Emotion-Focused Therapy
Our emotions are an essential part of who we are. The way we experience the world around us and interact with our loved ones is all wrapped up in how we feel and express our emotions. The ability to show affection, experience joy, and interpret the needs of our loved ones all stem from these emotions. Understanding how emotions impact our lives can help to guide us to make healthy and meaningful life choices. Emotion-focused therapy is an approach to counseling that is geared toward increasing understanding of what our emotions are telling us, developing skills to manage complex or difficult feelings, and learning how to use emotional responses in healthy ways. If you’d like to learn more, reach out to the Manatee Associates of Counseling & Assessment for emotion-focused therapy in Palmetto, FL.
What is Emotion-Focused Therapy?
Emotion-focused therapy, often simply called EFT, is a therapy approach that stems from the knowledge that accepting and resolving emotions is essential to developing self-acceptance, making healthy decisions, and finding ways to interpret the messages our emotions send us in order to lead fulfilling and joyful lives.
How Does EFT Help?
EFT is an effective therapy for people who struggle with a range of concerns like depression, anxiety, and poor emotional management and regulation. Some of the specific skills you’ll learn through EFT include the following:
- Emotional awareness and acceptance – you recognize and validate emotional experiences of all kinds
- Emotional regulation – you’re in charge of your feelings and not the other way around
- Emotional intelligence – you can describe your emotions accurately and clearly
- Emotional evaluation – you can recognize when emotions are helping and harming your experience
- Emotional origination – you can identify where emotions come from
What Happens During EFT Sessions?
During your EFT sessions, your therapist will focus on discussing areas in your life where you feel great and areas where you struggle. You’ll discuss the emotions related to these situations. What makes you the happiest, saddest, angriest, most frustrated? Then, you’ll talk about what your emotions may be telling you in a given situation, how to process these feelings, and learn to live a life empowered by your emotions with increased resilience and more effective coping skills.
Let’s Get Started!
We know it can be intimidating to take this next step to schedule an appointment with our team. You may have had negative experiences with therapy in the past, you may be worried about stigma surrounding counseling, or you may just be worried. We get it. The good news is we can help you put some of those worries aside and start feeling like yourself again. When you’re ready, the Manatee Associates of Counseling & Assessment team is here for you.