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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy pp 1–7Cite as

Emotion-Focused Family Therapy

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Synonyms

EFFT

Introduction

Emotion-focused family therapy (EFFT) is an approach to family therapy whereby parents are viewed as essential to their children’s mental health treatment. The primary aim of EFFT is to recruit and empower parents to engage in a primary supportive role in helping their child to cope with and/or recover from their behavioral and emotional challenges. Although empirical research is limited given its relatively brief existence, preliminary outcome and process research show promise among a variety of clinical populations and research is ongoing.

Prominent Associated Figures

Adele Lafrance

Joanne Dolhanty

Theoretical Framework

Part of the emotion-focused therapy family, EFFT was initially developed as an adjunct to family-based treatment for eating disorders in order to help parents to support their children in dealing with both behavioral symptoms and the emotional processes fueling them. From the EFFT perspective, emotion processing can play a key role in the...

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Allen Sabey

  2. Laurentian University, Sudbury, ON, Canada

    Adele Lafrance

Authors
  1. Allen Sabey
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  2. Adele Lafrance
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Allen Sabey .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Jay Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Anthony Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Kelley Quirk Ph.D.

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Adam Fisher Ph.D.

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Cite this entry

Sabey, A., Lafrance, A. (2018). Emotion-Focused Family Therapy. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_1075-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_1075-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Behavioral Science and PsychologyReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences

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