Emotional Focused Therapy

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT & EFIT):

Creating Secure Connections and a Resilient Self

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a powerful, empirically-based, and humanistic approach to psychotherapy, primarily developed by Dr. Sue Johnson. Grounded in attachment science, EFT offers a clear map to understand and resolve emotional distress by focusing on the client’s deepest needs for safe, secure connection.

The core idea is that the human longing for a felt sense of connection is a primary, lifelong need, and isolation can be inherently traumatizing. EFT helps to create corrective emotional epiphanies that are essential for significant and lasting change.

Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (EFT-C)

EFT is internationally recognized as one of the most effective forms of couple therapy, with its effectiveness demonstrated in over 30 years of peer-reviewed clinical research.

How EFT for Couples Can Help:

• Change the Dance: EFT helps partners move beyond entrenched negative communication patterns to shape new, more constructive forms of engagement with each other.
• Build Secure Bonds: The process fosters constructive dependency, helping partners move into secure bonding events.
• Restore Emotional Balance: By creating a “safe haven connection,” EFT helps calm the nervous system and allows both partners to frame distress as manageable.
• Define Connection: The goal is to cultivate a bond defined by A.R.E.—Accessibility, Responsiveness, and Emotional Engagement.

Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT)

EFIT is the individual therapy version of the acclaimed EFT couple model. It uses the same attachment-based, experiential principles to help clients restructure their emotional experience and build inner resilience.

The Goal of EFIT: Shaping a Secure Sense of Self

EFIT focuses on helping you cultivate a coherent, resilient, and secure sense of self. This secure foundation allows you to:

• Resolve Emotional Pain: EFIT can explore and resolve the deeper emotional pain that underlies conditions such as depression, anxiety, and the echoes of traumas.
• Regulate Difficult Emotions: The therapy helps you confidently restructure your habitual way of regulating your most difficult emotions.
• Foster Growth and Aliveness: The process offers a deeply meaningful pathway toward personal growth and the development of a sense of aliveness.
• Move into New Models: The therapist will systematically guide you into new models of self and other—a sense of belonging and becoming—using the five macro-intervention moves known as the EFIT Tango.