Therapists: Ever felt tempted to rush into deep emotional restructuring with EFIT clients? This paper provides a gentle but necessary pause. Brubacher & Greenman argue that Stage 1 stabilization is not “pre-work” — it is a meaningful change event in its own right. Overlooking it can leave both therapist and client spinning their wheels.
Lorrie L. Brubacher & Paul S. Greenman (15 Nov 2025): Keeping the Horse Before the Cart: The Importance of Stabilization in Emotionally Focused Individual Therapy(EFIT), International Journal of Systemic Therapy.
EFIT literature describes stabilisation as important groundwork for the transformational work of Stage 2. But this paper argues that stabilisation deserves more attention because of its autonomous value. Clients don’t just get “ready” in Stage 1 — they experience coherence, agency, hope, new meanings, and emotional balance.
What is stabilisation?
Stabilisation is the process through which clients come to see:
- They are caught in automatic, repetitive, imprisoning emotion-regulation patterns
- These patterns were once survival strategies
- Their distress is maintained by these patterns
Clients learn to track:
trigger → danger signal → bodily response → meaning → action tendency
And then, crucially, they begin accessing the core emotion underneath.
This reframe — “My pattern is the problem, not me” — is enormously regulating.
Why Stabilisation has stand-alone value:
The paper shows that Stage 1 naturally creates:
- Agency (“I participate in this pattern — and can change it.”)
- Coherence (“My experience makes sense.”)
- Hope
- New action tendencies
- Early shifts in internal working models
- Safety to explore emotion that was previously too frightening or foreign
These changes happen before any restructuring work begins.
A living example:
The authors use the case of Jaimé, whose history includes trauma, abuse, grief, and substance use. Through stabilization, she:
- Recognises her pattern of numbing, minimizing, and self-blame
- Links danger cues to bodily sensations
- Accesses anger, grief, fear, and longing long hidden under deactivation
- Names new meanings (“He was wrong,” “I deserved protection”)
- Experiences a surge of energy and freedom after an imaginal encounter
- Begins reaching toward safe others and new strategies
All within Stage 1.
The EFT Tango at Work:
The paper shows how each of the Tango’s five moves supports stabilization:
- Reflect present process
- Assemble & deepen emotion
- Shape engaged encounters
- Process the encounter
- Summarise & integrate
Lorrie & Paul also offer the SHAPE acronym (Sharpen, Heighten, Anticipate, Present, Engage) for Move 3.
Why Therapists Skip Stabilisation (and the cost):
Common therapist fears include:
- “I’ll overwhelm the client.”
- “They need comfort first.”
- “We need to get to Stage 2.”
But the authors note that attuned tracking is regulating, and skipping ahead leads to:
- lost agency
- failed restructuring attempts
- clients feeling misunderstood or unseen
- therapists working harder than the model intends
Stabilization is a necessary foundation — and a meaningful outcome.
Practical Takeaways:
✔ Slow down. Stabilization seeds deep change.
✔ Track the pattern. Clients transform when they see and own the cascade.
✔ Catch moments as they fly. Depth comes from responsiveness.
✔ Make the pattern the problem. This alone creates relief and possibility.
✔ Use the Tango intentionally in Stage 1. Especially Moves 1 & 2.
✔ Look for stabilization markers — coherent narrative, emotional balance, curiosity, agency.
A reflection to take into your sessions:
Where might I be nudging clients toward restructuring before they’ve had the full gift of stabilization?
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