Emotion-Focused Therapy provides an introduction to the theory, history, research, and practice of this emotion-centered, humanistic approach to psychotherapy.
Emotion-focused therapy is a complete theory of human functioning based on the adaptive role of emotion and founded on the idea that emotional change is central to enduring change. This therapy emphasizes the awareness, acceptance, understanding, and transformation of emotion, and proposes that emotions themselves have an adaptive potential that, if activated, can help clients to change. Emotion-focused therapists help clients to experience their emotions in the safe setting of therapy so that, rather than avoiding or controlling their feelings, clients learn to use them as a guide to what is important or necessary in their lives.
In this book, Leslie S. Greenberg presents and explores this versatile and useful approach, its theory, history, therapy process, primary change mechanisms, the empirical basis for its effectiveness, and recent developments that have refined the theory and expanded how it may be practiced. This revised edition includes a wealth of recent research findings on important constructs such as emotional needs, as well as new developments in the use of emotion-focused therapy in treating anxiety disorders.
Leslie S. Greenberg, PhD, is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He has authored the major texts on emotion-focused approaches to treatment of individuals and couples. These include the original texts Emotion in Psychotherapy (1986), Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (1988), and Facilitating Emotional Change (1993), and more recently Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power (2008), Emotion-Focused Therapy: Theory and Practice (2010), Working With Narrative in Emotion-Focused Therapy: Changing Stories, Healing Lives (2011), and Therapeutic Presence: A Mindful Approach to Effective Therapy (2012). He has published extensively on research on the process of change. Dr. Greenberg has received the Distinguished Research Career Award of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research, as well as the Carl Rogers Award and the APA Award for Distinguished Professional Contributions to Applied Research. He also has received the Canadian Psychological Association Professional Award for Distinguished Contribution to Psychology as a Profession. He conducts a private practice for individuals and couples and trains people internationally in emotion-focused approaches.
