W-14 Individual Poster Presentation Discussion

Emotionally-Focused Therapy

Abstract

Relationships between adults are characterized by significant challenges especially due to widening responsibilities that limit the time available for nurturing those relationships. Relationship failures emerge as a potential source for emotional distress in individuals.

When not contained in the early stages, such distress progresses to depression or triggering other mental conditions that affect the overall function of the individual. In such circumstances, the relationship may not survive. Emotionally-Focused Therapy (EFT) is designed to address issues within adult relationships to prevent possible breakdowns that lead to mental health issues.

Overview

Definition: EFT is a time-based short-term therapy designed to improve relationship bonds and attachment in adults by focusing on emotions.

Primarily, EFT is designed on the premise that most adult relationships fail or experience bottlenecks due to poor or lacking communication.

Thus, in nurturing the emotional bond, EFT enables improved communication while limiting maladaptive responses of that past that limited communication.

Evidence (EBP)

Wittenborn et al. (2019):

Sought to examine the efficacy of EFT on 16 couples on outcome measures of relationship satisfaction and depression

Findings:

EFT attained improvements in relationship satisfaction across men and women participants

Men reported greater improvements in depressive symptoms

Relationship satisfaction preceded changes in depressive symptoms

Sayadi & Madani (2017):

Sought to examine the effectiveness of EFT on burnout and marital commitment in 30 infertile couples

Findings:

Post-test scores on marital commitment improved significantly with EFT

Significant improvements also noted in the subscales of marital commitment namely personal commitment, moral commitment, and structural commitment

Name: School of Nursing

Current Trends

Introduction of neuroscience techniques to improve EFT outcomes

MRIs are used as a measure or to demonstrate importance of secure attachment

Thus, the effects of EFT can be traced by learning the brain code pattern changes on MRI over time

Treatment Guidelines/ Recommendations

No current guidelines exist on the utilization of EFT

However, emphasis is on using the three-phased approach namely;

Identifying the cause of maladaptive emotions

Transforming the maladaptive emotions

Development of new positive identities

Conclusion

Skill deficit, past traumas and emotional avoidance are the primary causes of problematic relationships

Each of these affects the emotional competence of the individual thus limiting their optimal demonstration of emotional bonding and attachment

EFT seeks to improve the overall emotional competence