Therapy Approach:
My approach to psychotherapy is best classified as Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (STDP).
Several approaches to psychotherapy are rooted in STDP, such as Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP), Accelerated Experiential-Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP), and Affect Phobia Therapy (APT). All of these approaches focus on the healthy experience of emotions in order to reduce possible conflicts within ourselves. A conflict, for example, would exist in a situation where the healthy expression of a feeling is thwarted or 'blocked' by emotional reflexes that emphasize the suppression or minimization of an emotion. In short, my approach involves integrating aspects of the above therapy models in order to help individuals experience and express a healthy balance of their emotional selves.
Why use an emotion-focused approach?
Emotion-focused therapy promotes healthy emotional regulation, which is necessary for mental and physical health. Emotional regulation refers to the processes that we use to control whether, when, and how we experience emotion. When emotion is not regulated in a healthy way, we may express our feelings inappropriately or even cause harm to ourselves or others. Our emotional reflexes often operate outside of our immediate awareness and tend to be influenced by our prior experiences in the world and with other people. In therapy, it may therefore be important to uncover where these emotional reflexes may have originated from, and whether they are of any benefit to the person in their present lives.
Many conditions are linked with poor emotional regulation, including the following: eating disorders; alcohol abuse; anxiety disorders, such as Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD), and Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD); and mood disorders, such as depression (for a review see Gross & Munoz, 1995).
Keeping emotions inside and not feeling them is associated with depressive symptoms, lower life satisfaction, lower self-esteem, and lower overall well- being (Gross & John, 2003). Research has consistently shown that avoiding and inhibiting emotions has negative consequences for physical health (Gross, 1989; Smith, 1992). Inhibition of emotions generates anxiety and increases the likelihood of psychological and physical health problems (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986). In one study, individuals with memories of unshared, secret emotional events tend to have more health problems and lower life satisfaction than those who do not have unshared emotional memories (Finkenauer & Rime, 1998). Related research suggests that simply reporting or sharing the emotional event is not what is important for emotional recovery. Instead, it is the content of the emotional event that is shared. Sharing content that involves emotional aspects of the memory, rather than factual aspects, reduces stress and promotes healthy emotional regulation (Pennebaker & Beall, 1986). This research is important when considered within the context of psychotherapy. An emotion-focused therapist should be more effective if he or she is helping the client process emotions related to events, as opposed to just helping them discuss factual aspects of events.
An increasing amount of research and clinical experience suggests that the experience of previously conflicted and blocked emotions during therapy relieves suffering. Clinical trials have demonstrated the efficacy of STDP (Winston et al., 1991). The efficacy of psychotherapy that focuses on emotion has been demonstrated in several process studies (reviewed in McCullough, 1998, 2000).