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Emotion-focused therapy for couples (EFT-C) is a blend of systemic and experiential therapies created to enhance couple interaction by decreasing negative, escalating conflict and increasing intimacy and vulnerable emotional expression between partners (Greenberg and Goldman 2008). Leslie Greenberg’s intense study and training in systems work and power dynamics within relationships, families, and couples, combined with his emphasis on experiential work to facilitate emotional expression led him to pioneer the development of EFT-C, an integrative therapy that blends systemic and experiential techniques with a strong emphasis on therapeutic working alliance. First developed in 1988, Leslie Greenberg and Rhonda Goldman expanded the original model to include five stages: (1) validation and alliance formation, (2) negative cycle de-escalation, (3) accessing underlying vulnerable feelings, (4) restructuring the negative interaction and the self, and...
References
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Elliot, R., Watson, J., Goldman, R. N., & Greenberg, L. S. (2004). Learning emotion-focused therapy: The process-experiential approach to change. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Greenberg, L. S., & Goldman, R. N. (2008). Emotion-focused couples therapy: The dynamics of emotion, love, and power. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Greenberg, L. S., & Johnson, S. (1988). Emotionally focused couples therapy. New York: Guilford Press.
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Iverson, S., Goldman, R. (2018). Softening in Emotion-Focused Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_200-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_200-1
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