Emotion-focused therapy: what is it and what problems is it applied to?

A review of this type of therapy that focuses on unconscious emotional schemas.

The affective-emotional sphere is probably one of the most important when considering our level of well-being.

How we feel and how we react to the situations and people around us affect the way we see reality (and also ourselves, others and the world itself) and our behavior. But it is not always easy to handle and manage our emotions and the way we structure and link them to events.

Sometimes severe conflicts can arise that may make it necessary to employ some type of therapy focused on these factors. Although there are a great variety of therapies that act on the emotional sphere, there is one that acts in a very specific way on them: the therapy focused on emotions.

Emotion-focused therapy: what is it?

It receives the name of therapy centered on emotions or therapy focused on the emotions to a type of therapy or psychological treatment that, as its name indicates, is characterized for working specifically on the emotional processing of situationsEmotion is seen as an adaptive reaction that allows survival and reaction to the environment as well as making us see our needs.

The therapy itself is deeply experiential, since the presence of changes depends largely on the exposure to situations that generate emotions, and this appearance is sought in order to introduce changes in the schemes we use to cope with situations. Moreover, this theory is largely based on the humanistic paradigm and client-centered therapy, seeking the development and optimization of the patient's potential. In fact, in its origin, emotion-focused therapy was called Greenberg's was called Greenberg's experiential therapy.

The professional should adopt an empathic and collaborative attitude, always accepting the reactions, emotions and motivations of the client or patient and trying to help detect emotions, focus and develop the subject's own autonomy, making him/her responsible for him/herself.

Emotion-focused therapy considers that emotion involves the emergence of physiological changes derived from the capture, interpretation and processing of external or internal information and our previous learning. Based on experience, we generate a series of unconscious emotional schemas. that lead us to a specific way of reacting or feeling the situations, being these schemes what is proposed to work during the therapy.

The objective of this therapy is to help patients to be able to identify, experience without blocking, attribute a sense, communicate and manage their emotions in an adaptive way. In short, to efficiently manage their emotional sphere and thus achieve a good capacity to adapt to the environment. This is very useful in a wide variety of situations, such as for example in the face of relational problems or after the presence of unwanted or traumatic experiences.

Main mechanisms for change

Emotion-focused therapy aims to achieve a change in the emotional schemas, in the way of capturing, processing and expressing one's own emotionality. This requires the activation of a series of mechanisms, the most important of which are the following.

1. Awareness

This is a factor that perhaps seems logical and simple, but it is decisive and is the basis when it comes to being able to to introduce a change in the emotional schemes. To become aware or to be able to distinguish, to identify and to give name to the own emotions is the most basic and fundamental step.

2. Emotional expression

Once identified one's own emotion, it will be necessary to know and be able to express the emotion, especially when we talk about negative emotions. It is rather a matter of coping with the emotion, the fact of living it without introducing an avoidance that protects against it..

3. Emotional regulation

In addition to identifying and experiencing them, another of the mechanisms necessary to introduce changes is the fact of regulating the emotion. Regulating does not imply not feeling it or repressing it.We need to be able to stop them or make them adaptive to the situation we are in.

4. Reflection

Although there are already cognitive aspects and components in the processing of emotion, it is worth mentioning as another mechanism the capacity to operate with information and give meaning to the experience.

5. Transformation

The last of the great mechanisms necessary for the change of emotions is transformation, i.e., the ability to modify the emotional experience to make it more meaningful, to modify the emotional experience in order to make it adaptive.. An example can be the search for experiences that generate emotional responses incompatible with the initial emotion.

Situations in which it is usually applied

The therapy centered or focused on the emotions is usually used in specific situations and especially it is usually linked to the treatment of relational problems, although it can have applicability in a great amount of problems.

1. Couples therapy

One of the main contexts in which emotion-focused therapy is often applied is in the world of couples. It has been demonstrated that this type of therapy can allow the couple to to work on emotional conflicts present in each of its members and on the relationship itself. itself.

This modality allows to work on aspects such as attachment (not in vain is based in part on the attachment theory) and to identify, express and share their emotions and affective needs. In this way this type of work can allow an improvement in the situation of each component of the couple and improve the existing communication, strengthening the existing bond.

2. Family conflicts

In a similar way to the previous one, emotion-focused therapy could become applicable in the family context, in order to be able to rework emotional schemes and communicate them efficiently.

3. Socialization problems

People with socialization problems derived from emotional problems can benefit from this type of therapy, learning to transform their feelings and fears and to accept them in such a way that they do not interfere in their relationships. Likewise, communication is favored..

4. Eating disorders

Emotion-focused therapy has been used in the case of patients with eating disorders, due, among other aspects, to the high presence of negative emotionality with respect to their own self-concept. It seems to be useful both at individual and group levelIt is intended to identify, naturalize and modify the emotions that maintain the eating problem.

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder

Emotion-focused therapy could be useful in working with the emotional sphere in cases of post-traumatic stress disorder. Sexual abuse, school bullying, gender or domestic violence are examples of situations in which it could be applied.

Depression

One of the main and most frequent characteristics of depressive disorders is the existence of emotions such as sadness, sadness and depression. the existence of emotions such as sadness or hopelessness.. Working on the processing of emotions and situations and on the variation of schemas (both cognitive and emotional) will contribute to the subject's improvement in his or her situation.