Letting Emotion Out and In

How do you react to emotionally heated moments in therapy? Many therapists, including those engaged in couples work, respond by disrupting and avoiding strong displays of emotion—tears, bickering, passive aggressiveness, explosive exchanges, and more. Such therapists operate from the perspective that a calm, regulated state is the most productive for therapy.

Other therapists, like Hold Me Tight author and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) developer Susan Johnson, move with emotion rather than away from it. According to Susan, even strong emotions that are difficult to work with guide the therapy in the direction of what’s important. The key is knowing how to use them in a way that moves the therapy forward and leads to relationship repair.

In this clip from our webcast series Powered by Emotion: New Strategies for Deepening Therapeutic Healing, Susan shares the latest research that backs up the central principle of EFT—that emotion is a highly effective therapeutic tool, so long as the therapist knows how to use it.

This is just one aspect of emotion that Susan will discuss in our webcast series.

Powered by Emotion:
New Strategies for Deepening Therapeutic Healing
Click here for full course details

Here’s a preview of what each session in this series offers you:

• Susan Johnson on Emotion and Motivation in Couples Therapy
  Discover how to work more experientially and effectively with couples.


• Joan Klagsbrun on Bringing the Felt Sense into the Consulting Room
  Learn how to bring a new dimension of emotional exploration into your work.


• Jay Efran on When Your Client Cries: Do’s and Don’ts
  Explore a new two-stage perspective on working with tears.


• Rick Hanson on Cultivating Positive Emotion in Therapy
  Learn how to mobilize clients’ underutilized resources and fortify their resilience.


• Ron Potter-Efron on Helping Angry Clients Change Their Brains
  Apply the principles of neuroplasticity with anger problems.


• Diana Fosha on Using Mindfulness to Deepen Emotional Experience
  Explore how to use the therapeutic relationship to help bring enhanced vitality and awareness to your clients' feeling states.

Powered by Emotion
All Sessions Available January 9th
Click here for full course details

Topic: Professional Development | Couples | Mindfulness

Tags: EFT | emotion | emotionally focused therapy | felt sense | mindful | neuroplasticity | resilience | Rick Hanson | Susan Johnson | therapist | therapists | therapy