Question

Describe the importance of the therapeutic relationship in the process of psychotherapy.

Answer 1

All psychotherapies aim at a few or all of the following goals:-

1. Reinforcing client’s resolve for betterment.

2. Lessening emotional pressure.

3. Unfolding the potential for positive growth.

4. Modifying habits.

5. Changing thinking patterns.

6. Increasing self-awareness.

7. Improving interpersonal relations and communication.

8. Facilitating decision-making.

9. Becoming aware of one’s choices in life.

10. Relating to one’s social environment in a more creative and self-aware manner.

The special relationship between the client and the therapist is known as the therapeutic relationship or alliance.

There are two major components of a therapeutic alliance :-

• The first component is the contractual nature of the relationship in which two willing individuals, the client and the therapist, enter into a partnership which aims at helping the client overcome her/his problems.

• The second component of therapeutic alliance is the limited duration of the therapy. This alliance lasts until the client becomes able to deal with her/his problems and take control of her/his life.

This relationship has several unique properties. It is a trusting and confiding relationship. The high level of trust enables the client to unburden herself/himself to the therapist and confide her/his psychological and personal problems to the latter. The therapist encourages this by being accepting, empathic, genuine and warm to the client. The therapist conveys by her/his words and behaviours that s/he is not judging the client and will continue to show the same positive feelings towards the client even if the client is rude or confides all the wrong things that s/he may have done or thought about.

The therapeutic alliance also requires that the therapist must keep strict confidentiality of the experiences, events, feelings or thoughts disclosed by the client. The therapist must not exploit the trust and the confidence of the client in anyway.