Volume 19, Issue 2
Interpersonal Transactions in Alliance Rupture Episodes: A case study analysis of a dropout
Abstract
In this study we present the intensive analysis of a dropout case in which several unrepaired rupture events were identified. We focused our analysis on the therapist´s contribution to these unresolved episodes. The number of therapist intervention attempts was about four times less than the number of expected interventions according to Rupture Resolution Models. The main therapist´s failures were: inability to attend to the rupture marker; inability to validate the client's emotional experience and to acknowledge her own responsibility for the problem. Therapist´s assessment indicated a good interpersonal and psychological functioning which suggests that her inability to adequately resolve ruptures was less related with this kind of variable and more related to the level of clinical experience and training/supervision factors.
Keywords
therapeutic alliance; alliance ruptures; therapist variables