The Therapeutic Relationship: In Psychoanalysis, Counselling Psychology and Psychotherapy

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Several scales have been developed to assess the patient-professional relationship in therapy, including the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), [11] the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory, [12] and the California Psychotherapy Alliance Scales (CALPAS). [13] The Scale To Assess Relationships (STAR) was specifically developed to measure the therapeutic relationship in community psychiatry, or within care in the community settings. [14] See also [ edit ] The person-to-person relationship is the core or real emotional connection – as opposed to a professional relationship with say your doctor or dentist.

Petruska was born October 31 st 1947 in Pretoria, South Africa. She died May 2006 taking her own life. Sadly there is very little information on the reason why Clarkson took her life. However her work is still very much alive today in Clarkson’s Five Relationships. Counselling and psychotherapy rely, to a great extent on building a human connection with clients, where a deep level of trust is established, this transcends any modality, this is seen to a great extent in the work of Carl Rogers. Symington, N. (1981) The Psychotherapy of a Subnormal Patient. British Journal of Medical Psychology, 54, 187-199 Miller, M. E. (2000) The Mutual Influence and Involvement of Therapist and Patient; Co-Contributors to Maturation and Integrity, In Young-Eisendrath, P, and Miller, M. E. (Eds) The Psychology of Mature Spirituality. Routledge. Bender, M. (1993) The unoffered chair: the history of therapeutic disdain towards people with a learning difficulty. Clinical Psychology Forum, 54, 7-12.Clarkson (1995 p181) describes the transpersonal relationship as “the timeless facet of the psychotherapeutic relationship, which is impossible to describe, but refers to the spiritual dimension of the healing relationship.” She suggests a relationship “analagous to that of the marital pair” with its potential for space and fruitfulness, writing about the “sacred space.” Wells, S., 2009. A Qualitative Study of Cognitive Analytic Therapy as Experienced by Clients with Learning Disabilities. Reformulation, Winter, pp.21-23. In the 1950s, Carl Rogers had written a paper entitled ‘ The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Therapeutic Personality Change’, published in the Journal of Consulting Psychology. This introduced the idea that the therapeutic relationship is key, and three of the conditions – congruence, unconditional positive regard and empathy, which have subsequently become known as the ‘core conditions’ – have come to be accepted by practitioners of all modalities as vital to establishing this relationship. It is increasingly accepted that CAT can be used effectively with people with learning disability. Experience, gathered by a few practitioners working in the field and pooled in a special interest group has been summarised by Ryle and Kerr (2002 p172).

Psaila, C.L. and Crowley, V., 2006. Cognitive Analytic Therapy in People with Learning Disabilities: an Investigation into the Common Reciprocal Roles Found Within this Client Group. Reformulation, Winter, pp.5-11. Greenhill, B., 2011. "They have behaviour, we have relationships?". Reformulation, Winter, pp.10-15. Cognitive Analytic Therapy in People with Learning Disabilities: an Investigation into the Common Reciprocal Roles Found Within this Client Group In counselling we call this empathy and this is mirrored across many approaches such as person-centred and psychoanalytic theory. Carl Rodgers first said this was one of the necessary conditions required for successful therapy to take place, along with genuineness and unconditional positive regard, those were referred to as the core conditions. The therapeutic alliance is very important in Relationship Psychology, this is where you make a contract with your clients. Ensuring you make sure that the time, the place and the cost are discussed, and the client is motivated and responsible. Many counsellors from my experience don’t do this properly, this can be very damaging from the get go.Client perception: That the client perceives, to at least a minimal degree, the therapist's unconditional positive regard and empathic understanding. In relationship psychology, The Five Relationships states that to achieve an “Intersubjective Relationship”in counselling requires all three components to be met; The Intersubjective Relationship Gelso, C.J. & Samstag, L.W. (2008). A Tripartite Model of the Therapeutic Relationship. Handbook of Counseling Psychology (4th ed.). (pp. 267-280).