From a Gestalt and Emotionally Focused Therapy perspective, relational distress can be seen not as a trap in which we’re bound to our past hurts, but as a powerful opportunity to reclaim and integrate parts of ourselves that have felt fragmented or disowned. In this view, the tension that arises in relationships is an invitation to become fully aware of our own experience in the present moment and to explore the vulnerable emotions beneath the surface.Rather than focusing on “what’s wrong” or “u

Emotionally focused couples therapy | Joyce Winnie Gould

Many couples come to therapy telling me their issue is communication. What we know and learn in emotionally focused therapy (EFT) is that the issue related to attachment and unresolved childhood trauma as well as developmental longings. In gestalt therapy we view this pattern as one where we try to complete the cycle of experience that was interrupted in childhood to have a better outcome with our current partners. However, stuck patterns and ways of relating inhibit this process and we can miss