Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples
Also known as Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (1988), Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (Greenberg and Johnson, 1988)
The first manual of emotionally focused couples therapy, by Les Greenberg and Sue Johnson
At a glance
What it argues
Emotion drives change, Inside and between
See all 2Key ideas
Nine steps in three stages, The dance
See all 2Examples from the book
Transcripts, A detailed case
See all 2What came after
Two paths
Read next
The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection, Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power, Hold Me Tight
See all 3Connections
Leslie Greenberg, Sue Johnson and 2 others
See all 4
Also on this page: Key facts · Links · Sources · Related pages
- The 1988 book that introduced emotionally focused therapy for couples.
- It treats emotional experience as the engine of change in relationships.
- It combines what goes on inside each partner with the pattern between them.
- The therapist helps the couple replace negative cycles with new, more satisfying ways of interacting, in nine steps.
Why it matters
- For readers who want the origin of both EFT couples models, Johnson's and Greenberg's.
- The later books are more practical for working therapists.
Key facts
- Authors
- Leslie S. Greenberg, Susan M. Johnson1
- Published
- October 1988 (hardcover); paperback 20101
- Publisher
- Guilford Press1
- Pages
- 2421
- ISBN
- 9780898627305 (hardcover); 9781606239278 (paperback)1
- Place in history
- The first manual for emotionally focused couples therapy, after the approach was first tested in 19852
What it argues
Key ideas
Examples from the book
-
Transcripts1
Short and long excerpts of couples' interactions bring the nine-step process to life, as the Journal of Family Psychotherapy put it.
-
A detailed case1
Contemporary Psychology singled out a case example that follows a whole course of therapy.
What came after
-
Two paths3
After this book Greenberg turned to individual therapy, and the two agreed Johnson would carry the couples model forward.
Read next
-
The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection
Johnson's development of the model around attachment.
-
Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power
Greenberg's own later revision.
-
The model rewritten for couples themselves.
Connections
Links
Sources
Last checked against its sources today
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