FACES Intervention

A tool to aid in recognising and experiencing emotional states.

FACES Intervention aims to improve two main skills that are theorised to be the crux of how emotions are recognised in others. According to the literature, the two main ways in which we determine emotion in others is by: 1) attending to and understanding important emotional cues and 2) having experienced that emotion ourselves; therefore referring to our own similar emotional experiences. Consequently the goals of this treatment program are:

i. To teach participants to attend to facial features/regions that are most important for determining emotion (eye region: brows and lids; and mouth).
ii. To use personal emotional experience to relate to and identify emotions in others.

There are two main components to this program. One component uses a series of questions to familiarise participants with facial expressions. The other piece uses elaborate discussion to help the participant relate to the emotions being discussed, through awareness of their own personal emotional experiences. Both components of this program are interwoven and require a lot of interaction between the participant and the therapist.