Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples Navigating Medical Issues: A Systematic Review

Couples facing a serious medical diagnosis of one of the partners face unique challenges. Relationship quality, especially emotional and practical support, impacts the well-being of both partners and, at times, the physical response of the afflicted client to illness and disease. Emotionally focused couples therapy (EFCT) is an effective treatment for increasing couple secure attachment and decreasing conflict and stress in couple relationships. In this systematic review, we screened 450 articles looking for studies about emotionally focused therapy (EFT) in the treatment of couples facing a serious medical diagnosis. Of these articles, 42 full articles were reviewed, and eight met criteria to be included in this systematic review. Outcomes from the studies included showed EFT/EFCT helped couples where one partner has a major health diagnosis reduce psychological distress and improve relationship health factors such as communication, self-disclosure, secure bond, and emotional expression, increasing relationship satisfaction. Quality of life increased after EFT interventions, and in one study, a patient's physical response to their neurodegenerative disease improved poststudy and during EFT sessions.