In light of the challenging time we are living in now, anxiety has become a common disorder that many individuals struggle with. Studies show that there are many different forms of anxiety, and Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) has been scientifically proven to help clients dealing with anxiety. In EFT therapy sessions, clients realize that their anxiety or worrying is a coping mechanism they resort to for self-protection due to their underlying fears that the world is dangerous. Below are some of the ways that EFT therapy is effective with alleviating anxiety:
Safe Client-Therapist Relationship
EFT therapy focuses on providing a safe, non-judgmental platform for clients in general, where the EFT therapist focuses on the alliance with the client, which is extremely important in dealing with anxiety. An EFT therapist builds a strong therapeutic alliance by validating and accepting the client’s emotional experience dealing with anxiety.
This helps the client become more regulated and have a better understanding of the anxiety. Moreover, the client is more capable of dealing with self and others more compassionately. The EFT therapist’s empathic attunement is key in making the client feel seen and validated, which is key in dealing with anxiety.
Meaning Making
Clients suffering from anxiety usually tell themselves a story that adds to the pain, and an EFT therapist helps them tell a different story that is more constructive. By discussing the triggers, emotions, fears, and longings in EFT therapy, a client finds new meaning to the experience they are going through and builds on it to move forward in life.
Past negative emotional and attachment experiences are addressed in the therapy whereby the client can come to terms with any unfinished business and let go or accept it. Moreover, in EFT sessions, a client with anxiety who is always worrying starts to experience the world as a safer place instead of the initial view that the world is a scary place where one feels lonely and abandoned.
Tool Kit for Anxiety
An EFT therapist provides a practical and useful toolkit of skills and knowledge to help with anxiety. One of the main experiential processes that clients learn from in EFT therapy sessions is having imaginary talks with key figures in their life that have played or still play a central role in this anxiety.
This teaches clients to self soothe and have more self-compassion as well as develop a stronger sense of self. Another skill that clients acquire in EFT therapy is having more self-awareness of the negative cycle that they get stuck in as a result of their thoughts and past attachment injuries, leading them to self-sabotage and become more anxious.
This understanding of their negative pattern and insecurities helps clients regulate and own their emotions. They also understand their fears and become more able to deal with them as well as be aware that those fears may not necessarily be valid or worth being too worried about.
Anxiety could be overwhelming and could impair you from functioning in the world. Therefore, it is extremely advisable to talk to an experienced and professional EFT therapist today to help you. As the first and only ICEEFT certified EFT therapist in the United Arab Emirates and one of the leading pioneers of EFT in the Middle East region, I help individuals struggling with anxiety.
Online family counseling is impactful so if you feel like speaking to a Family Counselor and doing family therapy at the convenience of your home, please contact me on ds@www.daliasheiha.com or WhatsApp me on 00971502369395.