Emotionally-Focused Couples Therapy and Gay and Lesbian Couples: Considerations for Pursuer-Distancer Patterns

Abstract

There exists a paucity of literature on the effectiveness and applicability of EFT for gay/lesbian couples. In particular, there has been little discussion of whether pursuer-distancer concepts, which remain hallmark concepts in EFT, fully translate to gay and lesbian individuals. This work first provides a brief overview of EFT; emphasizing its roots in attachment and pursuer-distancer concepts. Then, attachment research in gay and lesbian individuals is reviewed and themes from research are used to illustrate complexities in applying pursuer-distancer concepts to such couples. This work concludes with the nuanced application of an EFT approach to serve gay and lesbian couples.

Keywords:

• Adult relationships
• attachment
• emotionally-focused therapy
• same-sex couples