ABSTRACT
Emotion-focused therapy (EFT) is an empirically supported, humanistic-experiential treatment with roots in person-centered, Gestalt, experiential and existential therapies. Strongly influenced by the psychotherapy process research tradition, EFT developed out of a research-based investigation of therapeutic change processes, with a particular focus on the role of emotion in psychotherapy. Contrary to many traditional conceptualizations of emotion that regard it with suspicion, as a source of disruption, and as something to be controlled, EFT recognizes emotion as a central component in the formation of the self and a vital agent in the process of self-organization. An important concept in EFT is that of emotion schemes, which are seen as 'the base of [our] emotional response system'. Emotion-focused theory distinguishes various facets of emotional experiencing. Primary maladaptive emotions are direct responses to situations involving emotion schemes formed in past traumatic experiences. The fundamental basis of emotion-focused therapy is the provision of an authentic caring relationship by the therapist.
