Question

What are the six Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) markers and their descriptions, including the complementary tasks and resolutions?

Answer 1

Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) identifies six markers for therapy comprising of emotion awareness, emotion dysregulation, maladaptive emotion schemes, unacknowledged emotions, interpersonal emotional signals, and emotion regulation through a narrative. Each marker has an associated task and resolution aimed at enhancing emotional intelligence and emotional regulation.

Step-by-step explanation:

Emotional Focused Therapy (EFT) is a form of therapy that focuses on the emotions and attachment needs of clients. It identifies specific markers that guide the therapy process, with each marker having an associated task and resolution. These markers include:

1. Emotion awareness - This marker involves recognising and acknowledging emotions. The task is to increase the client's emotional awareness, and the resolution is having the client access and fully experience their emotions.
2. Emotion dysregulation - Clients exhibit an inability to manage emotional responses. The task is to assist in developing emotion regulation strategies, and the resolution results in improved emotional intelligence and emotional management.
3. Maladaptive emotion schemes - These are enduring, unhelpful emotional responses and perceptions. The task is to identify and challenge these schemes, with the resolution involving the transformation of maladaptive schemes into adaptive ones.
4. Unacknowledged emotions - Clients may have emotions they have not admitted to themselves. The task is to help bring these feelings to consciousness, with the resolution being the integration of these emotions into the client's experience.
5. Interpersonal emotional signals - This marker focuses on how clients express emotion in relationships. The task involves reshaping emotional signals for clearer communication, and the resolution is more effective and empathetic interpersonal interactions.
6. Emotion regulation through a narrative - Clients can struggle with how their stories affect their emotions. The task is to re-encode these narratives to be more empowering, resulting in the resolution of owning a coherent and supportive personal story.

Throughout the process, therapists employ empathy, the empirical method, and techniques that support emotion-focused coping mechanisms.