TCD Research Team

Ladislav (or Laco, pronounced Latso) Timulak

Ladislav Timulak, PhD, is Course Director of the Doctorate in Counselling Psychology, Trinity College Dublin. He trained in emotion-focused therapy with the developers of EFT; Professors Leslie Greenberg and Robert Elliott. His main research interest is in the area of psychotherapy research, in particular emotion-focused therapy. He is the author of a number of books, including two published books on Emotion-Focused Therapy; 'Transforming Emotional Pain in Psychotherapy: An Emotion-Focused Approach' (Routledge, 2015), and 'Transforming Generalised Anxiety: An Emotion-Focused Approach' (Routledge, 2017), as well as the soon-to-be-published Transdiagnostic emotion-focused therapy: A clinical guide for transforming of emotional pain (APA, October 2021). He has authored various book chapters and research papers. In addition to EFT, he is interested in online psychological interventions and together with Dr. Derek Richard, a leading expert in the field of online mental health, has established the TCD E-Mental Health Research Group. For other areas of Dr. Timulak’s research see his research profile.

Daragh Keogh

Dr. Daragh Keogh (D.Couns.Psych) is a chartered Counselling Psychologist, EFT therapist and supervisor, and Assistant Professor at the School of Psychology, Trinity College Dublin. He is trial manager on two randomised controlled trials, the first comparing EFT and CBT in the treatment of Generalised Anxiety Disorder, and the second, a treatment development study investigating the application of a transdiagnostic EFT protocol to the treatment of anxiety, depression, and related disorders such as OCD and trauma. He is co-author with Ladislav Timulak of an upcoming book on EFT: Transdiagnostic emotion-focused therapy: A clinical guide for transforming of emotional pain (APA, October 2021). In addition to EFT, he is interested in the area of working therapeutically with children and adolescents and works with a number of organisations involved in providing foster or residential care.

Previous members of the research team:

Suzanne Hughes

Suzanne graduated from the Dublin Business School with a BA (Hons) in Psychology in 2013 and completed her M.Sc. in Applied Psychology at Trinity College in 2018. In addition to working as a research assistant at the TCD Emotion-Focused Therapy Research Lab she has worked as a Research Assistant in Dublin City University (DCU) and as an Assistant Psychologist in Primary Care Psychology, HSE, and in the Irish Prison Service.

Christina Vaughan

Christina graduated from the BA Psychology in NUI Galway in 2017 and from the MSc in Applied Psychology at Trinity College Dublin in 2018. During her undergrad she studied for 1 year at Boston College where she worked as a Research Assistant at the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience lab. In addition to her Research Assistant role at the TCD Emotion-Focused Therapy Research Lab, she has worked as an Assistant Psychologist in Cluain Mhuire Community Services and Tallaght University Hospital.

Shona Mahon

Shona is a graduate of the MSc in Applied Psychology at Trinity College Dublin, and the BSc in Applied Psychology at the Institute of Art Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire. She has held a number of research assistant and assistant psychologist posts, including assistant psychologist in Cluain Mhuire Community Adult Mental Health Service, St. John of Gods, Dublin.

Collaborators

Leslie Greenberg

Leslie Greenberg, Ph.D., is Distinguished Research Professor Emeritus of Psychology at York University in Toronto. He has authored the major texts on Emotion-focused approaches to treatment for individuals and couples including Emotion in Psychotherapy (1986), Emotionally Focused Therapy for Couples (1988) and more recently Emotion-focused Couples Therapy: The dynamics of emotion, love and power (2008) and Emotion-focused therapy: Theory and practice (2015) Emotion-focused therapy: Coaching clients to work through their feelings (2015), and Case Formulation in Emotion-Focused Therapy. He has received the Distinguished Research Career award of the International Society for Psychotherapy Research as well as the American Psychology Association Award for Distinguished Professional Contribution to Applied Research. He conducts a private practice and trains people in emotion–focused approaches.

Robert Elliott

Robert Elliott, Ph.D., is Professor of Counselling in the Counselling Unit at the University of Strathclyde, where he directs its research clinic and teaches on its MSc in Counselling & Psychotherapy.  Before moving to Scotland in 2006, he was Professor of Psychology at the University of Toledo (Ohio), where he taught Clinical Psychology and was Director of Clinical Training for 10 years.  One of the founders of Emotion-Focused Therapy, he has led EFT training in 15 countries.  He has research interests in depression, social anxiety, psychotherapy change process research and the effectiveness of humanistic-experiential psychotherapies. He is co-author of Facilitating emotional change (1993), Learning emotion-focused psychotherapy (2004), and Research methods in clinical psychology (2002), as well as more than 170 journal articles and book chapters. He is past president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and previously co-edited the journals Psychotherapy Research, and Person-Centered and Experiential Psychotherapies.  He has received the Distinguished Research Career Award of the Society for Psychotherapy Research, and the Carl Rogers Award from the Division of Humanistic Psychology of the American Psychological Association. Robert is married and has two grown children and two grandchildren; he enjoys running, science fiction and all kinds of music.

