The Practice of Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy: Creating Connection

This is my first book by Johnson and I found it to be easy to read and understand. Johnson's approach is based on attachment theory which I have found to be a good anchor in working with couples that want to resolve conflict and/or strengthen their bond.

Susan Johnson's work through Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) is a great asset to the world of relationship therapies. Her work is in the new direction in therapy - calculated integration versus muddle-headed eclecticism. Johnson's work carefully integrate structural family therapy (Minuchin) with attachment theory (Bowlby) and the experiential therapies. While mainly citing Rogers, this a misnomer. EFT is more Satir and Whitaker than Rogers as the therapist is active and directive as well as short-term to brief in her or his interventions. Rogers is a long-term personality-altering insight therapy, which offers little for today's reality of shorter time constraints whether through managed-care or government stipulations. Better yet, EFT is an EBT (evidence-based treatment)! I believe it has a 70-73% efficacy rate for couple improvement and therefore is more ameniable to third-party reimbursement. EFT is also a great approach for PTSD (see Johnson, 2002) as in 33-38 sessions a full-blown PTSD sufferer can have significant improvement. This is because the partner, not the therapist, becomes the soother for the traumatized person and is much more available in the long-term for the PTSD sufferer. I believe the Department of Veteran's Affairs needs to "perk-up" and "pony-up" for EFT as the treatment of choice for our soon-to-be onslaught of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom veterans come home. We are so not prepared for this avalanche of need!

This is an excellent presention of EFT for couple therapy. The theoretical underpinnings are presented in a way that does not detract from the aim of the book to help one learn how this work is done. There are lots of clear examples and explanations that give one the feeling they are ready to apply what they have learned in their next session. Written in a clear style free of jargon.

Good overview of the relationship between attachment and emotional functioning in marriage. The manualized treatment approach has been empirically supported so deserves more than just a glance. An excellent addition to the libraries of anyone interested in and encountering the challenges of couples counseling.

Johnson does a beautiful job of laying out the process of effective therapy with couples in a manner that is both clear and respectful of the complexity of the process. Upon reading her book, it suddenly became clear to me why I have been successful with some couples and painfully inadequate with others. It's been a real jump-start to my feeling alive and effective again in therapy. Tom Daniels, Ph.D. Licensed Psychologist