Somatic experience of emotion in emotionally focused couple therapy: Experienced trainer therapists' views and experiences

In general, arousal of emotions is often felt and expressed as a somatic experience in the body. In Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), the deepening of emotional experiencing enables therapeutic change. This research explores the experiences of eight experienced EFT trainer therapists regardi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of marital and family therapy 2022-07, Vol.48 (3), p.677-692
Main Authors: Kailanko, Sari, Wiebe, Stephanie A., Tasca, Giorgio A., Laitila, Aarno A., Allan, Robert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arousal
couple therapy
Couples
Couples therapy
EFT
Emotional Experience
Emotionally focused
emotionally focused therapy
Emotions
Empathy
experiencing
Interpretative phenomenological analysis
Interviews
Modeling (Psychology)
Physiology
Psychotherapy
Resistance (Psychology)
Semi Structured Interviews
somatic
Supervision
Therapists
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Summary:In general, arousal of emotions is often felt and expressed as a somatic experience in the body. In Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT), the deepening of emotional experiencing enables therapeutic change. This research explores the experiences of eight experienced EFT trainer therapists regarding their somatic experiences in their work with couples. Using interpretative phenomenological analysis of transcribed in‐depth interviews, this research data yielded three core themes that captured therapists' experiences of using their own and couples' somatic experiences in therapy: (1) the importance and relevance of somatic experiences, (2) therapists' use of their own somatic experiences, and (3) working with clients' somatic experiences. The findings suggest that therapists do focus on their own and couples' somatic experiences in their work with couples, and that EFT therapists could benefit from a map to guide therapists how to focus on felt, somatic experiences as a way of maintaining an emphasis on emotional experience.
ISSN:0194-472X
1752-0606
DOI:10.1111/jmft.12543