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Emotions

125 techniques · 22 approaches
ACT
Sky and Weather
Sky and Weather
A self-as-context metaphor. The sky holds all weather: sun, clouds, rain and storms. The sky is not damaged by the weather. Likewise, awaren…
AEDP
Affect Deepening
Affect Deepening
Slowing down and deepening the emotional experience by focusing attention on bodily sensations and inviting the client to "give the feeling …
AEDP
Completing the Affective Wave
Completing the Affective Wave
Accompanying the client through a full emotional cycle: rising → peak → subsiding → opening, without interrupting and without trying to "res…
AEDP
Healing Affects Recognition
Healing Affects Recognition
The deliberate noticing and highlighting of positive emotions that arise after the full experiencing of core affect: gratitude, tenderness, …
AEDP
Metatherapeutic Processing
Metatherapeutic Processing
Work in the 4th state: the client reflects on the therapeutic experience itself — what it meant to live through this together, how the relat…
AEDP
Portrayals / Experiential Processing
Portrayals / Experiential Processing
Inviting the client to imagine a significant other (a parent, a partner) and address them directly, expressing blocked feelings — in the pre…
AEDP
Soft Bypass of Defenses
Soft Bypass of Defenses
Instead of confronting defenses (as in ISTDP) — creating such safety and contact that defenses become unnecessary and dissolve on their own.
AEDP
Somatic-Affective Tracking
Somatic-Affective Tracking
Continuous attention to the bodily markers of emotional change: tightening, expansion, warmth, cold, trembling — as a navigator of the thera…
AEDP
Therapist Self-Disclosure
Therapist Self-Disclosure
The therapist's open expression of their feelings and reactions in response to the client: "When you say this, I feel…" — as an instrument f…
AEDP
Tracking Transformational Markers
Tracking Transformational Markers
Systematic observation of the signs of transformation in session: bodily shifts, new meanings, change in the relationship to self and others…
AEDP
Undoing Aloneness
Undoing Aloneness
Creating emotional safety through the therapist's open presence: "You are not alone with this." The therapist explicitly expresses care, att…
Adlerian
Push Button Technique
Push Button Technique
The client recalls a pleasant memory, notices their feelings, then switches to an unpleasant one — and notices the feelings again. The techn…
Bioenergetics
Bioenergetic Breathing
Bioenergetic Breathing
Deepened breathing through the mouth with emphasis on the full exhale. Reduction of control and the allowance of suppressed emotions through…
Bioenergetics
Bioenergetic Stool Breathing
Bioenergetic Stool Breathing
Lying on the back over a special stool (or a folded blanket). Opening the chest and diaphragm, deepening the breath through passive stretch.
Bioenergetics
Eye Segment Work
Eye Segment Work
Exercises for unblocking the ocular segment: wide opening of the eyes, tracking an object, focus/defocus. Restoring a living gaze.
Bioenergetics
Jaw Release Work
Jaw Release Work
Techniques for unblocking the oral segment: massage of the masticatory muscles, opening the mouth, sounds, biting a towel. Release of suppre…
Bioenergetics
Kicking Exercise
Kicking Exercise
On the back, alternating kicks into the mattress with the legs. Release of the pelvic segment, work with suppressed protest and vitality.
Bioenergetics
Lowen's Bow (Arch)
Lowen's Bow (Arch)
A backward arch with fists at the lower back. Opening of the front surface of the body, activation of breath, stimulation of the energetic f…
Bioenergetics
Lying Down Integration
Lying Down Integration
A closing practice: the client lies on the back, breathes freely, feels the back's contact with the floor. Integration of the bodily and emo…
Bioenergetics
Mattress Hitting
Mattress Hitting
An expressive technique: hitting a mattress or pillow with the fists or a tennis racquet. Release of suppressed anger, rage, and frustration…
Bioenergetics
Reaching Out
Reaching Out
Extending the arms with the expression of the need for contact. "Mom!", "Give!", "I want!". Work with the oral segment and the suppressed ne…
Bioenergetics
Stress Positions
Stress Positions
Holding the body in demanding poses in order to produce vibration, deepen breathing, and "break through" muscular blocks. Bend-over, backwar…
Bioenergetics
Vibration Work
Vibration Work
Deliberate evocation and sustaining of natural bodily vibration through stress positions. Vibration is a sign of a living body and of a free…
CBASP
Disciplined Personal Involvement
Disciplined Personal Involvement
The therapist disciplinedly uses their authentic reactions as an instrument: showing the client how their behavior affects another person.
