In Love Sense, Sue Johnson explores how and why relationships fail, by describing two types of “Unraveling Bonds” – those relationship bonds which fail through “slow erosion” and those which fail due to a “sudden snap.” Repetitive, reinforcing cycles of increasingly negative affect slowly erode a relationship bond, whereas a relational trauma, known as an “Attachment injury” suddenly shatters the bond between intimates.
The Attachment Injury Resolution Model is a Stage Two process.
To work effectively with attachment injuries and betrayal in Stage one, an EFT therapist first:
- Identifies the clear attachment Injury:
- Differentiating gradual erosion from a sudden snap and
- Differentiating relational traumas from trauma external to the relationship.
- De-escalates the current cycle in light of the injury, before trying to repair the injury.
Read more about working with attachment injuries and betrayals in stage one in the two most recent issues of the ICEEFT Community News – available to all ICEEFT members!