Special Event: Is the Alliance Really Therapeutic?

Special Event:

Is the Alliance Really Therapeutic? Revisiting This Question in Light of Recent Empirical Studies

Thursday, May 9, 2019

8:00 – 10:00 pm

Presenter: Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Ph.D.

Discussant: Michele Press, M.D.

The therapeutic value of alliance is a contested supposition. Although many theorists and researchers believe that alliance is therapeutic in itself, others see it as a byproduct of effective treatment or as a common non-specific factor enabling the truly effective ingredients of treatment to work. For many years, the debate was confined mainly to the domain of theory, and no studies were available to examine this issue. The only empirical evidence that existed was studies showing a correlation between alliance and outcome, and advocates of the above conflicting opinions used the same correlation to prove the validity of their position. Over the last few years, however, a revolution has taken place in alliance research, which brings this theoretical debate into the realm of the empirical. Recent alliance studies have applied advanced methodologies to achieve this aim. Based on an integration of these studies, a new model for understanding the potential therapeutic role of alliance as sufficient to induce change by itself emerges. The model stresses the importance of differentiating between patients’ general tendencies to form satisfying relationships with others, which affect also the relationship with the therapist (“trait-like” component of alliance), and the process of the development of changes in such tendencies through interaction with the therapist (“state-like” component of alliance). The former enables treatment to be effective; the latter makes alliance therapeutic. Based on the most recent literature, the presentation attempts to determine which of these components is the predictor of treatment outcome. 

2 CME/CE credits offered. 

Dr. Zilcha-Mano is an Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology in the Department of Psychology, University of Haifa, and a Visiting Associate Professor at the Healthy Aging and Late Life Brain Disorders Program, Columbia University. She heads the Psychotherapy Research Lab in the Department of Psychology, University of Haifa.

Michele Press, M.D. is President and Training and Supervising Analyst at NYPSI where she also co-teaches advanced psychoanalytic technique. She is clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at New York University Langone Medical Center where she teaches a course on advanced psychodynamic technique to PGY-3 residents in psychiatry.

Educational Objectives: Upon completion of this activity, participants will be able to:

1. Describe the most recent research on alliance.
2. Consider the implications of the new knowledge for day-to-day clinical practice.
3. Identify the specific strategies to strengthen the alliance and affect treatment outcome.