Emotionally Focused Therapy

A proven path back to connection.

Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a well-known humanistic approach to psychotherapy formulated in the 1980s and developed in tandem with the science of adult attachment — a profound developmental theory of personality and intimate relationships. Attachment views human beings as innately relational, social, and wired for intimate bonding with others. The EFT model prioritizes emotion and emotional regulation as the key organizing agents in individual experience and key relationship interactions.

The modalities

One model, three modalities.

EFT is best known as a tested and proven couple intervention, but it is also used to address individual depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress (EFIT), and to repair family bonds (EFFT). It operationalizes the principles of attachment science using non-pathologizing experiential and relational systems techniques.

Who it helps

Support for every kind of relationship.

EFT

ONE MODEL · THREE MODALITIES

EFIT

Individuals

Depression, anxiety, trauma, and the relational patterns that keep people stuck.

EFCT

Couples

Distress, disconnection, conflict, and recovery from injuries and affairs.

EFFT

Families

Parent–child conflict, adolescent struggles, and repairing ruptures.

Evidence-based

The gold standard for couple intervention.

Most EFT research to date has focused on outcome and process-of-change studies with couples, and EFT for couples is the gold standard for empirically validated intervention in this field. The 4-day Externship in EFT is taught in over 40 countries by ICEEFT-certified trainers. EFT is recognized internationally through ICEEFT.