CBASP
Hotspot Identification
Hotspot Identification
Identifying the situations in which the stamps activate most strongly — the "hotspots". Knowing them, the client can prepare in advance.
CBASP
Impact Message
Impact Message
The therapist describes to the client the concrete effect their behavior has on the therapist. The goal is to help the client see: "My actio…
CPT
ABC Worksheet
ABC Worksheet
ABC Worksheet is a CPT intervention for identifying, testing, and revising trauma-related stuck points. It helps the client move from global…
Coherence
Counter-Active vs Transformational Change Assessment
Counter-Active vs Transformational Change Assessment
Diagnosing the type of change that has occurred: suppression of old knowledge by new (counteractive) or rewriting of the original knowledge …
Coherence
Daily Rereading Practice
Daily Rereading Practice
A home practice: the client rereads the pro-symptom-position card daily, tracking changes in the emotional response and the "still true?" ra…
Coherence
Experiential Disconfirmation
Experiential Disconfirmation
Finding and creating real life experience that fundamentally diverges from the activated emotional knowledge — in order to launch reconsolid…
Coherence
Imaginal Symptom Deprivation
Imaginal Symptom Deprivation
The client imagines that the symptom has completely vanished and explores the feelings that arise — in order to discover the hidden emotiona…
Coherence
Integration Experience
Integration Experience
The client lives the pro-symptom position fully — says it aloud, feels it in the body, holds it in awareness, accepting the paradox "I need …
Coherence
Juxtaposition Experience
Juxtaposition Experience
The central reconsolidation technique: the simultaneous holding of activated emotional knowledge and a live contradictory experience in orde…
Coherence
Overt Statement by Therapist
Overt Statement by Therapist
The therapist voices the presumed emotional knowledge of the client in the first person — the client checks whether it resonates and correct…
Coherence
Pro-Symptom Position Statement
Pro-Symptom Position Statement
A joint formulation with the client of a precise statement expressing the emotional knowledge behind the symptom, in the first person.
Coherence
Radical Inquiry into Symptom
Radical Inquiry into Symptom
A deep inquiry into the symptom from the stance of respect: not "why is this broken?" but "what is this made for? what problem does it solve…
Coherence
Root Memory Access
Root Memory Access
Finding the concrete experience in which the emotional knowledge behind the symptom was formed — through the affect bridge or direct inquiry…
Coherence
Sentence Completion
Sentence Completion
The therapist begins a sentence, the client finishes it spontaneously — to discover implicit emotional knowledge that the client cannot form…
Coherence
Somatic Tracking of Emotional Learning
Somatic Tracking of Emotional Learning
Attention to bodily sensations as markers of the activation of emotional knowledge — tightening, heaviness, trembling, warmth signal implici…
Coherence
Symptom Card
Symptom Card
Writing the discovered pro-symptom knowledge on a card, which the client rereads daily to maintain awareness between sessions.
Coherence
Transformation Verification
Transformation Verification
Checking the markers of transformational change: absence of effort, puzzlement, no return of the symptom, a sense of obviousness of the new …
Coherence
Working with Multiple Emotional Learnings
Working with Multiple Emotional Learnings
Exploring the situation in which several emotional learnings stand behind one symptom — each requiring its own cycle of discovery and recons…
DBT
Emotion Model / Emotion Chain
Emotion Model / Emotion Chain
A six-step model showing how an emotion arises and develops: trigger → interpretation → emotion (name + intensity) → action urge → behavior …
DBT
Model of Emotions
Model of Emotions
A six-step model showing how an emotion arises and develops: trigger → interpretation → emotion (name + intensity) → action urge → behavior …
DBT
Validation (Levels 1–6)
Validation (Levels 1–6)
Six levels of validation — from basic listening to radical genuineness. Validation is the "wing of acceptance" in DBT. Without it, change st…
Deurzen
Emotional Compass Mapping
Emotional Compass Mapping
Van Deurzen developed four "compasses" — one for each dimension of existence. Emotions are seen as pointers to values: what is loved, what i…
EFT for Couples
A.R.E. Check-In
A.R.E. Check-In
A regular check of the three attachment questions: accessibility, responsiveness, engagement. Helps the couple monitor the state of the emot…
EFT for Couples
Accessing Primary Emotions
Accessing Primary Emotions
Helping partners move from secondary emotions (anger, irritation) to primary ones (fear, pain, loneliness). Primary emotions connect, second…
EFT for Couples
Attachment Injury Resolution
Attachment Injury Resolution
A structured working-through of a specific episode when one partner was not there at a critical moment. "When I was at my worst — you were n…
