Facilitating Emotional Change The Moment-by-Moment Process

by Greenberg, Leslie S.; Rice, Laura N.; Elliott, Robert

• ISBN13: 9781572302013
• ISBN10: 1572302011
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-11-01
• Publisher: The Guilford Press

Summary

While emotions are often given a negative connotation people are described as being "too emotional" or as needing to "control their emotions" this book demonstrates that emotions are organizing processes that enhance adaptation and problem solving. Within an experiential therapy framework, the volume shows how to work with moment-by-moment emotional processes to resolve various psychological difficulties. The first two sections introduce the process experiential approach to treatment. Exploring the interrelationships among emotion, cognition, and change, the authors develop a powerful, clinically relevant theory of human functioning. The third section, a detailed treatment manual, outlines the general principles and methods of therapy and provides step-by-step directions for six specific types of interventions. Excerpts from actual transcripts exemplify the various methods, illuminating the moment-by-moment process for both the client and the therapist.

Author Biography

Leslie S. Greenberg, PhD, is Professor in the Department of Psychology and Director of the Psychotherapy Research Center at York University in Canada. Coauthor of Facilitating Emotional Change; Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples; and Emotion in Psychotherapy, he has coedited numerous volumes including Emotion, Psychotherapy, and Change; Empathy Reconsidered; and The Working Alliance. Past President of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research, Dr. Greenberg maintains a private practice in Toronto.

Table of Contents

PART I. INTRODUCTION
Introduction to the Approach	3	(9)
The Development of This Approach	7	(3)
Guide to Reading the Book	10	(2)
A Process Facilitative Approach to Therapy	12	(23)
A Process-Focused Approach	14	(3)
Process Diagnosis	17	(2)
Therapist Relationship Attitudes	19	(3)
Managing Process Directiveness and the Relational Attitudes: The Need for Care and Balance	22	(3)
Therapeutic Work	25	(6)
Conclusion	31	(4)
PART II. THEORY: EMOTION AND COGNITION IN CHANGE
Perspectives on Human Functioning	35	(28)
Experiential Perspective	35	(1)
Classical Theory	36	(6)
Perspectives from Modern Psychology	42	(1)
Cognitive Science	43	(6)
Emotion Theory and Research	49	(5)
A Dialectical Constructivist Synthesis	54	(9)
Toward an Experiential Theory of Functioning	63	(17)
Schematic Functioning	65	(4)
Schematic Emotional Memory	69	(2)
The Growth Tendency	71	(6)
An Integrative Overview	77	(3)
Dysfunction	80	(19)
Problems in the Generation of Emotional Meaning	82	(3)
Schematic Dysfunction	85	(3)
Development of Dysfunctional Schemes	88	(1)
A Multifacted View of Dysfunction	89	(2)
Why Emotion Schemes Do Not Change	91	(2)
Changing Emotion Schemes	93	(6)
PART III. THE MANUAL: BASIC PRINCIPLES AND TASK-GUIDED INTERVENTIONS
SECTION 1. TREATMENT MANUAL: THE GENERAL APPROACH	99	(38)
Treatment Principles for a Process-Experiential Approach	101	(17)
Relationship Principles: Facilitate a Therapeutic Relationship	102	(10)
Task Principles: Facilitate Work on Specific Therapeutic Tasks	112	(5)
Summary	117	(1)
What the Therapist Dose: Experiential Response Intentions and Modes	118	(19)
Essential Experiential Response Intentions	120	(11)
Additional Experiential Intentions	131	(2)
Generally ``Out-of-Mode'' Nonexperiential Intentions	133	(3)
Summary	136	(1)
SECTION 2. THE TREATMENT TASKS	137	(186)
Empathic Attunement	137	(4)
Systematic Evocative Unfolding at a Marker of a Problematic Reaction Point	141	(24)
What Needs to Be Changed? The Underlying Processing Difficulty	142	(1)
Opportunities for Intervention: The Marker for a Problematic Reaction Point	143	(2)
How Does Change Occur?	145	(5)
Therapist Operations	150	(2)
The Therapist Functions at the Different Stages of the Model	152	(13)
Experiential Focusing for an Unclear Felt Sense	165	(21)
The ``Focusing Attitude''	166	(1)
What Needs to Be Changed? The Underlying Processing Difficulty	166	(1)
Opportunities for Intervention: Unclear Felt Sense	167	(2)
The Process of Resolution	169	(5)
Therapist Attitude and Operations Used in Focusing	174	(10)
Dead-Ends and Common Mistakes in Focusing	184	(1)
Conclusion	185	(1)
Two-Chair Dialogue at a Self-Evaluative Split	186	(30)
What Needs to Be Changed? The Underlying Processing Difficulty	186	(2)
Opportunities for Intervention: Conflict-Split Markers	188	(3)
How Does Change Occur?	191	(6)
Therapist Operations	197	(18)
Conclusion	215	(1)
Two-Chair Enactment for Self-Interruption Split	216	(25)
What Needs to Be Changed? The Underlying Processing Difficulty	217	(2)
Opportunities for Intervention---The Marker	219	(2)
Attribution of Interuption	221	(6)
Therapist Operations	227	(13)
Conclusion	240	(1)
Empty-Chair Work and Unfinished Business	241	(30)
What Needs to Be Changed? The Underlying Processing Difficulty	241	(3)
Opportunities for Intervention: Markers of Unfinished Business	244	(1)
How Does Change Occur?	245	(9)
Therapist Operations	254	(16)
Conclusion	270	(1)
Empathic Affirmation at a Marker of Intense Vulnerability	271	(14)
What Needs to Be Changed? The Underlying Processing Difficulty	272	(2)
Opportunities for Intervention: Vulnerability Markers	274	(1)
How Does Change Occur? The Model	275	(2)
The Functions of the Therapist at Different Stages of the Model	277	(8)
PART IV. CONCLUSION
Applying the Process-Experiential Approach	285	(26)
Selection of Clients and Suitability Issues	285	(2)
Treatment Parameters	287	(3)
Treatment Composition	290	(1)
Difficulties and Dilemmas	291	(2)
Training of Therapists in the Process-Experiential Approach	293	(1)
Case Examples of Process Experiential Approach	294	(17)
The Process-Experiential Approach: An Overview, Research, Theory, and the Future	311	(12)
An Empirical Perspective	311	(9)
Future Directions	320	(1)
Conclusion	321	(2)
References	323	(14)
Index	337