…s and motivate many of our actions. Empirical studies by Terror Management Theory (TMT) researchers have demonstrated that people alter their behavioral responses and increase their reliance on specific defense mechanisms when their death salience is experimentally aroused. In one experiment, after subjects were subliminally presented with the word “death,” they more strongly endorsed the worldview of their own ethnic group or nation while, at the…
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…tone’s theoretical understanding of emotional hunger as well as attachment theory to explore the causes and consequences of emotional hunger. It will illuminate how a person can feel for their experience, overcome the impact of emotional hunger, and learn to love themselves. Emotional hunger can look like love and is often mistaken for love, but it has the opposite effect on the person it is directed toward. Love nurtures, while emotional hunger d…
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…transactions of both giving and receiving. In The Enemy Within: Separation Theory and Voice Therapy, I emphasize that this inward state needs to be distinguished from time spent alone in self-reflection, introspection, creative work, meditation, or other spiritual and intellectual pursuits. Essentially, it involves a process of regarding oneself more as an object than as a person. Each individual develops idiosyncratic ways of dulling and deadenin…
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…ar of intimacy” and the “fantasy bond” as well as findings from attachment theory and Emotion-Focused Therapy to describe common patterns that create distance and proven strategies to achieve more closeness. Individuals, couples, and therapists working with clients will benefit by learning about how negative dynamics operate, how they can be avoided, and how they can be replaced with more vulnerable, open, loving actions and communication that all…
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…gined connection it exposed or endangered. In The Enemy Within: Separation Theory and Voice Therapy, I describe how psychotherapists find themselves in a kind of adversarial situation with a client to the extent that the client is expressing resistance. They want to help their client perceive his/her childhood and family situation realistically and move away from self-critical and self-destructive thinking, yet the client may be resistant to both…
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…two-part Webinar, Dr. Lisa Firestone will integrate the latest attachment theory and neurobiological research to help clinicians understand attachment and how it impacts psychotherapy. In two 90-minute sessions (three hours total), this online workshop will focus on how to help patients create coherent narratives, so that they can move from less secure forms of attachment to earned secure attachment and have a deeper sense of inner security. Rese…
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…er and Emotion-Focused Therapy for Depression and Emotion Focused Therapy. Theory and Practice. Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) is based on the notion that emotions act as our internal compass, guiding our actions, informing our desires, and helping us to grow and develop healthy attachments. The focus of therapy is on the awareness, regulation and transformation of emotions in order to facilitate behavioral change. EFT helps people gain awareness o…
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…olleagues, Jeff Greenberg and Tom Pyszczynski, developed terror management theory, one of the questions they asked was: What is the significance of self-esteem? Their research uncovered important answers to their question and incidentally underscored the reason why, as William James noted, “Self-esteem is a fundamental human need, essential for survival.” Their findings showed that a powerful and potentially productive shield against existential a…
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…e emotional environment and the kind of care available to them. Attachment theory is the study of this primitive instinct and researchers have organized the various strategies into four categories of attachment patterns: secure attachment and two types of insecure attachment, avoidant attachment and anxious attachment. The fourth attachment category, known as disorganized attachment, occurs when no organized strategy is formed. Attachment research…
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…or Tomorrow. James Gilligan has become best known for developing a general theory of the causes and prevention of violence. He has become one of the leading exponents of shifting our emphasis from punishing violence after it occurs to preventing it before it happens. Learn more about Dr. Gilligan and his research here. Read More from Dr. Carol Gilligan Carol Gilligan, psychologist, professor and novelist has been named one of the 25 most influenti…
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