ABSTRACT
In any interpersonal setting, when two people come together their interactive styles may complement each other’s or may conflict in some way. However, just because such styles complement each other, it should not necessarily be assumed that effective therapy may therefore be enhanced. E.S. Bordin’s original formulation of the working alliance comprised three components: bonds, goals and tasks. Different approaches to therapy have posited preferred interpersonal styles between client and therapist. For instance, the preferred interpersonal style in A.T. Beck’s Cognitive Therapy is for the two participants to collaborate actively in working with cognitive-behavioural elements of the client’s problems. The interpersonal therapist styles, instead of existing as either/or categories, may vary along a continuum. Work emerging from social psychology in North America in the 1980s suggested that it would be useful to regard the therapeutic relationship as an interpersonal setting where influence may take place.
