Evidence-Based Therapy Relationships

In 2009, the American Psychological Association Division of Psychotherapy along with the Division of Clinical Psychology commissioned a second task force on evidence-based therapy relationships to update the research base and clinical practices on the psychotherapist–patient relationship. This chapter begins by tracing the purpose and processes of the interdivisional Task Force. It explicates the need for identifying evidence-based elements of the therapy relationship and means of matching or adapting treatment to the individual. In a tentative way, it offers two models to account for psychotherapy outcome as a function of various therapeutic factors (e.g., patient, relationship, technique). The latter part of the chapter features the limitations of the Task Force's work and responds to frequently asked questions.