PSYU2201 Emotion Based Approaches to Therapy Lecture 8 PDF

PSYU2201 Emotion Based Approaches to Therapy LECTURE 8 Acknowledgement of Country Macquarie University acknowledges the traditional custodians of the Macquarie University land, the Wattamattagal clan of the Darug nation, whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land,...

PSYU2201 Emotion Based Approaches to Therapy LECTURE 8 Acknowledgement of Country Macquarie University acknowledges the traditional custodians of the Macquarie University land, the Wattamattagal clan of the Darug nation, whose cultures and customs have nurtured, and continue to nurture, this land, since the Dreamtime. I’d like to pay my respects to Elders past, present and future, and particularly to any Indigenous students in this unit. 2 Emotions • Emotions can be defined as instinctive and intuitive physiological and psychological reactions that are experienced subjectively in response to stimuli, such as an interactions, perceptions, or situations (Longe, 2016). • Emotional response tendencies often result in behavioural, experiential, autonomic, and neuroendocrine changes that allow one to address relevant challenges or opportunities (Gross, 1998b). For example, the feeling of fear one experiences as a result of a car speeding towards them may prompt a response to run out of harm’s way. • Emotions, therefore are both functional and adaptive. 3 Functions of Emotions • Survival • Provides us with information quickly • Aids communication with others (facial expression, body posture, etc.) • Motivates us to take action • Enhances social cohesion • In order to function effectively in the world we need to be able to think AND feel 4 Ekman’s Basic Emotions • • • • • • • Fear Anger Joy Sadness Disgust Surprise Contempt 5 Culture and emotion • The seven basic emotions have been found to be universal. • However the expression of emotion may differ across culture. 6 When Can Emotions Become Problematic? • When they interfere with living life as on normally would • When one lacks the skills (having been taught to ignore or suppress them). • When they are avoided (for fear of their impact of others or on the self). • When they drive undesirable behaviour. • When they are extreme and prolonged. • When previously adaptive emotion schemes are no longer adaptive. • When they are not processed adaptively. 7 Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) • EFT is a neo-humanistic, experiential approach to therapy based on modern emotion theory and affective neuroscience. • It view fundaments emotions, like anger, as foundational to the construction of complex frameworks that orient us to our environment. • Further, the emotional system is seen as the primary motivational system throughout life, essential to our survival and adaptation • It purports that emotional change is central to enduring change. • “EFT is premised on the belief that traditional psychotherapy has overemphasized conscious understanding and cognitive and behavioral change to the neglect of the central and foundational role of emotional change in these processes.” • “I feel, therefore I am” - (Greenberg, 2015) 8 Emotion-Focused Therapy • In EFT, clients are helped to better identify, experience, accept, regulate, explore, make narrative sense of, transform, use, and flexibly manage their emotions. • Consequently, they become able to tolerate previously avoided emotion and more skilful in accessing the important information that emotions contain about their central needs, goals, and concerns. • The most basic process for the client is one of developing awareness of emotion and discriminating which emotional responses are healthy and can be used as a guide and which are maladaptive and need to be changed. 9 - (Greenberg, 2015) Principles of Emotional Intervention • • • • • • Awareness Emotional expression Regulation Reflection Transformation Corrective experience of emotion 10 Emotional Expression 11 Transformtion: Changing emotion with emotion 12 Questions? 13 References Greenberg, L. S. (2017). Emotion-focused therapy (Revised edition.). American Psychological Association. Gross, J. J. (1998b). The emerging field of emotion regulation: an integrative review. Review of General Psychology. 2(3), 271– 299. https://doi.org/10.1037/1089-2680.2.3.27 Longe, J. L. (2016). Emotion. In J. L. Longe (Ed.), The Gale Encyclopedia of Psychology (3rd ed., Vol. 1, pp. 358-360). Farmington Hills, MI: 14