Therapeutic skills are an essential and indispensable tool for therapeutic work, so psychologists or psychotherapists must acquire these skills and put them into practice during sessions, as they do with approved psychological techniques.
The concept of therapeutic alliance, derived from the psychodynamic model, was introduced by Bordin several decades ago and can be conceptualized as an essential change ingredient in any therapeutic model, that is, an ingredient that must be present throughout the treatment if we want it to actually work.
- There are three components of this therapeutic alliance: the relationship between the client and the therapist.
- Determined by emotional tone and collaboration; agreement on the objectives to be achieved and agreement on the tasks to achieve these objectives.
Other authors, such as Rogers of humanist therapy, suggest that the ingredients that should be present in all therapies are the authenticity or consistency of the therapist, unconditional acceptance and client empathy.
In fact, Rogers believed that these elements were necessary and sufficient for the change to occur. In addition to the essential alliance, other skills are also needed to promote the creation of the alliance.
One of the most important therapeutic skills is the psychologist’s ability to establish a good alliance or relationship with his patient.
To study the variables to consider in the use of therapeutic skills, Sloane et al’s study was conducted. (1975) on the importance that patients attach to these variables and which they consider the reason for success, were grouped into five:
Other authors, such as Ackerman and Hilseroth (2003), have reviewed the literature on this topic and found that the characteristics of the therapist promoting the alliance are:
Currently, it can be concluded that there is a lot of information about the importance of the therapist’s characteristics in the results of treatment.
Studies indicate that treatment effectiveness and session reduction are significantly more important when using these strategies than when not performed.
Approximately half of the patients who use the treatment abandon it in the first session, so the first sessions are crucial in deciding whether or not to continue.
Some studies show that the first interview in which the patient and therapist are first seen is decisive in most cases.
So therapists who get patients to continue treatment show greater verbal ease and diagnostic skills.
If factors unrelated to treatment are isolated, such as the economic possibilities of the patients or travel to participate in the session, the authors agree to present two fundamental reasons for abandonment.
These are, on the one hand, the personal characteristics of the therapist and his disinterest in the proposed intervention approach; on the other hand, let the patient believe they have improved enough to decide not to continue.
The right time to establish a good alliance with the patient is between the third and fifth therapy sessions, however, the possibility of abandonment arises before this link can be established, in this sense, the therapist’s personality can go a long way to prevent the patient from abandoning it.
With regard to early abandonment, studies suggest that it is the verbal abilities of therapists that influence the ultimate success of treatment, to the point that the number of dropouts is significantly lower among therapists with these skills.
Therefore, in the light of studies, it is important that therapists acquire useful skills for therapy, it is not enough to have a good or broad knowledge, it is necessary to know when to put it into practice, how to present it and for what type. patient In this specific task, training helps a lot.