Effects of graduate clinicians' personal therapy on therapeutic alliance

This study investigates the effects of clinician personal therapy on therapeutic alliance early in treatment. Therapists who had received personal therapy assessed 30 outpatients, and therapists who had not undergone personal therapy assessed 30 outpatients. These groups of patients were matched on key demographic, diagnostic and psychiatric severity data. Results demonstrated no significant group differences on patient-rated alliance. Significant differences were observed for the therapist-rated alliance variables of therapist confidence, goal and task agreement, as well as overall alliance, with higher scores from those therapists who had received personal therapy. In addition, significant differences were found in the number of therapy sessions attended, with the treatments of those therapists who had received personal therapy being twice as long. The impact of personal therapy in relation to structured training and a therapeutic model of assessment on graduate clinicians' ability to form positive collaborative relationships with their patients is discussed.