Rhonda Goldman

Rhonda N. Goldman, PhD, is a professor at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology and an emotion-focused therapist at Emotion-Focused Therapy Chicago where she conducts psychotherapy with couples and individuals. She practices, teaches, and conducts research on emotional processes and outcomes in EFT and has written on empathy, vulnerability, depression and case formulation. She has co-authored/edited five texts on EFT and is co-author with Les Greenberg of 'Emotion-Focused Couples Therapy: The Dynamics of Emotion, Love, and Power' (2008). She has recently recorded an EFT for Couples demonstration DVD for the American Psychological Association. She is a recipient of the Carmi Harrari Early Career Award from the Society of Humanistic Psychology, Division 32 of the American Psychological Association, and is a past president of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration.

Jeanne Watson

Jeanne Watson, PhD, is a professor at the Department of Applied Psychology and Human Development, University of Toronto. She is a major exponent of humanistic-experiential psychotherapy and has contributed to the development of Emotion Focused Psychotherapy, the process experiential approach. She has conducted psychotherapy outcome studies to examine the effectiveness of different approaches to psychotherapy including emotion focused therapy, client-centered and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy. She has co-authored and co-edited a total of 8 books on humanistic and emotion focused psychotherapy. Her most recent book is entitled Emotion Focused Psychotherapy for Generalised Anxiety Disorder with Dr. Leslie Greenberg. Dr. Watson received the Outstanding Early Career Achievement Award from the International Society for Psychotherapy Research in 2002 and was President of the Society in 2014-2015. She was recognized as an APA Fellow in 2013.

Antonio Pascual-Leone

Antonio Pascual-Leone, PhD, is a professor at the University of Windsor (Canada), and holds an honorary position at the University of Lausanne (Switzerland). He has been involved in 4 clinical trials of Emotion Focused Therapy. His research group, the Emotion Change Lab, has published on psychotherapy process and outcomes, with a focus on emotional processing. He co-authored a book, Emotion Focused Therapy for Complex Trauma (with Dr. Sandra Paivio) and is now authoring a forthcoming book on Changing Emotion (both with the American Psychological Association, APA). His contributions have been recognized by several career awards from international research societies, and he has received distinguished publication awards in the US and Germany. Dr. Pascual-Leone has given clinical workshops in 10 different countries and this work has been recognized by teaching and leadership awards. He runs a private practice seeing individuals and couples.

Natalie Hession

Dr. Natalie Hession is Principal Psychology Manager and head of psycho-oncology services at St. Luke’s Radiation Oncology Network. She provides clinical assessment and therapeutic intervention for individuals and families in relation to all aspects of the psychological impact of cancer. She is committed to the development of psycho-oncology in Ireland and has contributed by way of policy development and media coverage. She has lectured, supervised research, presented nationally and internationally, and is involved in ongoing research in the area of EFT and psycho-oncology. Dr. Hession completed her original EFT training with Dr. Les Greenberg and she is an EFT supervisor. Dr. Hession’s academic qualifications include Doctorate in Counselling Psychology (University of Surrey); MSc Leadership and Healthcare Management (RCSI) and Post Grad Diploma in Clinical Supervision (TCD).

Fiona Ward

Fiona Ward is Director of Counselling with the HSE's National Counselling Service. She is a clinical and counselling psychologist and was instrumental in the development, establishment and roll out of the HSE's national Counselling in Primary Care Service (CIPC). She sits on both the Trial Management Group and Trial Steering Committee for the Emotion-Focused Therapy vs. Cognitive Behaviour Therapy for Generalised Anxiety Disorder Randomised Controlled Trial, and is currently collaborating with the research team on developing a future definitive trial.

Chuck Rashleigh

Chuck Rashleigh is a Chartered Counselling Psychologist of the Psychological Society of Ireland. He holds a BA in Psychology and an MSc in Counselling Psychology. He has worked in the Trinity College Dublin Student Counselling Service (SCS) since 2003, where he is a clinical team leader / manager for the Outreach & Prevention Team and Research & Outcomes Coordinator. Chuck has completed training in Emotion-Focused Therapy and collaborates with the TCD School of Psychology on researching EFT’s applications within a student counselling context.

Rafael Jódar

Dr. Rafael Jódar is Director of the Masters program in Experiential Humanistic Psychotherapy and Emotion-Focused Therapy at Comillas University, Madrid. He is an EFT certified therapist and supervisor recognised by the International Society for Emotion-Focused Therapy. He is the clinical coordinator of the Comillas University Psychological Clinic. His main research interest is in EFT, self-criticism, and empathy training. He had recently led a Randomized-Controlled Trial investigating the treatment of self-criticism with EFT.

Petr Mikoška

Dr. Petr Mikoška works as a Psychologist in the Psychiatric Clinic in Šternberk in the Czech Republic. He is also a researcher in Palacký University Olomouc in the Czech Republic, where he leads the Emotion-Focused Therapy Institute (EFTi) and is developing research activities regarding the use and effectiveness of Emotion-Focused Group Therapy in the treatment of anxiety, depression, and related disorders. He is also a Person-Centered and Emotion-Focused trained therapist.

