Emotion-Focused Family Therapy
Emotion-Focused Family Therapy (EFFT) draws from interpersonal neurobiology in its stance that caregivers have the greatest potential to impact on their child’s healing – even more than the therapist.
EFFT coaches caregivers to:
- Lovingly intervene in the behaviors bringing the child into therapy and integrate healthy replacement behaviors
- Support the child in understanding their emotional experience and getting their emotional needs met in order to improve their emotion regulation abilities and self-esteem
- Process and heal any unresolved wounds in the caregiver-child relationship
EFFT also provides caregivers with the opportunity to process and work through any challenging emotions that may be interfering as they take on this active role in their child’s healing.
EFFT can be used for children of any age and can take various forms including families, caregivers only, or a caregiver and child. EFFT was originally developed to treat eating disorders and has expanded to also address issues such as depression, anxiety, and life transitions.