Therapeutic relationship

The therapeutic relationship, also called the helping alliance, the therapeutic alliance, and the working alliance refers to the relationship between a mental health professional and a patient. It is the means by which the professional hopes to engage with, and effect change in, a patient.

While much early work on this subject was generated from a psychodynamic perspective, researchers from other orientations have since investigated this area. It has been found to predict treatment adherence (compliance) and concordance and outcome across a range of patient diagnoses and treatment settings. Research on the statistical power of the therapeutic relationship now reflects more than 1,000 findings.

Several scales have been developed to assess the patient-professional relationship in therapy, including the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI), the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory and the California Psychotherapy Alliance Scales (CALPAS). The Scale To Assess Relationships (STAR) was specifically developed to measure the therapeutic relationship in community psychiatry, or within care in the community settings .