Relationships & Marriage Counseling
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EFT versus EFT
Emotionally Focused Therapy versus
Emotional Freedom Technique
If you do a web search for "EFT" you will find plenty of sites on Emotionally Focused Therapy which uses the acronym "EFT", however you will also find even more sites on Emotional Freedom Technique, which also uses the acronym "EFT". I wanted to take a moment to explain the difference.
What is EFT - Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Emotionally Focused Therapy for individuals, couples and families, developed by Dr. Sue Johnson, is a model of psychotherapy that is based on a "theory of love" derived from volumes of research by John Bowlby who pioneered parent-child attachment. Over the last fifteen years that research has been applied to adults to create a theory on adult attachment. Using this framework, the highly reactive emotional states that people sometimes experience in relationships begin to make perfect sense. By getting in touch with primary emotions, Emotionally Focused Therapy is able to illuminate key attachment needs and create enactments that generate corrective emotional experiences. Emotionally Focused Therapy is the principal model used by me in psychotherapy.
What is EFT - Emotional Freedom Technique?
Emotional Freedom Technique is a technique similar in ethos to EMDR, or Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing. Emotional Freedom Technique could be described as an emotional version of acupuncture free from any needles. By focusing one's conscious mind on a particular issue and performing tapping on various places on one's face and body, the theory says that emotional blocks, negative emotions and energy can be released.
While this may seem hard to believe, EMDR is viewed by the American Psychiatric Association as having the same level of efficacy as Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. In fact, the US Defense Department's Department of Veteran Affairs highly recommends it's use with PTSD and Trauma victims. EFT is very similar in many ways and while does not yet have equal research to substantiate its effectiveness, we may soon have exactly that.
From the Emotional Freedom Technique website: "EFT, is a simple yet remarkable healing system that reduces the stress that underlies much distress and disease. It has proven itself successful in many scientific studies. It works on a variety of health issues, psychological problems, and performance issues, even those that have been resistant to other methods. It can be learned and applied rapidly, which has contributed to its popularity among millions of people."