Transforming Generalized Anxiety: An emotion-focused approach

Transforming Generalized Anxiety: An Emotion Focused Approach examines an approach to treating generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) which attempts to uncover the deeper, underlying emotional experiences that clients are afraid of. It also demonstrates how these painful experiences can be transformed in therapy into a form of emotional resilience by generating experiences of self-compassion and healthy, boundary setting, protective anger. Though most of the literature on treating GAD is dominated by Cognitive Behavior Therapy, this book presents emotion-focused therapy as an alternative treatment of this condition. The emotional resilience this particular approach instils serves as a resource when encountering triggers of emotional vulnerability, but also decreases the client’s need to avoid hitherto feared triggers and the emotional experiences they bring. Developed in a series of research studies, and illustrated with reference to case examples, this book offers a practical, theoretically informed, evidence based guide, to conducting therapy with clients. Using clinical material, and applying the outcome of a series of research studies, Transforming Generalized Anxiety will equip psychotherapists and counsellors with the means to help GAD clients transform core painful experiences into a sense of empowerment and inner confidence.

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents Acknowledgments – page 4 Chapter 1 Introduction – page 6 Part 1 – Theoretical Underpinnings Chapter 2 Generalised Anxiety Disorder – page 17 Chapter 3 Emotion-Focused Therapy – page 48 Chapter 4 Emotion-Focused Conceptualisation of GAD – Transformation Model – page 72 Part 2 – Building Blocks of Delivering EFT for GAD Chapter 5 Therapeutic Relationship Promoting Emotional Transformation – page 104 Chapter 6 Conceptualising GAD through the Feared Core Pain – page 119 Chapter 7 Overcoming Avoidance – Working with Worry – page 141 Part 3 – Transformative Work Chapter 8 Accessing and Transforming Core Emotional Pain – page 178 Part 4 – Practicalities of Delivering EFT for GAD Chapter 9 Adapting Therapeutic Strategy – page 251 Chapter 10 Incorporating EFT in Therapist’s Repertoire – page 277 References – page 286

About the Author :
Ladislav Timulak is Course Director of the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology at Trinity College Dublin. He has authored a number of publications, and is currently involved in the training of psychologists and psychotherapists. James McElvaney is Adjunct Teaching Fellow at Trinity College Dublin as well as a counselling psychologist at the Central Remedial Clinic Dublin.

Review :
‘Take this journey into the dense jungle of clients’ experience of GAD. This wonderful book on how to work therapeutically with the painful emotions of these clients provides a virtual feast of theory, practice, bottom up research and case examples. If you want to deepen your practice with GAD clients you must not miss reading this book. Good for beginners and experienced clinicians alike.’ Leslie S. Greenberg, PhD, Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Psychology, York University, Toronto, Canada ‘Building on Timulak’s previous book, Transforming Emotional Pain in Psychotherapy, this book illuminates the extension of Emotion-Focused Therapy to Generalized Anxiety with a high level of clarity and precision, while also staying true to humanistic therapy values and the clinical complexities of a challenging client population. Timulak and McElvaney manage to encompass the different main threads that have emerged in EFT over the past 25 years, while also providing an up-to-date presentation of the latest developments. It is a very impressive achievement.’ Robert Elliott, Ph.D., Professor of Counselling, University of Strathclyde, Scotland ‘This volume is the innovative development of emotion-focused therapy and may ignite a paradigm shift in the understanding and treatment of GAD that has long been dominated by cognitive-behavioral therapy. What is unique about this book and Timulak and McElvaney’s approach is that every aspect of their treatment model is supported by research findings, which validate its effectiveness and delineate a conceptual framework for tracking client progress to determine when and how to intervene in order to best facilitate emotional transformation…’ Shigeru Iwakabe, PhD, Associate Professor, Human Science Division, Ochanomizu University, Tokyo, Japan