[humanser] Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy

[JD Townsend]

Hello:

Abreiations can be confusing.  I learned EFT to be Emotional Freedom Therapy.

Reasearch on body languge has not shown to have the significant that  the light dependent to believe.  I find that asking is more reliable and significant for the patient.

The light dependent can easily misread any number of visual cues and move on from there.  I have seen this with student interns.  A therapistsome reading of a patientsome feelings is an interpretation and thees are, in my mind, reserved helping a patient to understand patters of behaviors. 

All of this is to say that, as blind people, our work may  be a little bit different,  even a tiny bit  may be better. ement that a patient    

JDS

On Jun 11, 2018 12:58 AM, Sarah Meyer via HumanSer <humanser at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Hello! 
>
> I hope everyone is doing well! 
> I am writing to see if anyone on this list either does couples therapy 
> using Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy (EFT) or knows of any blind 
> clinicians using this model. If you use EFFT working with families or 
> process experiential therapy with individuals, I would be interested 
> in hearing from you as well. 
>
> I am currently taking a summer class on EFT and have quickly fallen in 
> love with the attachment-based, emotion-focused approach for treating 
> couple distress. I have not yet had the privilege of working with 
> couples but am hoping an opportunity will present itself in my 
> internship. 
>
> I've become confident in my abilities to connect with and track 
> clients' emotional experiences in individual therapy as well as group 
> therapy by listening to not just the content of what is spoken, but to 
> the tone, rate of speech, inflection, breathing, shifting in the seat, 
> etc. I've noticed from reading and observing EFT sessions that EFT 
> therapists pay much more attention to the most subtle of nonverbal 
> cues and use those as avenues for processing in the here-and-now, more 
> so than other modalities I've studied. I'd like to think I'm very 
> perceptive, but there have definitely been videos wherein the 
> therapist comments on a subtle shift in emotional experiencing in one 
> of the partners that I definitely could not detect by listening. 
> Granted, there might be the possibility that I could pick up on more 
> cues when in close proximity to the clients (e.g., sitting in the same 
> room rather than relying on an audio recording). 
>
> For example, a therapist will ask a client, "What just happened right 
> here? You were sharing your fear of rejection and suddenly you 
> clenched your jaw and your face went hard and still." In a similar 
> example as this, the client had continued speaking but his tone hadn't 
> changed. 
>
> Another example: a Therapist will ask a partner to share his/her 
> impressions/reactions to what the other partner has shared. Sometimes 
> this happens as the therapist responds to the listening partner 
> becoming noticeably agitated or flooded; in some cases, the listening 
> partner may be protesting/defending audibly, while in others, the 
> partner may "zone out" or look out the window. In some cases, the 
> listener is simply listening very attentively but from a place of 
> silence. In all instances, the therapist has to be on the lookout for 
> signs of flooding, withdrawal, disassociating, etc. If you practice 
> EFT, how do you catch these very subtle cues of withdrawal if they are 
> not audible? 
>
> One therapist commented on how a client was holding his hands and 
> created a powerful metaphor and connected this to the underlying 
> emotion and attachment needs. 
>
> These are just a few examples and I'm wondering how others have 
> addressed or overcome any potential obstacles of missing very subtle 
> nonverbal emotional expression, whether in individual, couples, 
> family, or group therapy. 
>
> Also, while I'm confident that I am still able to conceptualize and 
> reflect the emotional significance moment by moment in a session as a 
> blind therapist, what do we do with the reality that commenting on 
> these subtle cues is incredibly meaningful for clients? To have a 
> therapist say to a client, "I see you; I see that subtle moistening in 
> your eyes; I see that look of fear in your eyes" can be so validating 
> and empathic. These kinds of statements really help to heighten, 
> deepen, and evoke emotional experiencing for clients. What are other 
> ways we can evoke and heighten these emotional experiences if we can't 
> see the very subtle shifts in emotional expression? 
>
> All the best, 
>
> Sarah 
>
> -- 
> Sarah K. Meyer 
> Graduate Student, Clinical Mental Health Counseling 
> Ball State University 
> sarah.meyer55 at gmail.com 
> (317)402-6632 
>
> The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the 
> characteristic that defines you or your future. You can live the life 
> you want; blindness is not what holds you back. Together with love, 
> hope, and determination, we transform dreams into reality. 
>
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