Abstract
There is an increased interest in emotions across the psychotherapy field, but a lack of theoretical work on how emotions are understood in different affect-oriented psychotherapies. In this article, we investigate the role of grief and grieving in three contemporary affect-oriented psychotherapies, that emphasize emotional processing as a pathway to change. Within Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT), grieving is related to the development of acceptance and agency. Intensive Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy (ISTDP) postulates that grieving without defenses enables recognition and acceptance of painful losses. In Compassion-Focused Therapy (CFT), tolerating the pain of loss is viewed as a pathway to self-compassion. We argue that comparing theoretical and clinical perspectives on grief and grieving may help us to understand commonalities in how contemporary psychotherapies understand and work towards change. We suggest that grief and grieving represent a central process of change in contemporary psychotherapies and explore the theoretical and clinical implications of this assumption in therapies with patients who have lost someone or something important.
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Sayar, H., Hjeltnes, A. How Does Grief Lead to Change? Understanding the Process of Change in Three Contemporary Psychotherapies. J Contemp Psychother 51, 135–143 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-020-09482-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10879-020-09482-4