The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 40 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The alliance in mental health care: conceptualization, evidence and clinical applications
Open accessAbstract
The concept of alliance reflects the collaborative relationship between a clinician and a patient, defined as consisting of three elements: a) the agreement on the goals of treatment; b) the agreement on a task or series of tasks; c) the development of a bond. Although much of the theory and research on the alliance comes from the domain of psychotherapy, the concept is applicable to any practice involving a person seeking help and a socially sanctioned healer. An extensive research evidence suggests that the alliance (typically measured at the third or fourth session) is a robust predictor of the outcomes of various forms of psychotherapy, even when prior symptom improvement and other factors are considered. Both the clinician and the patient bring to the therapy situation different capacities to form an alliance. Factors concerning the patient include, among others, the diagnosis, attachment history and style, motivation, and needs for affiliation. However, the benefits of the alliance have been found to be mostly due to the therapist's contribution, in particular his/her facilitative interpersonal skills, including verbal fluency, communication of hope and positive expectations, persuasiveness, emotional expression; warmth, acceptance and understanding; empathy, and alliance rupture‐repair responsiveness. Placebo studies have allowed to experimentally manipulate aspects of the relationship between a therapist and a patient in non‐psychotherapy contexts. In these settings, two components of the relationship have emerged: an emotional one (involving being cared for and understood by the clinician) and a cognitive one (including the belief in the competence of the therapist to select and administer an effective treatment). Here we propose a model that describes three pathways through which the alliance creates benefits, named CARE (caring, attentive, real and empathic), EXPECTANCY, and SPECIFIC. Although research and clinical attention have mostly focused on the alliance between a clinician and a patient in face‐to‐face interactions, there is preliminary evidence concerning the alliance between patients and other clinic staff, systems of care, or the program in Internet‐mediated services. These new research areas clearly require further development.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
The role of deliberate practice in the acquisition of expert performance
Ericsson, K. A., Krampe, R. T., & Tesch-Römer, C. (1993) · Psychological Review · doi:10.1037/0033-295x.100.3.363 · Cited by 9,564
The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance.
Bordin, E. S. (1979) · Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice · doi:10.1037/h0085885 · Cited by 5,238
Development and validation of the working alliance inventory
Horvath, A. O., & Greenberg, L. S. (1989) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-0167.36.2.223 · Cited by 3,520
Relation of the therapeutic alliance with outcome and other variables: a meta-analytic review
Martin, D. J., Garske, J. P., & Davis, M. K. (2000) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037//0022-006x.68.3.438 · Cited by 3,355
Relation between working alliance and outcome in psychotherapy: A meta-analysis
Horvath, A. O., & Symonds, B. D. (1991) · Journal of Counseling Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-0167.38.2.139 · Cited by 2,673
Kirsch, I., Deacon, B. J., Huedo-Medina, T. B., Scoboria, A., Moore, T. J., & Johnson, B. T. (2008) · PLoS Medicine · doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0050045 · Cited by 2,442
Elkin, I. (1989) · Archives of General Psychiatry · doi:10.1001/archpsyc.1989.01810110013002 · Cited by 2,300
EXPERT AND EXCEPTIONAL PERFORMANCE: Evidence of Maximal Adaptation to Task Constraints
Ericsson, K. A., & Lehmann, A. C. (1996) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.47.1.273 · Cited by 2,139
Alliance in individual psychotherapy
Horvath, A. O., Del Re, A. C., Flückiger, C., & Symonds, D. (2011) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/a0022186 · Cited by 2,072
Self-citationThe disaggregation of within-person and between-person effects in longitudinal models of change
Curran, P. J., & Bauer, D. J. (2011) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.093008.100356 · Cited by 2,056
The Great Psychotherapy Debate: The Evidence for What Makes Psychotherapy Work
Wampold, B. E. (2015) · doi:10.4324/9780203582015 · Cited by 1,773
Self-citationThe alliance in adult psychotherapy: A meta-analytic synthesis
Flückiger, C., Del Re, A. C., Wampold, B. E., & Horvath, A. O. (2018) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/pst0000172 · Cited by 1,763
Self-citationHow important are the common factors in psychotherapy? An update
Wampold, B. E. (2015) · World Psychiatry · doi:10.1002/wps.20238 · Cited by 1,728
Self-citationThe role of the therapeutic alliance in psychotherapy.
