What Is Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT)?
Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT) is an eclectic, evidence-based approach to psychotherapy rooted in the science of attachment and emotion. When utilized for individuals, EFIT blends behavioral and experiential interventions to promote greater self-awareness, better emotional regulation, and a more secure sense of self.
Sue Johnson originally developed Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) in the 1980s as a modality to help couples overcome barriers in communication and foster emotional intimacy. Through the development of emotion-focused individual therapy in the mid-2000s, EFT’s application was expanded to “address individual depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress.”¹ Since that time, the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT) has been dedicated to honing its techniques for helping individuals as well as couples and families.
How Is Emotionally Focused Therapy For Individuals Different Than Other Therapy?
EFIT therapy is a proven modality that helps clients suffering from mental health issues such as anxiety, depression, and trauma. In thousands of studies conducted on attachment science—the backbone of emotionally focused individual therapy—data has shown how secure connection with others offers us the sense of safety we need to grow, take risks, and explore our world.² EFIT therapy capitalizes on what research about early childhood attachment has uncovered to help clients feel more balanced and achieve an expansion of self.³
At its premise, the goal of EFT therapy for individuals is to expand one’s sense of self—from internal chaos to order, from reactivity to balance, from self-contempt to acceptance, and from powerlessness to empowerment. EFIT therapy helps clients examine their core emotions and wounds, leading to an internal shift that leaves them feeling more integrated and whole.
Instead of talking about hurts in the abstract, with EFIT therapy, clients will experience and process their emotions in the moment. By slowing things down and bringing awareness to thoughts and feelings as they happen, clients can organize and understand what’s happening which allows them to make different choices. Working from the inside out, they will increase their self-awareness, learn self-regulation, and understand the emotional dynamics that fuel negative behavior. As a result, clients can adopt more helpful coping skills and feel more competent to make positive changes in their lives and relationships.
