Decades of research show that the working alliance, or the degree of agreement between a client and therapist on the goals and tasks of therapy and the quality of their affective bond (Bordin, 1979), is positively associated with clinical outcomes (Fluckiger et al., 2018). However, there are sometimes ruptures in the working alliance, or instances […]
Abstract This article demonstrates the digital assessment of two clients over the course of five psychotherapy sessions with very different outcomes. One was very successful and the other minimally successful or possibly a “failure.” Both clients experienced ART (Accelerated Resolution Therapy) in session four before terminating. They also did the exercises in chapters one, two, […]
Abstract Supervision is often conceived of as the “instructional strategy that most characterizes the preparation of mental health professionals” (Bernard & Goodyear, 2019; p. 2). Engaging in this process fully and authentically inevitably involves being vulnerable in front of and with one’s supervisor in an effort to learn and grow. To more fully understand the […]
In an effort to curb the transmission of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) that emerged in late 2019, the use of telehealth technology became a necessity for individuals in need of healthcare services to communicate with their healthcare providers (Wosik et al., 2020). Teletherapy, which is a form of telehealth, uses online video conferencing to provide […]
For more than 20 years, our attachment research teams at Western Michigan University (WMU) have been using Bowlby’s attachment theory to examine important psychotherapy process and outcome variables. What have we found? Generally speaking, client and therapist attachment do matter in psychotherapy—often times, in many of the same ways that John Bowlby would have predicted. […]
Abstract The alliance continues to be one of the most investigated variables related to success in psychotherapy irrespective of theoretical orientation. We define and illustrate the alliance (also conceptualized as therapeutic alliance, helping alliance, or working alliance) and then present a meta-analysis of 295 independent studies that covered more than 30,000 patients (published between 1978 […]