EFT for Couples
Attachment Reframing
Attachment Reframing
Redefining the conflict as an attachment question: "You are not fighting about the dishes — you are both asking: are you there? Do I matter …
EFT for Couples
Blamer Softening
Blamer Softening
The culmination of EFT: helping the pursuing partner move from demands and criticism to a request for closeness from a position of vulnerabi…
EFT for Couples
Choreographing Engaged Contact
Choreographing Engaged Contact
The therapist guides the creation of a new experience of interaction in real time: helps one to express a need, the other to respond, both —…
EFT for Couples
Creating a New Relationship Narrative
Creating a New Relationship Narrative
Helping the couple tell the story of their relationship anew — including the crisis and the way through it. The new narrative integrates dif…
EFT for Couples
Emotion Validation
Emotion Validation
Teaching partners the skill of validation: acknowledging the other's feelings as understandable and well-grounded, even if you do not agree …
EFT for Couples
Enactment
Enactment
The therapist asks one partner to turn to the other and say something directly — from the primary emotion, not through the therapist. Create…
EFT for Couples
Evocative Responding
Evocative Responding
The therapist reflects the partner's emotional experience with an emphasis on primary emotions, helping to deepen and widen awareness. Not i…
EFT for Couples
Heightening
Heightening
The deliberate amplification of a key emotional moment through repetition, slowing down, and focusing attention. Helps the partner fully liv…
EFT for Couples
Hold Me Tight Conversation
Hold Me Tight Conversation
A structured dialogue in which each partner expresses their deep attachment needs and asks for what they need. Based on Sue Johnson's book.
EFT for Couples
Live Cycle Tracking
Live Cycle Tracking
When the negative cycle appears in session, the therapist stops the process and names it: "Here it is, your dance. Let us slow down and look…
EFT for Couples
Negative Cycle Identification
Negative Cycle Identification
Identifying and naming the couple's repeating pattern of interaction: who pursues, who withdraws, how each reinforces the other's reaction. …
EFT for Couples
Withdrawer Re-engagement
Withdrawer Re-engagement
Helping the withdrawing partner voice their attachment needs and the fears that hide behind silence and withdrawal.
EFT for Couples
Working with Fear of Closeness
Working with Fear of Closeness
Inquiry into the fears that prevent accepting closeness: "If I show vulnerability — I will be hurt. If I let in — I will lose myself." Norma…
Gestalt
Amplification Technique
Amplification Technique
The client takes a barely noticeable bodily signal, emotion, gesture, or word and amplifies it several times. A barely audible voice becomes…
Gestalt
Body Awareness
Body Awareness
Focusing on bodily sensations: where in the body does this feeling live? What color, temperature, shape is it? Not analysis of "why", but di…
Gottman
5:1 Ratio Building
5:1 Ratio Building
A deliberate increase in positive interactions within the couple to reach a steady ratio of five positives to one negative.
Gottman
Aftermath of a Fight Processing
Aftermath of a Fight Processing
A structured discussion of the conflict after both partners have calmed down, to understand triggers and extract lessons.
Gottman
Dreams Within Conflict
Dreams Within Conflict
Exploring the unspoken dreams and values that stand behind each partner's position in a gridlocked conflict.
Gottman
Emotional Bids Work
Emotional Bids Work
Training in recognizing small requests for emotional connection and in the skill of "turning toward the partner" instead of "turning away" o…
Gottman
Flooding Management
Flooding Management
Training in recognizing physiological flooding (pulse > 100) and in the skill of taking a break with a mandatory return to the conversation.
Gottman
Fondness and Admiration System
Fondness and Admiration System
Restoring and strengthening the culture of respect, gratitude, and admiration in the couple — the second floor of the Sound Relationship Hou…
Gottman
Oral History Interview
Oral History Interview
A structured interview about the history of the relationship that allows the couple's foundation to be assessed by HOW they tell their story…
Gottman
Perpetual Problem Dialogue
Perpetual Problem Dialogue
A structured conversation about a chronic couple problem with the aim not of solving it but of maintaining an open dialogue with humor and a…
Gottman
Positive Sentiment Override
Positive Sentiment Override
Work on having neutral and ambiguous actions of the partner interpreted positively rather than negatively.
Gottman
Repair Attempts
Repair Attempts
Teaching the skill of stopping conflict escalation through repair actions, and the skill of accepting repair attempts from the partner.
Gottman
Softened Startup
Softened Startup
Teaching the formula for starting a difficult conversation without criticism: "I feel… when… and I need…" instead of "You always / never…".
