Attachment-Focused Therapy and EFIT

Attachment-focused therapy is a broad term for approaches that use attachment theory to understand how people cope with closeness, conflict, and distress. Attachment theory proposes that humans are wired to seek connection and that our early relationships shape the strategies we use to stay safe and connected throughout life. My attachment-focused work is grounded in Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy (EFIT).

EFIT in brief

EFIT is an individual adaptation of Emotionally Focused Therapy, which was developed for couples by Sue Johnson and Leslie Greenberg in the 1980s. It uses attachment theory as a way of understanding adult emotion and emotion regulation, and it aims to help people experience a healthier relationship with themselves and others through repeated, emotionally corrective experiences of attachment security.

What happens in sessions

• We map the patterns that show up when you feel threatened, criticized, or alone.
• We slow down and stay with reactive emotions, such as anger, anxiety, guilt, or numbness, long enough to notice the more vulnerable emotions underneath.
• We identify the attachment needs within those emotions.
• We create new emotional experiences, sometimes through dialogues with an imagined other or between parts of yourself, in the context of a secure therapeutic relationship.
• We notice and strengthen the changes that follow.

The role of the relationship

The relationship between therapist and client is central. Establishing a secure base, where you feel safe enough to explore difficult emotions, comes first, and I pay close attention to pacing so that you are not pushed past what you can take in.

Insight and experience

Insight is valuable, and many clients arrive with a great deal of it. Attachment-focused therapy builds on insight by adding felt experience, because understanding a pattern does not always change how it feels in the moment. You can read more on the approach page.

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Related Reading

Primary and Secondary Emotions →

How Long Attachment-Focused Therapy Takes →

Feeling Stuck Despite Insight →