Therapeutic alliance rupture as a therapy event for empirical investigation.

Abstract

An alliance rupture consists of an impairment or fluctuation in the quality of the alliance between the therapist and client. Alliance ruptures vary in intensity, duration and frequency, depending on the particular therapist-client dyad. In more extreme cases, the client may overtly indicate negative sentiments to the therapist or even terminate therapy prematurely. At the other end of the continuum are minor fluctuations in the quality of the therapeutic alliance which may be extremely difficult for the outside observer or for even the skilled therapist to detect. While the features of alliance ruptures vary from case to case, most therapy cases, even the more successful ones, are characterized by at least one or more ruptures in the therapeutic alliance over the course of therapy. While much of what we will have to say in the course of our discussion will ring true to the reader, our intention is to unpack familiar concepts such as the therapeutic alliance in a fashion which leads to more differentiated understanding and research.