Gottman
Stress-Reducing Conversation
Stress-Reducing Conversation
A daily 20-minute conversation between partners about external stress (not about the relationship) — for maintaining the emotional connectio…
Gottman
Three-Session Assessment
Three-Session Assessment
Structured diagnostics of the couple: joint interview → individual sessions → feedback with treatment plan.
Gottman
Trust Revival Method
Trust Revival Method
A structured process of restoring trust after a betrayal (affair, deception) through three phases: atonement, attunement, attachment.
Hakomi
Accessing Core Material
Accessing Core Material
Gently leading to the deep beliefs through mindfulness, tracking, and probes. Core material is the set of beliefs that organize the whole of…
Hakomi
Contact Statements
Contact Statements
Verbal mirroring of the client's current experience. Not interpretation, but acknowledgment of what is there. Creates the sense of "I am see…
Hakomi
Immersion
Immersion
Deep staying with an emotional or bodily experience in mindfulness. Not analysis, not change — simply full presence with what is there.
Hakomi
Little Experiments
Little Experiments
Simple bodily or verbal experiments in mindfulness: try a posture, a movement, a phrase — and observe the reaction. A safe way of exploring.
Hakomi
Mindfulness Invitation
Mindfulness Invitation
Helping the client move out of ordinary conversation into a state of mindful inner observation. The key transition of a Hakomi session.
Hakomi
Nourishment
Nourishment
Providing the "missing experience" — what was absent at the moment the core belief was formed. Through words, gestures, touch, in a state of…
Hakomi
Probes
Probes
Small experiments in mindfulness: the therapist speaks a phrase or makes a gesture, the client observes the inner reaction. Probes surface c…
Hakomi
Somatic Unwinding
Somatic Unwinding
Following spontaneous bodily movements of the client in mindfulness. The body "knows" how to resolve tension — it only needs space.
Hakomi
Taking Over
Taking Over
The therapist physically takes on an action the client is performing unconsciously (supporting the shoulders, pressing) so the client can re…
IBCT
Acceptance Letter
Acceptance Letter
Each partner writes a letter describing what they accept in the other — including what they used to want to change. The letters are read in …
IBCT
Closeness-Distance Scaling
Closeness-Distance Scaling
A weekly rating of the sense of closeness on a 1–10 scale by each partner. Tracking the dynamics, discussing differences in perception.
IBCT
Emotional Vulnerability Sharing
Emotional Vulnerability Sharing
A structured exercise in which each partner shares their deep vulnerability — what they most fear in the relationship. The second one listen…
IBCT
Empathic Joining
Empathic Joining
Helping the partners move from hard emotions (anger, criticism) to soft ones (pain, fear, loneliness). When one expresses vulnerability and …
IBCT
Faking Negative Behavior
Faking Negative Behavior
The partner deliberately reproduces the "problem" behavior at home by agreement. This lowers the trigger's emotional charge and gives both t…
IBCT
Hard and Soft Emotions Mapping
Hard and Soft Emotions Mapping
A visualization of the link between the surface (hard) and deep (soft) emotions of each partner. Helps the move from blame to understanding.
IBCT
IBCT Incident Analysis
IBCT Incident Analysis
A structured analysis of a concrete conflict through the lens of the case formulation: how the theme, the trap, and the mutual trap showed u…
IBCT
Self-Care When Facing the Pattern
Self-Care When Facing the Pattern
Building a concrete action plan for when the trap activates again. Instead of trying to change the partner — caring for the self in a hard m…
IBCT
Theme Exploration
Theme Exploration
A deep inquiry into the fundamental difference (the theme) between the partners: where it comes from, how it was formed, why it matters to e…
IBCT
Tolerance Through Role-Play
Tolerance Through Role-Play
The partner deliberately reproduces the "problem" behavior in session under controlled conditions. This lowers the second partner's reactivi…
IBCT
Trigger Sequence Analysis
Trigger Sequence Analysis
A detailed tracking of the chain: trigger → interpretation → soft emotion → hard reaction → partner's reaction → amplification. Helps to see…
IPT
Affect Exploration
Affect Exploration
Affect Exploration is an IPT intervention used to connect depressive symptoms with current interpersonal events and to turn that connection …
IPT
Encouragement of Affect
Encouragement of Affect
Encouragement of Affect is an IPT intervention used to connect depressive symptoms with current interpersonal events and to turn that connec…
Längle
Value Perception / Working with Emotions as Value Signals
Value Perception / Working with Emotions as Value Signals
In existential analysis, feelings are understood as "pointers" to values. Längle distinguishes the primary emotion (a spontaneous reaction t…
MBCT
Allowing/Letting Be Meditation / Turning Toward Difficulty
Allowing/Letting Be Meditation / Turning Toward Difficulty
The participant deliberately recalls a difficult situation and directs attention to the body sensations linked to it, applying the stance of…
MBT
Affect Focus
Affect Focus
A central MBT technique aimed at identifying and naming the affective component of the client's experience in the current moment of the sess…
Morita
Arugamama Practice
Arugamama Practice
Accepting feelings as they are, without fighting or trying to change them. "I feel anxious — and that is fine. What can I do right now?"
