Emotion-focused therapy for complex trauma: An integrative approach.

Abstract

Psychotherapy clients with histories of childhood abuse and complex relational trauma are ubiquitous, and have notoriously high drop-out rates. These clients have been unable to heal past emotional injuries and often have difficulty handling exposure-based therapies, which usually are not designed for attachment related problems. Successful therapy requires helping clients access and explore painful feelings in order to modify maladaptive emotions. Emotion-Focused Therapy for Trauma (EFTT) is the only trauma therapy that is based on an empirically-verified model that identifies steps in the process of resolving past relational issues. In this book, the authors plumb fifteen years of research involving clinical trials, observation and analysis of therapy sessions, as well as their own extensive clinical experience to describe precisely how EFTT works to heal complex trauma. The book is organized into two main sections: Part I describes the EFTT treatment model and the theory behind it, while Part II examines clients' progress through the four phases of treatment, each of which can be revisited in a recursive fashion. The authors focus on the typical progression, beginning with cultivating the therapeutic alliance, through modifying self-concept, resolution of attachment injuries, and termination. Throughout the text, the authors make comparisons with other treatment approaches, and provide clinical examples of different kinds of emotion and emotional processing difficulties. This book will appeal to clinicians and researchers alike and is particularly suitable for use in outpatient trauma clinics and graduate programs that emphasize service and training in empirically-supported treatments.