Facilitating Emotional Change

While emotions are often given a negative connotation - people are described as being "too emotional" or as needing to "control their emotions" - this book demonstrates that emotions are organizing processes that enhance adaptation and problem solving. Within an experiential therapy framework, the volume shows how to work with moment-by-moment emotional processes to resolve various psychological difficulties. The first two sections introduce the process-experiential approach to treatment. Exploring the interrelationships among emotion, cognition and change, the authors develop a powerful, clinically relevant theory of human functioning. The third section, a detailed treatment manual, outlines the general principles and methods of therapy and provides step-by-step directions for six specific types of intervention. Excerpts from actual transcripts exemplify the various methods, illuminating the moment-by-moment process for both the client and the therapist. This book will be of value to practitioners and students of psychotherapy from a range of orientations including cognitive, dynamic and experiential, and to students and teachers of psychotherapy.