THE EFFECTS OF TRAINING
IN EFT COUPLE THERAPY
Session 202--EFT Track
The Process of Learning EFT
Hanna Levenson, PhD
Mira Svatovic, MA &
Michelle Montagno, MA
 There are no conclusive data on what
makes psychotherapy training effective
despite three decades of research on the
topic.
Even less is known about training in EFT.
What are the Short-Term and Long-Term
Effects of Taking the EFT Externship
FOCUS FOR THE STUDIES

We looked at professional and personal
correlates of EFT training.
FOCUS (con’t)

Professional


EFT information learned
EFT skills learned
FOCUS (con’t)

Personal--because EFT is an
attachment-based, emotionallyfocused, and nonjudgmental model,
we looked at therapist’s:



Attachment style
Emotional processing
Self-compassion
EFT EXTERNSHIP

Goals of training--learning to




Understand partner distress from an
attachment perspective
Help partners reprocess emotional
responses
Shape new interactions/bonding events
Overcome therapeutic impasses
PROCEDURES FOR STUDY 1
Externships in
 Salt Lake City
 San Francisco
 Houston
 Los Angeles
 Ottawa
PROCEDURES (con’t)

110 attendees took measures morning
of Day 1 (Pre-training) & afternoon of
Day 4 (Post-training)

76 attendees with complete data
PROCEDURES (cont)
FOLLOW-UP -- STUDY 2
 Participants mailed measures 8
months (on average) after Externship.
 49% sent back measures
 N = 29 attendees with complete data
MEASURES

DEMOGRAPHIC QUESTIONNAIRE
 Age
 Gender
 Relationship Status
 Theoretical Orientation
 How long practicing
 Degree
MEASURES (con’t)

EFT KNOWLEDGE AND COMPETENCY
SCALE (EFT-KACS)

Rate yourself (1-7) on how
knowledgeable and competent you are
on 12 items describing EFT skills
“Creating safety in session and maintaining
positive alliance.”
“Using enactments therapeutically.”
MEASURES (con’t)

EXPERIENCES IN CLOSE RELATIONSHIPS
(Fraley et al., 2000)

Measures romantic attachment anxiety
and avoidance
“I am afraid I will lose my partner’s love.”
“I don’t feel comfortable opening up.”
MEASURES (con’t)

SELF-COMPASSION SCALE
(Neff, 2003)

Measures self-kindness, common
humanity, mindfulness
“I’m tolerant of my own flaws and
inadequacies.”
“When times are tough, I tend to be tough on
myself.”
MEASURES (con’t)

EMOTIONAL PROCESSING INVENTORY
(Reid & Harper, 2008)

Measures ability to identify,
communicate, & regulate feelings.
“I choose to keep my feelings private.”
“I feel flooded and overwhelmed by my
emotions.”
MEASURES (con’t)

OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS

Qualitative and quantitative data on
personal relationships with self and
others.
“EFT training has changed the way I approach
romantic relationships.”
AVERAGE PARTICIPANT






47 years old
Caucasian woman
Partnered
In practice almost 13 years
MFT
Integrative orientation
AVERAGE PARTICIPANT
 Over 90% had read at least 1 EFT book
 Two-thirds had seen at least 1 EFT
video
 More securely attached than a national
sample
PRELIMINARY ANALYSES

Factor analysis of EFT-KACS-Three factors:
Alliance (2 Items)
 Knowledge (10 items)
 Competency (10 items)

PRELIMINARY ANALYSES
No effects for training:
training site
age
gender
education
.
FINDINGS
Study 1
Mira Svatovic
Changes with Training
7
6
5
Pre-test
4
3
Post
test
2
1
0
Knowledge
Competence
Alliance
“This has certainly given me a map- when
I work with couples I’ll have a sense of
where we are going and how.”
-EFT Externship Participant
“Emotion is an area I naturally tune into
but the training helped me to
understand how to better heighten and
use emotion as a process in therapy.”
-EFT Externship Participant
“I will work hard to slow things down, try
even harder than I do now to stay out of
the content and focus on process.”
-EFT Externship Participant
Self-Compassion

Participants entered the training with
mid-range levels of self-compassion
with participant’s average score being
3.4 on a 5 point scale.
Knowledge/Competence and
Self-Compassion

There were no direct changes in SelfCompassion scores related to training.
Emotional Processing

Participants entered the training with
moderately high levels on emotional
processing with participant’s average
score being 3.9 on a 5 point scale at
pretest.
Competence and Emotional
Processing

As participants’ competence increased
they became more open to processing
their emotions.
Emotional Processing and
Self Compassion

And as their openness to feelings
increased, they became more self
compassionate.
“I understand much better why I am so
deeply affected by things that happen in
my relationship. I feel less inclined to be
harsh with myself.”
-EFT Externship Participant
Long-Term Effects of Training
Michelle Montagno
THE FOLLOW-UP- STUDY 2


Average of 8 months post externship
N = 29
FOLLOW-UP SAMPLE
Extra training activities
Extra
Training
76%
FOLLOW-UP RESULTS
7
6
5
Pre-Test
Post-Test
Follow-Up
4
3
2
1
Knowledge
Competence
Alliance
ATTACHMENT
ATTACHMENT FINDINGS
 The more avoidant someone was at the
beginning of the externship, the less
they were personally affected by the
training at follow-up (r = -.43, p < .03).
 No significant findings regarding
anxious attachment.
EFFECT ON CLINICIANS’
PERSONAL LIVES
Participants rated the greatest impact
of training was on:
 their romantic relationships
 understanding of their life experiences
 relationships with others
EFFECT ON ROMANTIC
RELATIONSHIPS
“I have a model now from which I not
only see other romantic relationships,
but also my own.”
UNDERSTANDING
LIFE EXPERIENCES
“EFT has improved my understanding of
my past relationships and relationship
history.”
RELATIONSHIPS WITH
OTHERS
“EFT has helped me link my own internal
dynamics to an understanding of my early
attachment experiences. These
understandings have helped me in my
marriage and other relationships.”
CLINICIANS MOST
PERSONALLY EFFECTED
 Older participants
 Those who learned the most in the
externship
CONCLUSIONS
 Our study suggests that the EFT
externship creates positive and
enduring changes in therapists’
professional and personal lives.
 Future work is needed to demonstrate
the clinical relevancy of these findings.
Thank You!