From the Outside In: Incorporating the use of EFT into traditional psychotherapeutic approaches and its impact on therapeutic alliance

Abstract

This thesis examines the effect of the use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) on the therapeutic alliance. Sixteen therapists who had both traditional psychotherapy training and had been trained to use EFT were interviewed in an exploration of their beliefs about whether the use of EFT enhanced, threatened or had any effect on the therapeutic alliance in their work with clients. There was no existing research in this field and due to the essential nature of the therapeutic alliance in any therapeutic modality (Bordin, 1994; Horvath, 2001; 2018) the necessity for it seemed clear, when thinking about how EFT might be incorporated into traditional psychotherapeutic work. The research arose out of an episode in the researcher’s clinical work when the therapeutic alliance appeared to have been ruptured by the introduction of EFT. The methodology used for this qualitative research was Framework Analysis. This allowed the researcher to analyse the results, developing themes that emerged across all participants and simultaneously dissecting some aspects of the interviews in greater depth. The results indicate that the use of EFT appears to enhance the therapeutic alliance. However, there were also indications that the therapists participating in this study found it difficult to define the term ‘therapeutic alliance’ and struggled to put their conceptualisation of the phenomenon into words.