Transdiagnostic emotion-focused therapy

Domain III · Humanistic, existential & experiential · Ladislav Timulak, Daragh Keogh · 2020 · Dublin

What it is

Atlas check: the founders (Timulak, Keogh) and the name EFT-T are confirmed.

Format

• Format. Individual therapy, 16–20 sessions:
• the therapist aims to finish at session 16;

Who practises it, and how they are trained or regulated

• The protocol does not state frequency or session length. Weekly sessions of about 50–60 minutes are standard EFT practice. In the trial, therapists were EFT-certified to International Society for Emotion-Focused Therapy (isEFT) standards and received extra EFT-T training and monthly supervision. Adherence was rated with the PCEPS-EFT.

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Is there physical contact? Was it explained beforehand, and do you feel free to say no or stop at any point?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• premature intellectualising before feeling has settled.
• homework turning into a performance test (see non-adherence in 5).
• core pain activated by the ending (abandonment). Process the ending itself emotionally.
• the client only thinking about the feeling. A shift in breathing or posture, or an "aha", signals progress.
• repairs that stay at the surface. A repaired rupture can itself be a corrective experience of core pain being met.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.