecure attachment
- Access unacknowledged emotions underlying interactional positions in the family
-“is that when you feel you can’t please him?” - Redefine the problems in terms of underlying feelings.
- Promote identification with disowned needs and aspects of self
- The therapist helps the other family member to hear, understand and accept the emotions and needs expressed
- Facilitate the expression of needs and wants to restructure the interaction.
-Consolidate Change - Facilitating the emergence of new solutions to old relationship problems.
9.Consolidating new positions and new cycles of attachment behavior
explain step 2 of EFT
-What is their systemic dance?
-The goal is for the therapist to work collaboratively with the couple to see the cycle in action and them identify and describe it to the couple and work toward stopping it.
-Why is the pursuer, pursuing? Why is the withdrawer, withdrawing?
Looking Behind their Defensive Stance
-What are the underlying emotions that explain the pursuer and withdrawer?
-Will look at primary and secondary emotions, but more interested in primary the deeper feelings
-Who is pushing for engagement?
-Who is pushing away, in order to protect?
goal of this kind of therapy
To be attached and closer
-(not just to feel better)
-“Individual therapy is a 40 watt bulb into the cave. Couple therapy is a stadium light into the cave.”