Morita
Bed Rest Phase
Bed Rest Phase
A period of maximum reduction in activity: minimum stimulation, meeting oneself without escape. Classic inpatient or outpatient adaptation.
Morita
Desire for Life (Sei-no-Yokubo) Work
Desire for Life (Sei-no-Yokubo) Work
Uncovering and supporting the fundamental striving toward life — sei-no-yokubo. Perfectionism and anxiety are not enemies but distorted form…
Morita
Nature Contact
Nature Contact
Deliberate attention to nature: weather, trees, sky, sounds. Expanding attention beyond one's own symptoms. The therapeutic role of nature i…
Morita
Vicious Cycle Analysis
Vicious Cycle Analysis
Helping the client see the mechanism of toraware: how fixation on a symptom strengthens the symptom, creating a self-sustaining cycle of suf…
Sandplay
Body Awareness in Sandplay
Body Awareness in Sandplay
Integrating body awareness into sand work: attention to sensations in the hands, to breath, to posture. The body knows before the mind does.
Sandplay
Dream-Sandplay Connection
Dream-Sandplay Connection
Exploring the link between the client's dreams and their sand pictures. Dreams and Sandplay are two channels to the unconscious, which often…
Sandplay
Free Scene Creation
Free Scene Creation
The client creates any world in the sandbox without instructions. Full freedom of figure choice and composition. The therapist observes in s…
Sandplay
Post-Creation Dialogue
Post-Creation Dialogue
Gentle inquiry into the created world through open questions. Not interpretation, but an invitation for the client to speak about what they …
Sandplay
Process Observation
Process Observation
Systematic tracking of HOW the client creates — what they pick up first, where they place it, how they touch the sand, what emotions appear.…
Sandplay
Safe Space Building
Safe Space Building
The client creates a safe place in the sandbox — a resource image they can return to. Especially valuable in trauma and anxiety work.
Sandplay
Sand Work Without Figures
Sand Work Without Figures
The client works only with sand — digging, smoothing, shaping, creating a landscape. Tactile contact with sand regulates the nervous system …
Sandplay
Sandplay with Children
Sandplay with Children
Adaptation of Sandplay for children: fewer words, more play, the child's native language. The therapist is the safe adult who "sees" the chi…
Sandplay
Series Review
Series Review
A joint viewing of the photographs of all sand pictures in chronological order. The client sees the whole inner path — from the first pictur…
Sandplay
Water Element Work
Water Element Work
Adding water to the sandbox: creating rivers, lakes, seas. Water is a symbol of emotion, of the unconscious, of the maternal. Working with w…
Sandplay
Witnessing Presence
Witnessing Presence
A particular form of therapeutic presence: being nearby, observing with attention and respect, but not intervening. The very presence of the…
WBT
Personal Growth Activation
Personal Growth Activation
Work on the personal-growth dimension: stepping out of stagnation through new experience, learning, and gentle challenge to the comfort zone…
WBT
Positive Relations Enhancement
Positive Relations Enhancement
Work on the positive-relations dimension: deepening connections, building intimacy skills, and developing the capacity to receive and offer …
WBT
Self-Acceptance Enhancement
Self-Acceptance Enhancement
Targeted work on the self-acceptance dimension: identifying self-criticism, revising one's attitude toward oneself, and developing self-comp…
WBT
Well-Being Diary
Well-Being Diary
Daily recording of moments of well-being, rated for intensity (0-100), together with the thoughts or beliefs that interrupted the positive e…
WBT
Well-Being Interruption Analysis
Well-Being Interruption Analysis
Cognitive work with the automatic thoughts that cut off positive experience: identification, classification by Ryff dimension, and restructu…
Yalom
Searching (Bugental)
Searching (Bugental)
A joint movement from the story to the living experience. The story of events is a defense; the experience here-and-now is the place where h…
Materials are informational and educational and summarize publicly available scientific sources. They are not medical or psychological advice, are not intended for self-diagnosis or self-treatment, and do not replace consultation with a qualified professional.