ABSTRACT
The idea of the therapeutic alliance is easy to understand intuitively, but it is difficult to conceptualize. It is usually thought that the therapeutic alliance is more conscious than the transference neurosis, but this is not necessarily so. In most cases the patient emphasizes his cooperation, and then analysts have to interpret the other part, the resistance. But the opposite situation can occur with a melancholic or a psychopath, where the therapeutic alliance can be repressed, because it is the most unacceptable part, the most feared, the unconscious. More often, the transference is interpreted, and this strengthens the therapeutic alliance. Within the Kleinian school, it is Meltzer who attends most to the idea of therapeutic alliance through the adult part. According to Meltzer, the analyst's attitude should always depend on what really arises out of the material. One can criticize Meltzer in that at times one speaks to the adult part, and the one who hears is the child.
