Experiences of chairwork and working with parts in emotion-focused therapy for clients with autistic/neurodivergent process

Clients with autistic/neurodivergent process can experience difficulties in emotion processing and often report unsuccessful experiences of psychotherapy. In this brief paper, the findings drawn from individual and group emotion-focused therapy (EFT) for people with autistic/neurodivergent process are presented. We demonstrate how clients with autistic/neurodivergent process work with parts of self and chairwork within session and across treatment. Specifically, how these tasks are instrumental to the change process across treatment: activation, deepening and transformation of emotions, accessing of core pain and associated unmet needs. The preliminary outcome data the Client Emotional Processing Scale for Autism Spectrum (CEPS-AS; Robinson & Elliott, 2016) are reported. Finally, we present a single case study of one client’s change process across EFT, which lends support for emotion-focused therapy as an effective intervention for people with autistic/neurodivergent process. The small number of participants in the study mean that the findings have limited generalizability. However, preliminary findings are promising but replication and further research are required.