ABSTRACT
Certainly secure bonding and the reciprocal loving responsiveness associated with such a bond allows partners to deal with differences and conflicts well. This chapter deals with Step 7 of emotionally focused therapy (EFT), facilitating the expression of needs and wants and creating the emotional engagement that leads to secure bonding. This step involves the last part of the Stage 2 process in which more profound emotional experiencing and expression are used to help partners shift into open responsive connection. The deepening of emotional experience and subsequent new, more affiliative interactional events, which predict success in EFT and foster the ability to share vulnerabilities, lead naturally into a new awareness of attachment needs and an increased ability to risk reaching for the partner to get these needs met. The main task is to restructure interactions by tracking and heightening interactions, reframing interactions, and especially directing the creation of new interactions based on new emotional experience.
