What You Should Know About Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy in Utah
Relationships are about emotional connection and closeness. This is what the creator of emotionally focused therapy (EFT) built her model of treatment around. EFT is one of the most prominent forms of couples therapy relationship therapists utilize. EFT has been shown to be well-researched in helping couples improve their relationships. Couples who have experienced shared trauma, infidelity, porn addiction, communication struggles, conflict, and disagreement have been able to repair their relationships using EFT.
What is Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy?
EFT is a psychotherapy model created by Dr. Sue Johnson. EFT aims to help couples improve their relationship connection and bond. The aim of this type of therapy is to help couples recognize the negative cycles that harm their relationship and result in relationship troubles. EFT is a therapy that involves stages of treatment to help a couple rebuild their relationship. Emotionally focused couples therapy is based on the idea of attachment in a relationship, and its importance. Healthy relationships are built on a foundation of healthy attachment. What I wish every couple knew is that healthy attachment involves feelings of safety, security, and comfort from being in a relationship and close to someone you can rely on.
Negative relationship patterns can lead to attachment injuries. Attachment injuries develop in relationships when a partner violates the trust and safety created in the relationship. Attachment injuries can put a wedge in the relationship and create a barrier to establishing the emotional connection as before. Examples of attachment injuries include traumatic events, physical or emotional abuse, not meeting the emotional needs of your partner, abandonment, infidelity, and more. All of these areas are common reasons couples seek couples therapy.
What are the stages of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy?
EFT is conducted over multiple sessions in order to help a couple improve their relationship. The couple and therapist work together to identify the negative interaction patterns contributing to the couple’s relationship dissatisfaction. The following are the stages involved in EFT.
Assessment: the first stage of EFT is where the EFT therapist will assess the couple’s relationship. Areas of evaluation include how the couple interacts, the areas causing distress in the relationship, and understanding each partner’s perspective.
De-escalation: The EFT therapist helps the couple identify the negative patterns of interaction taking place in the relationship. The primary goal of this stage is to help each partner feel understood and validated. Learning to listen to your spouse is an important part of these steps.
Restructuring: After addressing and identifying the negative patterns of interaction in the relationship, the EFT therapist works with the couple to create more moments of emotional connection and positive interactions.
Consolidation: In the last stage, the EFT therapist helps the couple recognize the progress and change they’ve made and plan for future interactions in the relationship by maintaining healthy communication and connection.
How does emotionally focused couples therapy help couples?
EFT helps couples change the way they are interacting with each other and improve their overall relationship. Here are common areas in that EFT helps couples:
Identify negative patterns in the relationship: couples might know they get stuck in similar ways of interacting with their partner but might not have an outside perspective on what this cycle entails. Working with an EFT therapist helps couples identify these cycles.
Emotional Expressiveness: Expressing emotions and needs is an important part of a healthy relationship. EFT helps couples create a safe environment of trust to be able to express emotions and feel understood and validated.
Attachment needs: Each partner has different attachment needs in the relationship, and EFT helps to meet those individual needs by creating a stronger bond.
Communication: Working with an EFT therapist helps couples learn to communicate effectively and with more empathy and validation. This allows each couple understands one another’s perspective in a more compassionate way.
Safe and Supportive Environment: With the help of an EFT therapist, couples learn to work through relationship problems in a way they feel comfortable expressing their emotions.
Does Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy work?
The success of EFT is first of all dependent on the couple and the severity of their relationship issues. The therapy model in and of itself is highly researched and has a success rate of 70 to 90 percent. 70-90 percent of couples who receive emotionally focused therapy report significant improvements in their relationship. The most important part of the success rate of EFT is the couple and their willingness to participate in therapy and work on themselves. Couples often have the misconception that the therapist is going to work their EFT magic, and that’s where the success will be. Couples also have the misconception that their partner is going to be the one that is doing all of the changing or that the therapist will point out all their partner’s areas they need to improve. The truth is both couples have to be willing to work and recognize that each partner is playing a role in relationship difficulties. Both of them will have to work through different areas of struggle and make changes. When couples are willing to do this, EFT is a highly successful form of therapy.
Is Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy evidence-based?
Yes EFT is evidence-based. Evidence-based means that it has been extensively researched and applied to couples and found to yield similar results of success. EFT is built upon attachment theory, which believes our emotional needs and connection are essential to being human. EFT’s research is based on the effectiveness of addressing attachment needs in the relationship. Many studies on EFT indicate it’s successful at treating a variety of relationship problems and increasing positive communication and intimacy within a couple.
How will Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy improve my relationship?
EFT will improve your relationship with your partner by helping you create a stronger connection and bond. You will learn how to express your emotions and needs to your partner and to learn to validate one another. EFT will help you grow closer and improve intimacy. Working with an EFT therapist will help you improve your communication in your relationship. You can learn to develop a different pattern of communicating that doesn’t leave you feeling hurt or misunderstood. EFT can help reduce the stress and anxiety of your relationship. Learning to work through problems and building a stronger emotional connection will create a better relationship overall. EFT in summary helps couples create greater relationship satisfaction, which leads to more positive mental health outcomes.
What are the goals of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy?
The main goals of EFT are to help couples improve their relationship, address relationship issues, and improve emotional connection to create greater relationship satisfaction. As an EFT therapist, my goal is to help couples be able to address the underlying relationship interactions that are problematic. It’s important to address attachment wounds or past experiences that have harmed the relationship in order to improve and repair the relationship. An important goal of EFT is for the couple to learn to express their emotions with each other and to feel confident that it’s safe to do so and that their needs will be met.
Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy near Provo, Utah can help
You can be confident that if you are willing and ready to work on your relationship with your partner, you will get positive results from EFT. It’s hard to know and implement all the right skills especially when there are past hurts in the relationship. If you want to feel understood and connected when you are communicating your needs rather than being lonely and misunderstood, EFT can help. Not only does EFT help with past issues in the relationship but it can help you know how to understand the future conflict in a healthy and safe way.
Start working with an EFT therapist near Provo, Utah
You can have a better relationship than you’ve ever had before. You can overcome what’s impacted you in the past. Working with an EFT therapist can help you make those changes. This Utah Counseling Center has an EFT therapist specializing in providing couples therapy near Provo, Utah. To begin counseling follow these steps:
Meet with a couples therapist
Begin improving your relationship
Online Marriage Counseling in Utah
It’s difficult to manage your schedule to be able to travel to meet with a therapist. It may even prevent you from seeking relationship help, and this is why I offer online therapy in Utah. EFT therapy is done effectively and conveniently through a face-to-face video platform.
Online therapy in Utah also means I serve clients all over the state including Salt Lake City, Logan, Heber City, Provo, St. George, Cedar City, and more.
Other mental health services provided by Marcus Hunt Therapy
Couples and marriage counseling isn’t the only mental health service provided at this Utah Counseling Practice. Other mental health services provided by Marcus Hunt Therapy include premarital counseling, anxiety counseling, EMDR therapy, PTSD treatment, therapy for men, depression therapy, and LDS marriage counseling. Reach out for a phone consultation to see how I can help.
About the Author
Marcus Hunt is a marriage and family therapist at Marcus Hunt Therapy near Provo, Utah. Marcus has a master's degree in Marriage and Family Therapy. Marcus also has a bachelor's degree in behavioral sciences from Utah Valley University. He has extensive training in emotionally focused therapy from the International Center of Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy. Marcus loves working with couples who want to work to have the best relationship possible with their partners. He enjoys helping couples feel safe and connected again.