The Couples Therapist Couch 209: Trauma in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) with Kathryn Rheem
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May 7, 2024 Kathryn Rheem, an expert in Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and director of the Washington Baltimore Center for EFT, shares insights on the intersection of trauma and relationships. She discusses overcoming Impostor Syndrome and the impact of trauma on the nervous system. Kathryn emphasizes the importance of empathy in connecting with defensive partners and healing emotional wounds. She also explores how EFT facilitates love reception and emotional processing, encouraging mutual support for lasting healing.
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Emotion as Love’s Messenger
- Emotion is the messenger of love that our bodies need to feel in order to benefit from love.
- Therapy helps restore bodily felt emotional connection where life’s hardship has disrupted it.
Teach Experiential Emotional Sharing
- Use experiential therapy to slow down emotional worlds and help partners access and share primary vulnerable emotions.
- Create bonding moments by helping partners express vulnerability safely and slowly in sessions.
Numbing Undermines Love Signals
- Trauma often results in emotional numbing as a coping strategy to avoid pain.
- This avoidance disrupts emotional communication and weakens love relationships due to withheld emotional signaling.
