Negotiating the Therapeutic Alliance: A Relational Treatment Guide

A half-century of psychotherapy research has shown that the quality of the therapeutic alliance is the most robust predictor of treatment success. This unique book provides a systematic framework for negotiating ruptures and strains in the therapeutic alliance and transforming them into therapeutic breakthroughs. Cutting-edge developments in psychoanalysis and other modalities are synthesized with original research and clinical wisdom gleaned from years of work in the field. The result is a practical and highly sophisticated guide that spells out clear principles of intervention while at the same time inspiring therapists toward greater creativity. "This is a brilliant book. Informed by the authors' internationally recognized research program on ruptures in the therapeutic alliance, the book is enlightening in two major ways. First, its focus on ruptures opens a route to understanding the nature and utility of the therapeutic alliance. Second, the authors show how to negotiate ruptures, offering a veritable guide to moving from rupture to healing. Focusing on an important and neglected area of clinical training, this is an invaluable text for beginning and advanced psychotherapy courses." - Lester Luborsky An unparalleled achievement....Among the few comprehensive texts that truly integrates ongoing empirical research with cutting-edge developments in clinical psychoanalysis, as well as elements of other therapeutic modalities....This book will be used both as a classroom text and as a sourcebook for working clinicians, researchers, and theorists. - Lewis Aron The quality of the therapeutic alliance is the most powerful predictor of success in psychotherapy. Given the inevitability of stresses, strains, and breakdowns in that alliance, the identification and repair of these difficulties are among the most important skills for the psychotherapist to acquire....[This book] belongs in the library of every mental health professional who practices or teaches psychotherapy. - American Journal of Psychiatry