Mindfulness Based Emotion Focused Counselling

This book examines the use of Buddhist ideas, particularly mindfulness, to manage a broad spectrum of emotions and to address social and economic issues impacting the world, such as climate change. Beginning with a brief history of emotion studies, it highlights how recent developments in neuroscience and cognitive science have paved the way for exploring the utility of Buddhist concepts in addressing various psychological and social problems in the world. It profiles a wide range of emotions from Western and Buddhist perspectives including anger, sadness, depression, pride, and compassion, and analyses the integration of Buddhist ideas into modern clinical practice. Finally, the author demonstrates the utility of mindfulness in the regulation of emotions in various settings, including psychiatric clinics, schools, and businesses. Anchored in the Buddhist tradition this book this book provides a unique resource for students and scholars of counselling, psychotherapy, clinical psychology and philosophy.

This is the definitive introduction to the theory and practice of emotion-focused counselling. Starting with an introduction to the main theory and concepts, it then guides you through the counselling phases from beginning to end. The final chapter extends your learning by examining different client populations, process research, and ways of monitoring your practice. Chapters include features such as case studies and transcripts, further reading sections and reflective exercises that help you to enhance your understanding of the approach.

This book, now in its fifth edition, provides a comprehensive introduction to Buddhist psychology and counselling, exploring key concepts in psychology and practical applications in mindfulness-based counselling techniques using Buddhist philosophy of mind, psychology, ethics and contemplative methods.

What do we do as practitioners? How do we respond? When do we intervene? These are just a few of the questions that practitioners of Emotion-Focused work struggle with. The Emotion-Focused approach is one of the most popular in humanistic psychology, and the subject has been well documented and researched. However, as practitioners we need practical information to guide us through using the protocols. We want know how to respond appropriately within the approach in a way that is sensitive and respectful of every client. This book does just that. Based on the author's forty years of clinical experience, this is an outline of the process of counselling and a step-by-step guide to working verbally and creatively within the Emotion-Focused approach.

Experiencing emotions is a part of the richness of life. But sometimes emotions can get in the way of our health and happiness. Suppressing strong feelings like fear, anger, and resentment isn’t the answer—in fact, doing so can lead to a host of physical problems, from a weakened immune system to heart disease. On the other hand, overreacting in the heat of the moment can be detrimental to relationships. So, how can you ride even the strongest waves of emotion without causing harm to yourself or others? This workbook offers a breakthrough, eight-week program using emotion theory and mindfulness-based techniques to help you manage the overwhelming thoughts and feelings that cause you pain. You’ll learn to approach your emotions without judgment, understand their source, and foster forgiveness and kindness toward both yourself and others. Instead of trying to bury feelings or lashing out and hurting relationships, you'll learn how to cultivate emotional balance using this powerful program.

How to use this book with APA psychotherapy videos -- Introduction -- History -- Theory -- The therapy process -- Evaluation -- Future developments.

This book presents deliberate practice exercises in which students and trainees rehearse fundamental emotion-focused therapy skills until they become natural and automatic.

Emotional pain is part of most people’s reality. For some of us though, that pain can begin to impact on our ability to function in our everyday life. Despite years of valiant attempts to resolve or deny such pain, we may continue to suffer. Before her untimely death early in 2021, Dr Melissa Harte had experienced her own journey through emotional pain that led her eventually to become a counseling psychologist and an internationally accredited Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) trainer. She spent years teaching hundreds of therapists how to use EFT as well as running her own thriving private practice. The legacy of her considerable skill and knowledge remains in this book which sets out a framework and model that works gently, effectively and deeply to assist in reversing the psychological, emotional, spiritual and physical damage of unresolved emotional pain. Applicable to a range of practitioners including counsellors and psychologists, this book will help you to help your clients whose emotional pain may be attachment-related, be a single episode, a series of major trauma experiences, or the culmination of many so-called ‘small t trauma’ events. This is a ‘how-to’ book, presenting techniques and concepts to assist practitioners, including investigating the use of the impacts of trauma case studies — an area until very recently often overlooked or minimised when formalising case histories. Chapters also address: • The dilemma with the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). • The value of understanding the importance of emotions and how, as adaptive experiences, they provide essential information that can assist us in our daily lives. • The concept of emotional pain and how to work through it with an extended version of the focusing task, including the influences that helped to shape the task and its significant components. • The challenges around identifying dissociation and how to manage it. • The use of chair work as another element of working through emotional pain. At Melissa’s request, all royalties from sales of her book will go to the Australian Institute for Emotion Focused Therapy.