Psychotherapeutic Alliance:A Review

The therapeutic alliance is an important factor in psychotherapy that is associated with the treatment outcomes for clients receiving mental health services. Out of the Babel of psychotherapy models, concepts, and techniques, the therapeutic alliance stands out as a measurable phenomenon that has been shown to have a robust effect on treatment outcome. The therapeutic alliance may be a "holy grail" of psychotherapy competency because it is a validated concept that is predictive of outcome, more powerfully predictive than alternative indices, clearly defined, easily measured, and may have educational and training value. In the present review the concept and component of therapeutic alliance, researches, the methods for measuring it, and its relationship with outcome has been discussed.