Dimensions of therapeutic alliance and their associations with outcome in family therapy

The relationship between the client and the therapist continues to be regarded as an important aspect of the therapeutic process. This study examined the various aspects of therapeutic alliance and their associations with treatment outcome in family therapy. The inclusion of two or more family members in the therapeutic process introduces complexity into the relation between alliance and outcome. Results of this study corroborate prior research demonstrating an association between alliance and therapeutic outcome. In addition, associations between alliance and outcome were stronger for wires compared to husbands. A more revealing finding was that when wipes' alliance scores were higher than husbands' scores, the outcome of therapy was reported to be more positive than when husbands' alliance scores were higher than wives' scores. Future directions for research investigating alliance in marriage and family therapy are discussed. About this time I ran into a former patient at the supermarket. I asked her to be frank - what went wrong during the therapy. I still remember her response, "you wouldn't even say hello." (At the time I was afraid that even a friendly greeting might contaminate the transference.) It was a bitter way to learn the truth-that if you're not joined well to the client system all the great interventions will never work. And you won't have a practice either! (Belson, 1993).