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Greenberg, Leslie

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Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy

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Name

Greenberg, Leslie

Introduction

In his academic career, Leslie Greenberg has led the development of two innovative, research-supported psychotherapy approaches – emotion-focused therapies (EFT) for individuals and couples. Both approaches have been significantly developed with both theory and research over the past 30 years. This entry will focus on Greenberg’s development of the emotion-focused couples approach.

Career

Leslie Greenberg was born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa. He moved to Canada with his wife Brenda in 1965 and first completed a master’s in systems engineering at McMaster University in Hamilton. He went on to complete a PhD in Clinical Psychology at York University under the tutelage of Laura Rice, a former student of Carl Rogers. It was his early humanistic and experiential training that solidified his belief in the power of the therapeutic relationship characterized by empathy, genuineness, and unconditional positive regard to effect change, along with...

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Key Citations

  • Goldman, R. N., & Greenberg, L. (2013). Working with identity and self-soothing in emotion-focused therapy for couples. Family Process, 52, 62–82.

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  • Greenberg, L. S., & Johnson, S. M. (1988). Emotionally focused therapy for couples. New York: Guilford Press.

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  • Greenberg, L. S., & Goldman, R. (2008). Emotion-focused couples therapy: The dynamics of emotion, love and power. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.

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  • Greenberg, L. S., Rice, L. N., & Elliott, R. (1993). Facilitating emotional change. New York: Guilford Publishers.

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  • Greenberg, L. S., Warwar, S., & Malcolm, W. (2010). Emotion-focused couples therapy and the facilitation of forgiveness. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 36(1), 28–42.

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  • McKinnon, J. M., & Greenberg, L. S. (2013). Revealing underlying vulnerable emotion in couple therapy: Impact on session and final outcome. Journal of Family Therapy, 35, 303–319.

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  • Woldarsky Meneses, C., & Greenberg, L. S. (2014). Interpersonal forgiveness in emotion-focused couples’ therapy: Relating process to outcome. Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, 40(1), 49–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois School of Professional Psychology at Argosy University, Schaumburg, IL, USA

    Rhonda N. Goldman

Authors
  1. Rhonda N. Goldman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rhonda N. Goldman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Jay Lebow

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Anthony Chambers

  3. The Family Institute at Northwestern, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Douglas C. Breunlin

Section Editor information

  1. Human Development and Family Studies, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA

    Kelley Quirk

  2. The Family Institute at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA

    Adam Fisher

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© 2018 Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature

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Cite this entry

Goldman, R.N. (2018). Greenberg, Leslie. In: Lebow, J., Chambers, A., Breunlin, D. (eds) Encyclopedia of Couple and Family Therapy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_794-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-15877-8_794-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-15877-8

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