TY - JOUR
T1 - Emotion-focused therapy for clients with autistic process
AU - Robinson, Anna
AU - Elliott, Robert
N1 - This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies on 02/06/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/14779757.2017.1330701.
PY - 2017/6/3
Y1 - 2017/6/3
N2 - The person-centered approach has paid little attention to persons with autistic process, in spite of their often experiencing high levels of psychological distress. We present the main arguments for a group therapy adaptation of Emotion-Focused Therapy for people on the autistic spectrum (EFT-AS). The principles of this approach are described here. A novel form of Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) as a process guiding method is presented. The primary change processes include improving access to and symbolizing one’s own and others’ painful emotional experiences. EFT-AS uses video playback of social-emotional interpersonal reciprocity difficulty task markers to help clients activate, deepen and transform emotions via accessing core pain and associated unmet needs, which in turn point to adaptive emotions such as compassion for self and others. The beginning, middle and ending phases of treatment, showing shifts in client emotion processing, are presented with illustrative session transcripts. EFT-AS appears to be an innovative and promising approach to working with this client population but replication and further research are required.
AB - The person-centered approach has paid little attention to persons with autistic process, in spite of their often experiencing high levels of psychological distress. We present the main arguments for a group therapy adaptation of Emotion-Focused Therapy for people on the autistic spectrum (EFT-AS). The principles of this approach are described here. A novel form of Interpersonal Process Recall (IPR) as a process guiding method is presented. The primary change processes include improving access to and symbolizing one’s own and others’ painful emotional experiences. EFT-AS uses video playback of social-emotional interpersonal reciprocity difficulty task markers to help clients activate, deepen and transform emotions via accessing core pain and associated unmet needs, which in turn point to adaptive emotions such as compassion for self and others. The beginning, middle and ending phases of treatment, showing shifts in client emotion processing, are presented with illustrative session transcripts. EFT-AS appears to be an innovative and promising approach to working with this client population but replication and further research are required.
KW - emotion-focused therapy
KW - autism spectrum
KW - autistic process
KW - emotional processing
KW - interpersonal process recall
UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpcp20/current
U2 - 10.1080/14779757.2017.1330700
DO - 10.1080/14779757.2017.1330700
M3 - Article
VL - 16
SP - 215
EP - 235
JO - Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies
JF - Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies
SN - 1477-9757
IS - 3
ER -