What is Emotionally Focused Therapy?
We all know emotions and feel them on a daily basis, even when they’re overwhelming, uncomfortable and possibly confusing. However, these same emotions can also be a guide.
Emotionally Focused Therapy is a therapy method that believes emotions aren’t a problem to be fixed. Rather, they’re signs that can help you heal and transform if you listen to them. At Broward Therapists, Emotionally Focused Therapy can help you create stronger relationships, work on coping skills and improve you and your family’s mental health.
What is Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Emotionally Focused Therapy believes that families are not struggling due to communication problems, parental challenges or disagreements between parents and children. While these struggles may be present, EFT focuses on the belief that beneath these problems lies emotional distress and attachment issues—like a lack of feeling safe and secure—that cause disconnection and conflict within the family.
By addressing these deeper emotional needs, EFT helps family members rebuild trust, strengthen emotional bonds and create lasting patterns of healthy connection.
What do you learn during Emotionally Focused Therapy?
In Emotionally Focused Therapy, you won’t be overwhelmed with new techniques. Instead, a trained Broward Therapist will help you tap into the strengths and emotional skills you already have.
Think of it this way. You know how to communicate. So why does it always end in arguments when it’s with your family? The answer, according to EFT, is that your family is stuck in a negative feedback loop of emotions, unspoken feelings and misunderstanding.
In order to work through this, your therapist will help identify negative patterns and behaviors that appear when you and your family communicate—allowing you to understand emotional triggers and attachment styles throughout the sessions.
How can families benefit from Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Your family will learn how to create lasting changes throughout Emotionally Focused Therapy sessions. And there are many other benefits for families, including:
Creating stronger communication between family members
Reducing miscommunication and arguments between family members by helping everyone become confident in expressing themselves and their feelings
Increasing empathy and support, allowing each family member to feel comforted
Decreasing overall stress and tension within your family, leading to long-lasting improvements
When should I seek out Emotionally Focused Therapy?
Emotionally Focused Therapy is an evidence-based approach that is still versatile and adaptable to meet a number of different situations. However, EFT may be of particular use to families experiencing:
High conflict: constant yelling and arguing, power struggles, defensiveness, emotional withdrawal and recurring issues that continue to escalate
Life transitions: divorce, separation, blending of a new family, new siblings, moving and or aging parents
Grief: loss of a loved one, trauma, long-term illness
Challenges with teens: anxiety, depression, mood swings, academic struggles, isolation, defiance, substance use
Emotional disconnection: emotionally distant or isolated, a lack of trust and safety, a feeling of loneliness despite physical presence
Cultural, social or identity challenges: generational gaps between family members, immigration stress, gender identity or sexual orientation
Parents seeking stronger bonds: struggles building emotional closeness, parental guilt, feeling unappreciated or disconnected from kids
Preventative family support: strengthening relationships before struggles arise, preparing for anticipatory anxiety or stress, building healthy communication patterns
Emotionally Focused Therapy at Broward Therapists
Emotionally Focused Therapy gives families the tools to understand their emotional patterns and transform the way they show up for one another.
At Broward Therapists, we’re committed to helping families create healthier dynamics built on safety and connection. If you’re interested in learning how EFT can support your family, our licensed therapists are ready to help you begin the process.