Emotion-focused therapy targets the fairer sex
— and hits a raw nerve

By Wendy Banks

Not necessarily, according to Leslie Greenberg, PhD a psychologist at York University and pioneer of emotion-focused therapy (EFT) — a treatment targeted at women. "The cognitive-behavioural model, in being more rational, tends to be a more masculine mode of therapy," he says. "It aims, through logic and evidence, to change the way we think about our emotions." This fails to meet "the special needs of women, who are inclined to be more attuned to feelings."

EMOTIONAL CONNECTION
"There's a lot of evidence that emotions occur very rapidly, much quicker than thoughts," he explains. "Cognitive therapy claims that thoughts lead to emotions, and if you change your thoughts then you change your emotions. In very crude terms, we're arguing that emotions actually lead to thoughts."

Emotion-focused therapists teach patients who are overwhelmed by their feelings how to soothe themselves. If these feelings are maladaptive, they work on helping patients transform them. Although practitioners of CBT have greeted EFT with some skepticism, Dr Greenberg insists that it's backed up by solid evidence. His group recently completed a study published in the Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology showing that EFT is as effective as CBT for depression. But is there really a need for this gender specific approach?

There are some differences in how men and women respond to drug therapy, according to research. "Men do better with antidepressants while women don't find them as effective and tend to show more of a placebo response," explains Dr Barry Gilbert, psychiatrist and psychotherapy supervisor at the University of Toronto. But he's quick to point out that when it comes to talk therapy, "There's just no evidence to suggest that CBT is less effective for depression in women. The literature just doesn't say that."

FUZZY LOGIC
So, on what model of female psychology does Dr Greenberg base his statement about the relative merits of CBT and EFT? General observation, he says. "Although we don't have explicit research data on women, they're often intuitively more attuned to their emotions, so there's a kind of natural compatibility with what we're saying. Whereas CBT appeals to men like business executives who try to think rationally and work that way in their world."

If you're having trouble following the already winding argument for EFT so far, hang on to your seats 'cause there's more. When asked if EFT can benefit men at all, Dr Greenberg says, "Based on my observation, it's equally effective for both men and women." In couples therapy, "we see that women are often more easily emotionally accessible, but men are often very afraid of their emotions — so to help the men in the couples access their emotions is very helpful." He laughs. "In fact, it can sometimes be more helpful for men."