Counseling Adults With Food Allergies After an Anaphylactic Reaction: An Application of Emotion-Focused Therapy

Little information is known about how counselors may work with adult clients regarding psychosocial sequelae of food allergies. The current article aims to provide counselors with a deeper understanding of life-threatening food allergies, ways in which adults may attempt to manage food allergies in adulthood, and emotional reactions that may occur after experiencing anaphylaxis. This article discusses ways that counselors can utilize emotion-focused therapy (EFT) interventions to help adult food-allergic clients process emotional reactions after experiencing anaphylaxis due to an ingested food allergen. Both in-session and at-home EFT strategies are discussed. EFT for trauma is discussed as a potential direction for future counseling research. Medical family therapy is discussed as a potential direction for counseling practice so that counselors may have a framework for working with other health-care professionals to help address food-allergic adult clients' psychosocial needs.