ABSTRACT
The notion of a therapeutic alliance as a bond, connection, attachment between client and therapist has been around since the early days of psychotherapy, and has stood up very well as a non-specific factor. Key contributors include therapist empathy, client and therapist attachment patterns and communication, and therapist characteristics and skills with rapport building and appropriate responsiveness being very important. Supporting the relevance of the therapeutic alliance, research consistently finds a link between a solid therapeutic alliance and psychotherapy outcomes spanning many conditions. Client examples are provided focusing on attachment and communication that demonstrate how interactive the therapeutic alliance truly is.
