Therapeutic Alliance

1517 Words7 Pages
Introduction, Context and Overview: This essay will define the therapeutic alliance. It focuses on the key elements of the therapeutic alliance and the importance of the therapeutic relationship. It discusses the importance of the relationship in the therapeutic process and it will compare and contrast different therapeutic approaches and their views on what’s deemed important to the therapeutic alliance. Main Body of Paper: The therapeutic alliance has been described as possibly being the most important part of beginning psychotherapy. In fact, many studies indicate that the alliance is the best predictor of treatment outcome. The therapeutic alliance is defined as the mutual human response of patient and therapist to each other, including…show more content…
The first component is the relationship or bond between the therapist and client. This aims to focuses on the interpersonal relationship between the therapist and the client. The second component is the unity between the therapist and client regarding the techniques used in the therapy. The last component is the consensus between therapist and client regarding the goals of therapy. Mahrer’s (1967) stated that the goal of counselling is to overcome emotional disturbance and promote positive growth (Casemore, 2011). Ed Bordin stated that the ability of the therapist to draw on knowledge of all three components discussed may contribute to the establishment and the maintenance of a healthy…show more content…
They feel that it is mistaken to overstress the relationship since it confuses the goal of helping a client manage a problem better. They do accept that such a goal cannot be achieved if the relationship is poor, but feel that an over-emphasized relationship can be a distraction from the real work to be done (Egan, 2002). This therapeutic approach would for example be beneficial for the passive client. If a client has appeared to be passive all their life they would benefit from direction in therapy. Albert Ellis proposes that recently there has been a one-sided emphasis on relationship as the vital element in therapy. He states that while a good therapeutic relationship is usually important to help people feel better, good theory and technique are actually more important to help a client get

More about Therapeutic Alliance

Open Document