Developing the therapeutic alliance in child-adolescent psychotherapy

Discusses psychotherapy process research on the therapeutic alliance (TH) in child and adolescent psychotherapy (CP). The available literature on TH focuses mainly on adults and may not be relevant to CP. In CP, the client is not self-referred and hence may be resistant to treatment. E.S. Bordin's (1975) tripartite model of TH provides a starting point for considering issues relevant to CP. Components of this model include agreements on goals and tasks of therapy and on the development of the TH. Traditional CP theories ignore the goals and tasks aspects of TH. Three approaches to this problem are suggested: a combination of emotional script theory and social problem-solving skills training, motivational interviewing, and strategies for overcoming resistance from strategic therapy. Multimodal approaches that combine all 3 strategies may be used by therapists to build TH in CP. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)