Emotional Family Therapy Paper

Once the therapeutic relationship is established in emotionally focused therapy the therapist can move on to the second task of assessing the relationships specifically focusing on patterns and cycles of behavior in the relationships (Greenberg & Johnson, 1988, p.72). The first part of the assessment process is to discuss what each partner thinks the problem is and what the goals are for therapy (Greenberg & Johnson, 1988, p.72). The therapist wants to understand each person’s role in the relationship and the reactions to different behaviors. These experiences are validated whenever possible through the therapist creating a safe environment (Greenberg & Johnson, 1988, p.72). It is important to validate what the clients are saying without making the other partner feel that they are not

This is where both partners either attack each other or withdrawal from each other. Domain of autonomy consists of dominance and submission. This is where one partner is in control and the other takes a more withdrawn role. This can also bee seen as where both partners are dominate and compete against one another or where both partners are submissive and become more helpless (Greenberg & Johnson, 1988, p.74-75). Another piece to the assessment process for emotional family therapy is tying to understand why the cycles and patterns come to be. Therapist asks about clients past etiology and history to see if there are underlie events that cause the clients to create these patterns (Greenberg & Johnson, 1988, p.77-78). This part of the assessment could help the therapist learn about the client’s spirituality, culture, and gender issues. Questions about a client’s history can reveal different aspects of the client’s life to better help the therapeutic process. Emotional family therapy has an in-depth focus on assessment in order to reach the reason for the problem. The most important part of the assessment is discovering patterns between the clients and how they evolve through