The Evolution of the Interaction Between the Therapeutic Alliance and the Therapist’s Interventions in a Single Case Psychodynamic Study

WAIZMANN, VANINA; ROUSSOS, ANDRES

Snatiago

Congreso; 40st Annual Meeting of the Society for Psychotherapy Research.; 2009

Society for Psychotherapy Research

Aim. The therapeutic alliance is a sensitive factor to several aspects of the patient-therapist dyad. The dialogic process involved in a psychotherapeutic treatment shows the interaction between the therapist’s interventions and how the alliance unfolds. Methods. The present study worked on a single case psychodynamic psychotherapy, assessing the relationship between the fluctuations in the therapeutic alliance and the psychotherapeutic interventions implemented by the treating therapist. The material used in the study were 33 clinical sessions of the case, which were audio-recorded and transcribed. Interventions were analyzed independently by trained judges using the MCPI, a schema of psychotherapeutic interventions developed by Roussos et al. (2003, 2006). Besides, trained judges evaluated therapeutic alliance with the WAI observer form (Horvath, 1981). Results. The relation between the psychotherapeutic interventions and the level of the therapeutic alliance was studied in terms of the interventions´ theoretical specificity and non specificity, their type and the themes included in them, and the level of alliance obtained.Discussion. Issues regarding the theoretical specificity of interventions will be addressed.