Am J Psychiatry 1981; 138:361-364
Copyright © 1981 by American Psychiatric Association
Therapeutic alliance scales: development and relationship to psychotherapy outcome
E Marziali, C Marmar and J Krupnick
The authors describe the development of patient and therapist alliance
scales and their application to the therapies of selected patients with
good and poor outcomes following brief psychodynamic psychotherapy. They
focus on therapist and patient contributions to the attitudinal- affective
climate of the therapy rather than on specific therapist techniques. The
findings support the value of separating the contributions to the
therapeutic alliance made individually by the therapist and the patient.
Only the patient's contribution to the therapeutic alliance was predictive
of outcome. Patients who developed and maintained positive attitudes toward
the therapist and the work of therapy achieved the greatest gains.
