Sue Johnson (1947-2024): Psychologist pioneered emotional targeted remedy

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Revealed Apr 28, 2024 • Final up to date 2 hours in the past • 4 minute learn

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{Couples} therapist Sue Johnson, seen her in 2010, was writer Maintain Me Tight and based the Ottawa Couple and Household Institute. She died April 23 in Victoria, B.C. Picture by Bruno Schlumberger /POSTMEDIA

Sue Johnson advised the story of how as a toddler she would sit in the dead of night on the steps of her household’s residence in England listening to her dad and mom combat.

“Why do they do that?” she requested her grandmother.

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“As a result of they love one another,” was the reply.

Johnson, who died on Tuesday in Victoria, B.C., associated that story in her best-selling 2008 e book, Maintain Me Tight: Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love. Whether or not it was that have that propelled her into the sector of {couples}’ remedy — “I used to be on hearth about serving to folks change,” she as soon as mentioned — not even Johnson might say for certain.

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However Johnson’s groundbreaking analysis on the College of British Columbia and on the College of Ottawa, the place she was professor emeritus, revolutionized views on grownup relationships and the character of romantic love.

“Her affect goes to stay for generations to come back. She actually has revolutionized psychotherapy,” mentioned Gail Palmer, who met Johnson once they labored collectively on the household remedy staff at what’s now the Civic Campus of The Ottawa Hospital. In 1999, they based the Ottawa Couple and Household Institute together with Johnson’s husband, John Douglas, and colleague Alison Lee.

“Sue was bigger than life. Her brilliance alone was superb to witness,” Palmer recalled in a cellphone interview from Victoria.

Sue Johnson was born in 1947 in Kent, England, the place her dad and mom managed a pub. She was 11 when her dad and mom divorced, an occasion that left her devastated. Keen to go away England and its inflexible class construction, she emigrated to Canada at age 22, arriving with $60 in her pocket. After her doctoral analysis at UBC led her towards {couples}’ remedy, she landed a job as a professor of psychology at uOttawa.

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Johnson pioneered what grew to become generally known as emotionally targeted remedy, which examines grownup relationships in a lot the identical method as one would possibly see a child-parent bond.

“She devoted her life to growing the mannequin for EFT and seeing it unfold world wide,” Palmer mentioned.

“It was bringing feelings into psychotherapy, which was revolutionary, then making these feelings make sense,” she mentioned.

“It’s actually about attending to the center of the matter, serving to folks specific from their inside, from their vulnerability. What’s driving the destructive patterns that {couples} get caught in? When you may see that vulnerability in your companion, you’re going to reply.”

Johnson expressed the idea of EFT in her personal phrases in Maintain Me Tight:

“Beneath all of the misery, companions are asking one another: Can I rely on you? Are you there for me? Will you reply to me after I want, after I name? Do I matter to you? Am I valued and accepted by you?”

When first developed within the Seventies and ’80s nonetheless, EFT was not well-received, notably coming from a girl in a male-dominated subject.

“Sue was fierce. Being a girl wasn’t at all times straightforward. I feel there have been a few occasions the place male leaders within the subject took her on. However she by no means backed down. She by no means gave up,” Palmer mentioned.

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“Feelings weren’t trusted. It was all about controlling your feelings and solely relying in your cognitions. When it comes to attachment, in these days it was all about self-differentiation and autonomy. As an grownup, to rely on one other, was seen as infantile and immature.”

EFT is now utilized in counselling clinics world wide. Palmer has used it in her family remedy work, together with within the Canadian Arctic the place, she says, it might probably assist heal the injuries of intergenerational trauma.

“Once I was instructing at Oxford, one of many college students stood up on the finish of the lecture and mentioned, ‘, I’ve realized a whole lot of methods in my research and so they’re like instruments in my instrument belt. However EFT is just like the instrument shed,” Palmer recalled.

“I simply thought that simply fantastically illustrated EFT.”

Away from work, Johnson loved dancing, gardening and, after all, her household. She was a voracious reader and possessed a depraved sense of humour. Palmer questioned what folks on the Civic Hospital considered the laughter emanating from the household remedy clinic “after Sue mentioned one thing outrageous.”

In 2016, Johnson was made a member of the Order of Canada, an honour that made her break down in tears when she obtained the information. In 2022, she obtained the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Psychotherapy Community.

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Maintain Me Tight has offered over one million copies and been translated into 30 languages. In 2023, it was amongst seven titles advisable by the New York Occasions to “make your relationship stronger.” Extra lately, Johnson’s first work of fiction. Edgar and Elouise “for youths from 9 to 90 years olds”, makes use of animals, every with its personal quirks and foibles, to inform a saga of emotional progress.

Johnson died April 23 after a three-year battle with most cancers. She is survived by her husband, John, and kids Sarah, Tim and Emma.

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