ABSTRACT
This chapter explains what the essential ingredient of an effective therapeutic relationship might be and initiates to think about the therapeutic relationship in terms of two people both seeking to achieve goals. The three principles of control, conflict, and reorganisation provide a focus for understanding how the therapeutic relationship works to enable the reduction in psychological distress. The importance of the therapeutic relationship is well accepted in counselling and psychotherapy. Sometimes, distinctions are made between the therapeutic relationship and the therapeutic alliance, although the extent to which these two things may be similar or different is not a central concern from the principles-based approach to counselling and psychotherapy. Like other therapeutic approaches, Method Of Levels (MOL) also endorses the emphasis on the therapeutic relationship. MOL therapists think of clients as living control systems, so the focus is always about trying to understand the states they are maintaining by the actions that can be observed.
