Therapeutic Alliance: Interpersonal Psychotherapy

What do you see as the main differences between the medical model and the interactional model in professional social work practice? There several difference differences between the medical model and the interaction model. One main difference is that there are more treatment option with the interaction model that the medical model. This is only because the medical model is linear (Shulman, 2012, p. 7). The medical model order is studying, diagnosing, treating and evaluating.

This first topic will be a reflection of content that has been applied to and the strengths of the roleplay. The very start of the therapy process from the point to meeting a client is very important to engage the therapeutic alliance (Wener, et al., 2015, p. 312). A way to start engaging with the alliance is by presenting an open and respectful manner to the client, during the role play this initial phrase was

There are a multitude of reasons why an individual may need or want therapy; whether it’s due to learning how to cope with a mental disorder or disability, life happenings such as traumas or abuse, addictions, or even PTSD. Anybody can receive it – individual persons, families, or groups. It isn’t hard to argue that most therapists and psychologists will agree that the therapeutic alliance is one of the most beneficial foundations of a therapy session. Also referred to as the working alliance or working relationship, it represents the bond between therapist and

As previously mentioned, it is thought that engagement and understanding are key elements involved in creating and maintaining a therapeutic relationship (Orlinskey et al 1994). Throughout the risk assessment I checked the patients

Self- help meetings can be used for a variety of reasons or addictions, from Alcoholics, Narcotics, over eaters, cancer support, and many other things. These meetings, while the reasons that people are in them might be different all have the fact that people are there for help or support in common. This paper will discuss the therapeutic alliance of AA, the therapeutic factors, and pros/ cons of AA in terms of counseling therapy.

Therapeutic relationship is defined as the collaboration and attachment between the client and therapist that focuses on meeting the health care needs of the client (Bordin, 1979). In this relationship, the therapist without prejudice shows Empathy, insight, understanding and acceptance of the client. Duan and Hill (1996) defined Empathy as “feeling into” the experience of the client. Over the years, the research evidence keeps piling up, and indicating a high degree of Empathy in a Therapeutic relationship is possibly one of the most potent factors in bringing about positive outcome in the therapy

Research has shown that a strong therapeutic alliance is necessary for establishing a beneficial contact between the therapist and the client. If the therapist does not encourage the creation of a reliable therapeutic alliance from the beginning of the treatment, it will be hard to develop a constructive relationship with the client later. Establishing the therapeutic alliance will increase the chances of achieving the goal of the treatment because the clients will be willing to cooperate if they trust and respect the therapist. Clients are not likely to cooperate with therapists who impose their authority aggressively. Instead of imposing their authority on the patient, therapists should develop work with their patients by

By examining the bond between a therapist and his client we can further understand how important the role of therapeutic alliance is in treatment outcome. The authors point out that therapeutic alliance plays a major positive impact on the outcome of therapy. Individuals who build good therapeutic alliances with their therapists experience more productive and effective therapy than individuals who do not.

There are many values this writer wishes to incorporate into a counseling relationship. The fundamental values this writer wishes to incorporate are: flexibility, self-awareness, self-regulation, and empathy. The ability to be flexible and alter what one does in order to fit the client’s needs is crucial to establishing and maintaining a therapeutic relationship. Flexibility can be demonstrated in many different ways, such as the way the therapist interacts with the client, the tone of voice that is utilized, down to the way the therapist provides material to the client. In being flexible, treatment is able to remain focused on the client and his or her needs (Egan, 2014).

Interpersonal therapy (IPT) is a derivative of therapy designed for depressed individuals, which originated from the New Haven-Boston Collaborative Depression Project (Fairburn et al 1993). It borrows from the psychodynamic school of psychology, but concentrates on interpersonal functioning and involves three steps: 1) the first is an intensive analysis of the interpersonal context which the disorder develops and is maintained 2) the second involves addressing the interpersonal problems and contracting with the patients to work on these problems 3) the third deconstructs feelings about termination of therapy, reviews progress and outlines future work (Fairburn et al. 1993).

In the study, “Optimizing the alliance in couple therapy”, the researchers recruited participants through the media and referrals from professionals. For each participant, thorough interviews were conducted. Fifty-three couples were interviewed, 47 of those couples met the criteria, and 3 of the couples dropped out. Couples were excluded if they had a past of sexual abuse, violence, and psychotic episodes. In this study, only heterosexual couples participated because there were no gay or lesbian couples that volunteered. All the volunteers were Caucasian except one couple. A descriptive analysis of the clients’ age, marital status, occupation, and education was considered. Furthermore, all the couples paid 30% of the cost of the treatment to

There are many variables that influence the success of therapy for the client, none more so than the therapeutic relationship. The therapeutic relationship is defined as the strength and collaborative relationship between the client and therapist that emphasises mutually agreed goals and tasks within the context of a strong affective bond (Horvath, 1994.) In the therapeutic relationship, the clinician offers care, touch, compassion, presence, and any other act or attitude that would foster healing, and expects nothing in return (Trout, 2013.) Some clinicians believe that the “therapeutic relationship is a precondition of change, others as the fertile soil that permits change, while others see it as the central mechanism of change itself” (Norcross, 2010.) This is not to devalue other variables that impact the success of the therapy such as client involvement and the treatment method.

When a client attends individual therapy, the focus is traditionally on the client and their internal thoughts, feelings, and perceptions. A relational therapy would encourage an inward look, but also a recognition that the goal of therapy is to help the client not to understand themselves through introspection, but to relate to others well and to experience belonging (Slife & Wiggins, 2009). RACT theorizes that interpersonal problems are often what bring clients into the therapy room and good relational connections with the therapist and others is often what they are looking for. As Wachtel (2008) explains, relational therapy is less of an interview or an examination and more of a conversation. Relational therapy is a relationship and has the potential to be a good healing one as therapist and client(s) work towards common goals.

In the following sections I have presented some of the therapeutic experiments we have found useful for enhancing our alliances and enriching client engagement. The reason we have chosen the word experiment is in helping practitioners to remember how important reframing client resistance can be. A student may actually be reluctant to engage for good reason. Maybe they have been through numerous treatment attempts and have little hope in how effective psychotherapy can be. In these cases, we do not want to label our clients as resistant to change and, likewise, do not want our practice to be resistant to fitting in with the needs of the client.

Among the three main approaches to insight therapy (psychoanalysis, client-centered, or group therapy), the one that l believe has the most reasonable way to deal with psychological problems, is client-centered therapy. Client-centered therapy is an insight therapy that emphasizes providing a supportive emotional climate for clients, who play a major role in determining the pace and direction of their therapy (pg. 459). According to Carl Rogers, the man who devised client-centered therapy, three elements were necessary to promote positive changes in therapy: Genuineness (honest communication), Unconditional positive regard (therapist remains supportive, non-judgmental) and Empathy (therapist understands issues from client’s point of view) (pg. 460). In following these three elements, client and therapist were working together equally and helped client become more aware of themselves and even feel more comfortable with their therapist and the idea of therapy. Some people don’t seek help because they feel therapy might be too intimidating for them or it’s a step that they fear having to take. I can agree with this, because from my personal experience, l had pushed off therapy for so long because l was afraid to admit that l needed it.