Doctoral & PhD Students

2020

Jackson, A. (2020). Emotion-focused therapy for symptoms of GAD in a student population. Trinity College Dublin.

Daily, J. (2020). Emotional and interactional transformation in the course of emotion-focused therapy for couples with emotional injury. Trinity College Dublin.

Reinhofer, Eva (2020). Transdiagnostic emotion-focused therapy: two case studies. Trinity College Dublin.

Kwatra, A. (2020). Psychoeducational emotion-focused course Feeling Reconnected: a development and early assessment. Trinity College Dublin.

2019

Brosnan, J. (2019). Effects of an Emotion-Focused Writing Task on Life Satisfaction, Post-traumatic Growth, and Self-Reported Health. Trinity College Dublin.

Qiu, S. (2019). Learning Emotion-Focused Therapy: Certified Emotion-Focused Therapists' Perspectives. Trinity College Dublin.

2018

Devereux, M. (2018). EFT for GAD: Exploring the Relationship between self-worry and self-criticism in worry dialogues. Trinity College Dublin.

O'Connell Kent, J.A. (2018). The Use of Emotion-Focused Therapy in Students Presenting with Worry and Anxiety Issues. Trinity College Dublin.

Lucey, B. (2018). Validation phase task analysis for working with worry in Emotion Focused Therapy for Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Trinity College Dublin.

2017

Hissa, J. (2017). Emotion-focused case conceptualisation for comorbid anxiety and depression in patients with breast cancer. Trinity College Dublin.

Lynch, S. (2017). Experience of having a cancer: Emotion-focused perspective. Trinity College Dublin.

Toolan, R. (2017). EFT for GAD - Exploring the Relationship Between Clients' Self-Directed Messages. Trinity College Dublin.

2016

Connelly, A. (2016). Developing Emotion-Focused Therapy for Breast Cancer Patients: An Analysis of Six Case Studies. Trinity College Dublin.

Chepukova, E. (2016). Linguistic Processes in an Emotion–Focused Expressive Writing Task. Trinity College Dublin.

Cullen, H. (2016). Case Conceptualisation from an Emotion-Focused Perspective on Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Trinity College Dublin.

Durcan, A. (2016). Emotion-focused Case Conceptualisation of Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Trinity College Dublin.

Nally, L. (2016). The Immediate Effects of Expressive Writing on Affect. Trinity College Dublin.

O'Flynn, R. (2016). An EFT Model of Working with Worry - Initiation of the Validation Phase of Task Analysis. Trinity College Dublin.

2015

McElvaney, J. (2015). Application of Emotion-focused Therapy as a Treatment of Generalised Anxiety Disorder: Analysis of Eight Case Studies. Trinity College Dublin.

McQuaid, A. (2015). Working with worry in EFT for GAD - Developing a model of EFT for worry. Trinity College Dublin.

Meacham, R. (2015).

O'Connell, S. (2015). Self critic transformation in comorbid anxiety and depression: a case study of emotion focused therapy for a patient with cancer. Trinity College Dublin.

O'Keeffe, N. (2015). Emotion-Focused Case Conceptualisation of Generalised Anxiety Disorder: Core Emotion Schemes in Generalised Anxiety Disorder. Trinity College Dublin.

2014

Clare, P. (2014). Qualitative Analysis of Helpful and Unhelpful Aspects and Outcomes of Emotion Focused Therapy with Clients with GAD. Trinity College Dublin. Trinity College Dublin.

Golden, A. (2014). Effects of an emotion transformation model tested with expressive writing. Trinity College Dublin.

Rowell, L. (2014). Working with worry in EFT for GAD: Task analysis of the two-chair task. Trinity College Dublin.

2013

Crowley, N. (2013). Emotion transformation in Generalised Anxiety Disorder - A case study of Emotion-Focused Therapy. Trinity College Dublin.

Hughes, S. (2013). Transforming Emotional Injury with a Developmentally Significant Other through a series of Unfinished Business Dialogues in Clients with Generalised Anxiety Disorder: A Task Analytic Approach. Trinity College Dublin.

Keogh, D. (2013). Treating Generalised Anxiety Disorder with Emotion-Focused Therapy - A Case Study Investigation of Emotional Transformation Processes. Trinity College Dublin.

Murphy, J. (2013). Emotion-Focused Therapy for Generalised Anxiety Disorder: A Task Analysis of Two Chair Work with Worry. Trinity College Dublin.

2012

Dillon, A. (2012). Transforming Core Emotional Pain in a Course of Emotion Focused Therapy. Trinity College Dublin.

McNally, S. (2012). Transformation of Emotion - Change Processes in EFT. Trinity College Dublin.

O'Brien, K. (2012). EFT Case Conceptualisation of GAD - Underlying Core Emotional Pain. Trinity College Dublin.

2010

Keogh, C. (2010). The Transformation of Emotion Pain in Emotion-Focused Therapy - The Role of Emotional Productivity and Emotional Arousal. Trinity College Dublin.