THE CONCEPT OF THE ALLIANCE AND ITS ROLE IN PSYCHOTHERAPY - THEORETICAL AND EMPIRICAL CONSIDERATIONS

The alliance represents a promising construct for understanding change process in therapy. While theoretically sound and clinically useful, empirical evidence supports its predictive validity of psychotherapy outcome. The diverse theoretical perspectives on the alliance are reviewed and contrasted. Empirical results on the dimensionality of the various alliance measures are presented. Methodological recommendations are proposed. The predictive validity of the alliance is examined, as are the various hypothesized functions played by the alliance. Possible research strategies are suggested.