Therapist Differentiation and Couple Clients' Perceptions of Therapeutic Alliance

Abstract

Therapeutic alliance has been acknowledged as one of the catalysts for change within a therapeutic relationship. The contributions of therapists' characteristics to alliance are not often studied. From a Bowen System's Theory perspective, the therapist's level of differentiation would be highly relevant to the development of a therapeutic alliance. The hypothesis for this study was that therapists who are able to take a more differentiated stance in therapy will build a stronger therapeutic alliance. To test this hypothesis, multilevel modeling procedures were performed, using data from nine therapists and 93 couple cases collected at a large, Midwestern university. Therapist differentiation of self was found to be weakly associated with the clients' perception of therapeutic alliance across the early sessions of therapy, but not in the expected direction. Although the results were unexpected, this study provides an example of the potential of examining therapist characteristics from within one model of therapy, that can be applied across various clients and various models of therapy.

Therapist effects on dropout in couple therapy

“…The results of the study showing that therapist gender was not a significant predictor of therapist effects is consistent with previous couple therapy research (Bartle‐Haring et al, 2016; Owen et al, 2014). In addition, this study found that therapist experience was not a significant predictor of therapist effects in couple therapy.…”

“…The researchers found that therapist variables were one of the model‐independent themes that contributed to successful outcomes, suggesting that attributes of the therapist were an important ingredient in successful MFT therapy. In a study of nine therapists and 93 couples, Bartle‐Haring et al (2016) found that 4% of variability of the couple bond dimension of the therapeutic alliance over the first six sessions was attributed to the therapist. However, as part of the preliminary analysis in a study of the therapeutic alliance and dropout in individual, couple, and family therapy, authors of another study found that there were no significant therapist effects in the therapeutic alliance after one session (Anderson et al, 2019).…”

“…The research on therapist experience in couple therapy is also mixed. The study on therapist effects in the development of the therapeutic alliance found that therapist experience was positively predictive of the therapeutic alliance among female partners, but not among male partners (Bartle‐Haring et al, 2016). The study of therapist effects on couple therapy in Norway found that the amount of experience that therapists had specifically doing couple therapy was positively predictive of better therapy outcomes (Owen et al, 2014).…”

Stressful Life Events and Physical and Psychological Health: Mediating Effects of Differentiation of Self in a Spanish Sample

“…More highly differentiated health professionals might better enable clients to develop healthy ways of relating in the face of stress, thereby improving client psychological and physical well‐being. This area is rarely researched, and future studies should clarify inconsistent empirical findings on if and how the therapist's differentiation benefits the therapeutic relationship and client outcomes (Bartle‐Haring, Shannon, Bowers, & Holowacz, ; Lambert & Friedlander, ).…”

A Primer for the Use of Multilevel Models in Couple and Family Therapy Research

“…There are other nuances and issues that need to be understood in MLM analyses that go beyond this primer as well. We invite the reader to explore articles that have been published that use MLM such as Bartle‐Haring, Shannon, Bowers and Holowacz (2016), Bartle‐Haring, Knerr, Adkins, et al (2012), Lyons and Sayer (2005), and Sevier, Atkins, Doss, and Christensen (2015).…”