Sue Johnson
| Sue Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Born | Chatham, Kent, England |
| Academic background | |
| Alma mater | University of British Columbia |
| Academic work | |
| Main interests | Bonding, Attachment, Adult Romantic Relationships |
| Notable ideas | Emotionally Focused Therapy |
Dr. Susan "Sue" Johnson graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1984 with a Doctorate in Counseling Psychology. She reports in various sources that her interested in relationship science and couples therapy grew naturally out of being raised "in an English Pub." Dr. Johnson describes a fascination with the dance of adult love she watched unfold around her in that pub (and elsewhere).
Sue Johnson is known for her innovative work in the field of psychology on bonding, attachment and adult romantic relationships. Dr. Johnson's work emerged on the family therapy and psychology field at a time when most couple's therapy approaches focused on one or more of the following: cognitive and behavioral interventions, improving communication skills, teaching negotiation skills, or applying psychoanalytic theory to the relationship. Dr. Johnson's focus on emotions and emotional process was often met with disdain or dismissed as it ran contrary to dominant views of emotion as being problematic or unnecessary to address in couples therapy.
She is the developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT) and the founder of the International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy (ICEEFT), a not for profit research and therapist training institute, where she also serves as Director. Johnson also heads the Ottawa Couple and Family Institute and is Professor Emeritus in Clinical Psychology at the University of Ottawa and Distinguished Research Professor at Alliant University in San Diego, California.
Dr. Johnson reports in the book, Hold Me Tight (2008), that she coded sessions with couples and sought feedback from them about what sessions were most useful and why. This work led to the observation that distress couples get caught in a negative interactional cycle fueled by unexpressed underlying emotions. Couples benefited from learning about this "negative cycle," but required deeper emotional work with each other to experience "bonding events." Out of this work, combined with her focus on emotions, led to the development of a 3 Stage Process of Change.
Stage One: De-Escalation of the Couple's Negative Cycle
Stage Two: Re-Structuring the Couple's Emotional Bond
Stage Three: Consolidation
To date, there are at least 27 outcome studies indicating that E.F.T. works. It has been recognized by the American Psychological Association as an empirically-validated approach for couples therapy [1].
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