Emotionally focused therapy / EFT-A04-2
Protective Moves with Context — Practice worksheet
Describe a protective move, its history as you understand it, and its current relational cost.
15 minutes · Worksheet · Adults; supported use as appropriate
Fictional example: Sam goes quiet to avoid arguing, while Alex experiences the silence as distance.
Use an ordinary or fictional example, with a clinician when appropriate. Protection can be understood while harmful behavior remains accountable.
1. Choose a workable example
Use the fictional example below or an ordinary situation of your choosing. Keep identifying details out of shared copies.
2. Try the practice
Describe a protective move, its history as you understand it, and its current relational cost.
3. Compare possibilities
Generate at least two interpretations or options. Mark what you know, what you are guessing, and what remains outside your control.
4. Decide together
How can understanding the function coexist with changing the impact? Choose one small action, a support request, or no action. Review the fit with your clinician when relevant.
Prompts for this resource
- My chosen or fictional situation, and what I know about it:
- My response to the practice task above:
- How can understanding the function coexist with changing the impact?
- An optional next step, support, adaptation, or reason to stop:
Conceptual background
What is EFT? — International Centre for Excellence in Emotionally Focused Therapy
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.