Emotion-Focused Therapy for Complex Trauma: An Integrative Approach

The theory and practice of EFT is brilliantly described in this volume. Specific techniques for working with clients feelings are clearly explained, along with brief and useful example dialogues. The authors are exceedingly well read and describe how the techniques introduced may be similar in some respects to therapeutic interventions from other modalities. An extremely practical book and convincing framework that will refine the skills needed to help clients work through the powerful emotions associated with the aftermath of interpersonal trauma. Astounding research and well articulated. Really one of the best books I read in 2015.

Me gustó muchonel contenido detrás de cada emoción (adaptativa o no) y los ejemplos de cómo abordarla para regularla o incrementarla y trabajar con ella en sesión. En algunos puntos es un tanto repetitivo, sin embargo, Sandra y Antonio lo dejan claro antes de que entres en el tema.

I was a bit let down by this book. On the one hand, I get that it's a hard topic. The fact that I sought out a book on the subject should indicate that. Additionally, there were some good thought-provoking ideas/explanations/whatever. But there were also some kind of annoying parts of this book, which I'm going to focus on for the remainder of this review because I'm a pessimist or something (or, more likely, someone just applying a bit of critical reasoning!).I found the book to be arrogant. This did get under my skin. For instance, "active listening" was described as important because it helps the patient feel empathized with, but never was it mentioned that "active listening" is also important for making sure you understand what the person is talking about! Imagine the arrogance implicit in that. To me, to not stress the importance of *clarifying* is tantamount to presuming that you *already know* what the patient is getting at (which, frequently, you won't), and to stress the importance of showing empathy is tantamount to almost giving yourself a pat on the back for being so understanding and gracious and so on.Another example: there was a long section (or, several paragraphs, anyway) talking about the difference between a "dominant" self expressing (to put it in my own words) stoicism, and a "submissive" self being dominated by the stoical self and "prevented" if you like from expressing emotions that show more vulnerability (fear, shame, etc.). The only explanation the book offered for this phenomenon was something akin to poor self-awareness. I.e. it was presumed that if this "dominant self" was dominating, that it must be because the "submissive self" didn't know how to express/assert itself. Never was the issue of trust brought up, which I think is f-ing insane, because to me the bottom line of this sort of dynamic is that if the client is "putting on a brave face," it's because they don't f-ing trust you!! This seems like such an obvious point, but the book didn't even mention in passing (in this particular section, anyway) the essentiality of trust to expressing vulnerability. Again, to me, I interpreted this as arrogant. To acknowledge the role of trust would also be to examine the patient's mistrust, which also in turn might be to acknowledge you own role in that-- i.e. that their mistrust of you might be relatively well-founded. So again, like my previous example, this seemed to me another instance of sort of hiding behind a self-conception as a relatively flawless professional instead of confronting and perhaps even addressing one's shortcomings (being, in my first example, that maybe you have trouble understanding things sometimes, and in the second example, that maybe you don't always deserve to be trusted).I get that this stuff is hard. But I don't see any excuse for the arrogant, self-congratulatory, and more disturbingly, by implication of the first two-- UNACCOUNTABLE attitude espoused in this book. And unfortunately, for me, the interesting thoughts are subsumed by the way this book seems to encourage a professional ethos that is frankly dangerous. It's smothering, dishonest, and-- ironically, considering the aims of the book-- repressed! (Repressed in the sense that the book seems to be encouraging the therapist to rationalize their (rather inexcusable) desires for control, unaccountability, etc., as (laudable) objectivity and "compassion.") It's a shame, because this is a subject on which I really want some insight. But at the same time, this book is kind of full of s***, and it's rather hard for me to get past that. It brings the credibility of the whole thing into question.So, in conclusion, if you're going to buy this book, I would implore you to read it skeptically! I'm sure there are some good insights in there but I think the attitude it encourages is dangerous. That's not hyperbole.

all good.

This book was well written and clearly laid out. It covered the basic theory and gave some supporting evidence. It was easy to understand.

Great resource! Easy read