The ultimate goal of Emotion-Focused Therapy is to place attention on the importance of emotions in addressing depression, addiction, relationship issues, and other mental health challenges. The first step is to increase emotional awareness. This is often easier said than done, especially when the natural reaction is to try to avoid feelings and experiences that are negative, unpleasant, or distressing. EDT teaches to instead acknowledge unpleasant emotions so they can potentially be used as an instrument for growth and change.

Once someone learns to become more aware of their emotions, they are taught how to regulate and ultimately transform them. Regulation starts by evaluating whether or not emotions are helpful or unhelpful. When unhelpful emotions are identified, Emotion-Focused Therapy teaches how to change them while also developing healthy mechanisms for coping. Through EFT, people learn to experience, rather than suppress, their emotions and ultimately come to see them as valuable sources of information instead of painful or difficult states. Seeing and using emotions in this way is particularly useful for addressing mental health problems such as anxiety, depression, mood disorders, and relationship issues.