Our Therapy Method
With 70% to 75% of couples reporting significant improvement, Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is one of the most effective methods for transforming relationships.
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT)
At Wellness Counseling Center, we utilize Emotionally Focused Therapy to help clients break destructive patterns, improve communication, and strengthen their emotional bonds. With 70% to 75% of couples reporting significant improvement, EFT is one of the most effective methods for transforming relationships.
Request a free consultation to see if Emotionally Focused Therapy is right for you.
What Is Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a structured, evidence-based approach to psychotherapy that focuses on improving emotional bonds and fostering secure attachments in relationships. This method of therapy pays close attention to the power of emotions and the human need for love and connection.
Originally developed by Dr. Sue Johnson in the 1980s, EFT is primarily used in couples therapy but is also effective for individuals and families. Additionally, EFT can be used to address depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
In the following video, Emotionally Focused Therapy founder Dr. Sue Johnson provides an in-depth look into this effective, collaborative modality:
How Does Emotionally Focused Therapy Work?
Emotionally Focused Therapy prioritizes emotion. That’s because emotion regulation is a key organizing principle in human experience and relationship interaction.
As a method, EFT recognizes that love is all about connection and emotional bonding — and when these are at risk, our most important human relationships become distressed.
EFT is also a humanistic and non-pathologizing approach. The focus is to help identify and change negative patterns. This helps reduce reactive behaviors between partners. Key ingredients for restoring love in a relationship include identifying and transforming the three critical relational moments that foster connection:
- Being open
- Being attuned
- Being responsive to each other
All of the EFT models are safe and empirically validated. For example, EFT couples counseling is structured, highly effective, and consists of key change strategies mapped into three Stages and nine Steps.
In the therapeutic world online therapy can be effective, however, at Wellness Counseling Center we still find that in-office sessions bring about the best results. For that reason, we tend to use online sessions as the exception.
Benefits of Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples
Emotionally Focused Therapy techniques offer transformative benefits. Here’s a small sample of what EFT can do for your relationship or family:
- Identify your negative cycle
- Identify the triggers that keep your negative cycle in place and keep you stuck
- Promote openness and availability
- Help you tune in to your partner and those you love
- Help others tune in to you
- Facilitate meaningful conversations that bring you closer
- Help you discover new patterns of interaction
- Improve and heighten respect and understanding
- Create a secure bond
Who Can Benefit From EFT?
The EFT model is evidence-based and effective at improving communication. There’s a substantial body of research outlining the effectiveness of EFT showing that 70% to 75% of partners move from distress to recovery and approximately 90% show significant improvement.
This method is effective with many different kinds of people including those with partners suffering from anxiety, depression, PTSD, and chronic illness.
There are a few contraindications for participating in EFT and they include anything that would block safe engagement between partners — for example, an ongoing affair, active addiction, or violence in the relationship.
EFT vs Traditional Couples Therapy: What Makes It Different?
As a method, Emotionally Focused Therapy is collaborative and respectful of clients. It has key moves and moments of change. Our clients know we don’t sit around, talk, and sip coffee together for years — EFT moves quickly and has been validated by over 20 years of empirical research.
It differs from traditional couples therapy by prioritizing deep emotional connection over surface-level conflict resolution. Rooted in attachment theory, EFT helps partners recognize and reshape negative emotional cycles, fostering secure bonds rather than just teaching communication skills.
Unlike traditional approaches that focus on behavioral adjustments and short-term problem-solving, EFT addresses the underlying emotional wounds that drive relationship distress, leading to lasting change.
What to Expect in an EFT Session
The practice of Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy necessitates a safe and supportive environment where both you and your partner can openly explore your emotions, communication patterns, and attachment needs.
Early sessions often focus on identifying recurring conflicts and emotional triggers, allowing both partners to see how their reactions contribute to the cycle. As therapy progresses, you’ll work on reshaping communication by expressing deeper emotions and unmet attachment needs in a way that builds closeness and trust.
Your therapist will facilitate conversations that encourage vulnerability and connection, helping you move away from blame and frustration toward mutual support and security.
By the end of therapy, couples often experience a renewed sense of intimacy, deeper emotional engagement, and greater confidence in handling future challenges together.
Watch this video to see Emotionally Focused Therapy in action:
FAQ
About Emotionally Focused Therapy
Here are some indicators that your relationship is distressed and Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy interventions can help:
- You feel distant from your partner and want to connect.
- You are overwhelmed or exhausted from trying to fix it.
- You feel frustrated by not having the kind of relationship you want.
- You long for more trust, connection, and intimacy with your partner.
- You want the fighting and bickering to stop.
- You are tired and feel you have little to show for it.
- You feel unsupported but don’t want to leave the relationship.
- You want to clarify your purpose, goals, and dreams within the relationship.
- You know your partner cares but you feel invisible and unheard.
- You want to matter to your partner. You want to know you are important.
- You want to enjoy life with your partner again.
Most EFT research to date has focused on couples and is considered the Gold Standard for empirically validated interventions in this field.
New research has created Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) and Emotionally Focused Family Therapy (EFFT), which are now internationally accepted modalities for individuals and families.
The standard for Emotionally Focused Couples Therapy is typically 12 to 20 sessions — more if there is trauma. At Wellness Counseling Center, we find 16 sessions to be optimal for most of our clients.
With Emotionally Focused Therapy for families, 2 to 3 sessions can be sufficient to improve or even resolve a current issue.
We love working with people who want to understand themselves better and make positive, proactive changes. If your partner can’t join you, we will happily see you individually.
