Processing emotional pain using the expanded Emotion Focused Therapy task of Focusing: A single-session case study

ABSTRACT In Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT), the Focusing task normally involves processing an unclear felt sense. In earlier research, Harte (2012) proposed an expanded version of the Focusing task designed to reprocess emotional pain relating to unresolved painful/traumatic events. More recently, Harte used the discovery phase of task analysis to refine the proposed model and develop a method for bringing previously suppressed or incomplete memories of painful/traumatic events back into awareness so they can be successfully processed and integrated. In that study, 12 single therapy sessions were video recorded, transcribed, observed and analyzed by two investigators using the task analysis method. A successful outcome session was identified as a good demonstration of the task that led to a resolution, and had high scores on the Experiencing Scale, the Emotional Arousal Scale-III, and an amended Client Emotional Productivity Scale-Dimensional. In successful outcome sessions, clients described a felt shift. A sequential three-stage empirical model emerged from the analysis. This paper presents an in-depth qualitative account of the successful use of the expanded focusing model in a single session with a 53-year-old woman with a history of ‘small t’ trauma.