Processing Emotional Pain using Emotion Focused Therapy

A guide to safely working with and resolving emotional injuries and trauma

By Dr Melissa Harte

Emotional pain is a common feature of clinical work, but it is not always recognised or addressed at the level required for meaningful change.

Clients may present with anxiety, depression, or ongoing distress, yet the underlying emotional injury remains unresolved. In some cases, this persists despite previous therapy, insight, or attempts to manage symptoms.

Before her death in 2021, Dr Melissa Harte developed an approach within Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) for working directly with this kind of emotional pain in session. Drawing on over a decade of clinical practice, research, and training, this book sets out that approach in a structured and usable form.

This is a ‘how-to’ resource for practitioners. It presents a developed, task-based method for working with emotional pain, including an extended version of the EFT focusing task, together with guidance on how to access core emotional experience without overwhelming the client.

The approach integrates grounding and ‘safe place’ techniques to manage dissociation and emphasises working with emotional experience in a way that allows it to be processed, rather than repeatedly described. It also addresses the use of chair-based interventions at appropriate stages in therapy.

Clinical context

A recurring difficulty in practice is that trauma and emotional injury may be overlooked, minimised, or approached at the wrong level. This can lead to incomplete assessment, inappropriate formulation, and treatment that focuses on symptoms rather than underlying experience.

Through case material and clinical discussion, Dr Harte shows how a more accurate understanding of emotional pain can change both formulation and intervention. The book draws on examples from practice to illustrate how clients can be helped to engage with emotional experience safely and effectively in session.

When is this book most useful?

This resource is particularly relevant when clients remain stuck despite insight, when emotional pain is present but difficult to access or articulate, or when dissociation or emotional overwhelm emerges in session.

It is applicable to practitioners working with clients whose difficulties may arise from attachment-related experiences, single-incident trauma, or the cumulative effects of ‘small t’ trauma over time.

About the author

Dr Melissa Harte was a counselling psychologist and internationally accredited Emotion Focused Therapy (EFT) trainer. Over more than ten years of clinical practice, she worked extensively with clients experiencing trauma and unresolved emotional pain. This book represents her final clinical work, bringing together her research, training, and therapeutic approach into a practical resource for practitioners.

At Melissa’s request, all royalties from sales of her book will go to the Australian Institute for Emotion Focused Therapy. 

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ISBN 9781925644333

Softcover 172 pages

Released 2019