Horvath, A. O., & Luborsky, L. (1993) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.61.4.561 · Cited by 1,279
Lending a Hand: Social Regulation of the Neural Response to Threat
Coan, J. A., Schaefer, H. S., & Davidson, R. J. (2006) · Psychological Science · doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01832.x · Cited by 1,218
Components of placebo effect: randomised controlled trial in patients with irritable bowel syndrome
Kaptchuk, T. J., Kelley, J. M., Conboy, L. A., Davis, R. B., Kerr, C. E., Jacobson, E. E., Kirsch, I., Schyner, R. N., Nam, B. H., Nguyen, L. T., et al. (2008) · BMJ · doi:10.1136/bmj.39524.439618.25 · Cited by 1,196
A Comprehensive Review of the Placebo Effect: Recent Advances and Current Thought
Price, D. D., Finniss, D. G., & Benedetti, F. (2008) · Annual Review of Psychology · doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.59.113006.095941 · Cited by 1,146
Frank, J. (1993) · doi:10.56021/9780801840678 · Cited by 1,094
Advancing social connection as a public health priority in the United States.
Holt-Lunstad, J., Robles, T. F., & Sbarra, D. A. (2017) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/amp0000103 · Cited by 978
Sudden gains and critical sessions in cognitive-behavioral therapy for depression.
Tang, T. Z., & DeRubeis, R. J. (1999) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.67.6.894 · Cited by 684
Baldwin, S. A., Wampold, B. E., & Imel, Z. E. (2007) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-006x.75.6.842 · Cited by 646
Self-citationHow expectancies shape experience.
(1999) · doi:10.1037/10332-000 · Cited by 639
Alliance Rupture Repair: A Meta-Analysis
Eubanks, C. F., Muran, J. C., & Safran, J. D. (2018) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/pst0000185 · Cited by 450
Therapeutic alliance as a mediator of change: A systematic review and evaluation of research
Baier, A. L., Kline, A. C., & Feeny, N. C. (2020) · Clinical Psychology Review · doi:10.1016/j.cpr.2020.101921 · Cited by 441
Altered Placebo and Drug Labeling Changes the Outcome of Episodic Migraine Attacks
Kam-Hansen, S., Jakubowski, M., Kelley, J. M., Kirsch, I., Hoaglin, D. C., Kaptchuk, T. J., & Burstein, R. (2014) · Science Translational Medicine · doi:10.1126/scitranslmed.3006175 · Cited by 399
Williams, W. C., Morelli, S. A., Ong, D. C., & Zaki, J. (2018) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/pspi0000132 · Cited by 352
Zilcha-Mano, S. (2017) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/a0040435 · Cited by 303
Stages of change and psychotherapy outcomes: A review and meta‐analysis
Krebs, P., Norcross, J. C., Nicholson, J. M., & Prochaska, J. O. (2018) · Journal of Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1002/jclp.22683 · Cited by 236
Karver, M. S., De Nadai, A. S., Monahan, M., & Shirk, S. R. (2018) · Psychotherapy · doi:10.1037/pst0000176 · Cited by 234
Patient and practitioner influences on the placebo effect in irritable bowel syndrome.
