Enhancing the effects of emotion-focused individual and couples therapy by nonviolent communication

ABSTRACT Nonviolent communication (NVC), a person-centered communication process, is a potential tool for enhancing the interpersonal effects of emotion-focused therapy. After establishing NVC’s model for fostering compassionate communication and connection between people, we present NVC’s interpersonal processes and the theoretical premises for its use in emotion-focused therapy. We elaborate how an emotion-focused therapist could introduce NVC as a facilitating tool for helping clients express their needs in a manner that likely engenders compassion. NVC also assists clients in hearing others with empathy outside the therapy session, without the emotion regulation support from the therapist. The timing for the beneficial use is described for both the individual and couples therapy process.