Emotion Focused Therapy

Emotions are basic formations that directly affect what and how a person perceives, how quickly he processes information, what he thinks about a situation or event, and how he reacts (Crick and Dodge, 1994; Greenberg, 2010a). Emotions have very important functions in survival, communication and problem solving. According to DOT, emotions are fundamental determinants of self/self organization that play a fundamental role in the construction of self/self. At the most basic level, emotions are an adaptive form of information processing and action preparation that orients people to the environment and regulates their well-being. Emotions provide people with information about what may be important, valuable and basic need in the face of a situation (especially harmful), and are materials that provide people with information about how they evaluate themselves and their world. Beyond these, emotions are a signaling system that conveys the intentions behind communication and regulates interpersonal interactions. Therefore, emotions are a basic mechanism that regulates relationships with the self and others and adds meaning to life.

Emotion Schemas

Emotion schemas are the main source of internal reactions that shape the individual’s experiences, consisting of individual experiences such as emotional memories, hopes, expectations, and fears (Greenbeg, 2002; Greenberg and Paivio, 1997). These schemas consist of the integration of emotion, thought, impulse and action and are activated unconsciously. Therefore, each person’s perception of self and the world is shaped under the influence of these complex structures (Greenberg, 2002; Greenberg and Paivio, 1997: Greenberg, 2010b).

Emotion Assessment

Some people experience emotions very intensely, while others lack emotions. Therefore, in order to achieve emotional awareness, the intensity of the felt emotion must first be examined. In the next step, it should be checked whether the emotion is new or not and the main factors that cause that emotion. The emotion experienced by the client may be the expression of a repressed emotion or a repetition of old emotions. Emotion is not a uniform phenomenon, so it should be thoroughly investigated whether the emotion is a sign of distress or a sign of a change process. For this reason, determining and defining the types of emotions is an important stage of the therapy process, ensuring that clients are aware of which emotions they experience and when. Emotion types are explained by classifying them as primary, secondary and instrumental emotions.

Primary Emotions

Primary emotions are direct reactions to “here and now” events that are tried to be revealed in therapy and cannot be reduced to another emotion (Greenberg and Watson, 2006; Johnson and Johnson, 2004). These emotions, which develop as instant reactions to situations, are divided into two: i) functional and ii) non-functional.

i) Primary functional emotions are instinctive emotional reactions to changing situations. These emotions, which are the main source of emotional intelligence, provide information for the survival drive and one’s well-being. It also disappears when the stimulus disappears. Therefore, when there is a violation, there is anger, when there is a loss, sadness, when there is a threat, fear, etc. By taking shape, they carry a functional meaning for the continuation of life.

1. ii) Primary dysfunctional emotions are emotions that occur when there is a problem in the individual’s emotional system, are unhealthy, previously learned, harmful, felt very intensely, and are wanted to get rid of (Greenberg, 2002). These emotions arise very quickly and take over the individual’s control system. They continue even when the stimuli that caused their formation disappear. For this reason, they are considered as a wound that does not heal (Pascual-Leone, Gilles, Singh, & Andreescu, 2013).

Secondary Emotions

These emotions are responses to, or defenses against, a primary feeling or thought (Greenberg, 2002). These emotions occur as a result of intolerance and inhibition of primary emotions and prevent the flow of functional emotions. Secondary emotions are essentially emotions used to hide or mask another primary emotion felt. For example, felt anger is often a mask that masks underlying emotions such as sadness, worthlessness, and disappointment, and often hides underlying feelings of pain and powerlessness (Jarry and Paivio, 2006).

Instrumental Emotions

They are emotions that are displayed to make other people think, feel and behave in a certain way, that is, to make others do what they want (Greenberg, 2002; Jarry and Paivio, 2006). Crying to seek attention and getting angry to intimidate others are examples of these emotions (Jarry and Paivio, 2006). These emotions, experienced consciously or unconsciously, can shape personality over time.

• Considering all these, the emotion-focused therapy approach, which places emotions at the main focus of therapy, is used in a country like Turkey, where individuals who have been raised by ignoring, postponing, and sometimes suppressing their emotions since childhood, and who regulate their behavior by highlighting their secondary and instrumental emotions in their interpersonal relationships, can both understand and solve the problems they encounter. It offers a unique framework to both psychological counselors and individuals. In our country, the lack of emotional awareness has deeply infiltrated parenting practices due to the teaching of postponing emotions since childhood and even infancy. Trying to make a child eat while watching cartoons is one of the simplest examples of this. This type of parental behavior sends many hidden messages to the child. The child who eats as if hypnotized in front of the screen eats without causing any problems, without realizing what sensations and emotions the thing he takes in from his body causes him. As a result, the child has eaten, but he has been deprived of many vital messages such as what his biological need is, how he can regulate this need as an individual, how he can react to it, how he can feel when this need is met, and his duty is to dull his awareness. Likewise, approaching a child who is crying because he fell and made his knee bleed with statements such as “Oh look, a bird is flying”, “Oh, that’s okay, nothing will happen”, “Let me just kiss it and it will go away” is the easiest and most well-known way to stop crying. However, this comes at a high cost. The sub-message sent to the child who is in pain because he is hurt, does not know how to cope with this pain, is afraid and asks for help is: postpone your pain, ignore your feeling by distracting yourself and react automatically. The long-term consequences of these behavioral patterns that we frequently encounter are lack of emotional awareness, inability to read the messages sent by their emotions, and inability to regulate their emotions and develop appropriate behavioral patterns.

An individual who grows up in this way in family and social life is likely to experience many relational problems in adulthood. For example, when a mother who lost her child finds her child, she notices her anxiety, fear, sadness and helplessness (primary emotions), instead of regulating her behavior by expressing these emotions, she yells at her child for being lost, gets angry, gets angry (secondary emotions), or an individual who cannot feel her spouse’s love enough, this love. It is among the phenomena we frequently encounter that people exhibit psychosomatic symptoms (instrumental emotions) in order to meet their needs. Thanks to its perspective on emotions and their functions, DOT assumes the role of being an antidote to such personal and interpersonal difficulties that we often hear in the therapy room in our country.