Kelley, J. M., Lembo, A. J., Ablon, J. S., Villanueva, J. J., Conboy, L. A., Levy, R., Marci, C. D., Kerr, C. E., Kirsch, I., Jacobson, E. E., et al. (2009) · Psychosomatic Medicine · doi:10.1097/psy.0b013e3181acee12 · Cited by 208
Placebo effect in the treatment of depression and anxiety
Kirsch, I. (2019) · Frontiers in Psychiatry · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2019.00407 · Cited by 205
Altering expectancy dampens neural response to aversive taste in primary taste cortex
Nitschke, J. B., Dixon, G. E., Sarinopoulos, I., Short, S. J., Cohen, J. D., Smith, E. E., Kosslyn, S. M., Rose, R. M., & Davidson, R. J. (2006) · Nature Neuroscience · doi:10.1038/nn1645 · Cited by 199
Graves, T. A., Tabri, N., Thompson‐Brenner, H., Franko, D. L., Eddy, K. T., Bourion‐Bedes, S., Brown, A., Constantino, M. J., Flückiger, C., Forsberg, S., et al. (2017) · International Journal of Eating Disorders · doi:10.1002/eat.22672 · Cited by 196
Flückiger, C., Rubel, J., Del Re, A. C., Horvath, A. O., Wampold, B. E., Crits-Christoph, P., Atzil-Slonim, D., Compare, A., Falkenström, F., Ekeblad, A., et al. (2020) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000594 · Cited by 180
Self-citationResearch on the alliance: Knowledge in search of a theory
Horvath, A. O. (2018) · Psychotherapy Research · doi:10.1080/10503307.2017.1373204 · Cited by 137
Examining therapist effects in the alliance–outcome relationship: A multilevel meta-analysis.
Del Re, A. C., Flückiger, C., Horvath, A. O., & Wampold, B. E. (2021) · Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology · doi:10.1037/ccp0000637 · Cited by 136
Self-citationDecoding the invisible forces of social connections
Cacioppo, S., & Cacioppo, J. T. (2012) · Frontiers in Integrative Neuroscience · doi:10.3389/fnint.2012.00051 · Cited by 87
Reconsidering rapid early response in cognitive behavioral therapy for depression.
Tang, T. Z., & DeRubeis, R. J. (1999) · Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice · doi:10.1093/clipsy.6.3.283 · Cited by 83
Beard, J. I. L., & Delgadillo, J. (2019) · Depression and Anxiety · doi:10.1002/da.22931 · Cited by 81
Is the therapeutic alliance overvalued in the treatment of eating disorders?
Brown, A., Mountford, V. A., & Waller, G. (2013) · International Journal of Eating Disorders · doi:10.1002/eat.22177 · Cited by 39
Cited by
Understanding Human-AI Collaboration in Music Therapy Through Co-Design with Therapists
Sun, J., Yang, J., Zhou, G., Jin, Y., & Gong, J. (2024) · Proceedings of the CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems · doi:10.1145/3613904.3642764 · Cited by 33
Commentary: AI psychosis is not a new threat: Lessons from media-induced delusions
Carlbring, P., & Andersson, G. (2025) · Internet Interventions · doi:10.1016/j.invent.2025.100882 · Cited by 31
Using computational models of learning to advance cognitive behavioral therapy
Berwian, I. M., Hitchock, P., Pisupati, S., Schoen, G., & Niv, Y. (2025) · Communications Psychology · doi:10.1038/s44271-025-00251-4 · Cited by 16
Sobowale, K., & Humphrey, D. K. (2025) · JMIR Formative Research · doi:10.2196/65605 · Cited by 15
O'Brien, C., Jellett, R., & Flower, R. L. (2025) · Autism in Adulthood · doi:10.1089/aut.2023.0135 · Cited by 10
Metadata
- Authors
- Wampold, B. E., & Flückiger, C.
- Venue
- World Psychiatry
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2023-01-14
- Volume
- 22
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 25-41
- ISSN
- 1723-8617 (ISSN-L)
- 2051-5545
- OpenAlex
- W4316143341
- Cited by
- 213
- References
- 40
- FWCI
- 57.87
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.