Catherine F. Eubanks

This book presents alliance-focused training (AFT), which helps therapists better anticipate, recognize, and repair ruptures in the therapeutic alliance. Decades of clinical research and experience have proven the essential contribution of the therapeutic alliance to psychological change and positive outcomes in therapy. A key element of a successful alliance is the ability to anticipate and navigate the inevitable misunderstandings and miscommunications that can lead to ruptures in the therapeutic relationship if unaddressed. But many therapists lack this ability, and they require training to fully address ruptures and repair therapeutic relationships with their clients. In this book, authors J. Christopher Muran, Catherine F. Eubanks, Lisa Wallner Samstag, and James Macdonald present alliance focused training (AFT), an empirically-supported, transtheoretical protocol which has been shown to increase patients’ expressiveness, which is a key component in positive outcomes in therapy, as well as therapists’ ability to recognize and tolerate their own negative reactions to clients. In AFT, therapists are given the opportunity to experiment with metacommunication, by which they can better explore their own internal experience and recognize conflicts as they emerge during alliance ruptures. Chapters first describe the background and research that led to the development of the protocol; next, the protocol itself is presented, with chapters on rupture recognition and rupture repair, via didactic instruction and experiential exercises. Then, rich and extensive case examples demonstrate how therapists can successfully use the protocol to identify and repair real ruptures with clients, and lead to long-lasting therapeutic change.

This book draws on performance research from the cognitive and emotion sciences to help therapists negotiate the difficult emotional challenges they face in psychotherapy. Therapists perform under pressure regularly, especially when encountering patients who evoke challenging emotions that mark ruptures in the patient amp ndash therapist alliance. Authors Chris Muran and Catherine Eubanks synthesize decades of accumulated clinical knowledge and experience to provide psychotherapists, supervisors, and trainees with effective strategies for recognizing and repairing ruptures. In doing so, they demonstrate how therapists from diverse theoretical orientations can transform ruptures from potential breaking points into opportunities for strengthening alliances with patients and improving outcomes. Clinical illustrations show therapists how to negotiate basic and self-conscious emotions and navigate individual and cultural differences. This book also reviews strategies and principles for therapist self-care and training via supervision to help therapists better regulate their emotions and become good models for their patients. This book also includes the complete Rupture Resolution Rating System (or 3RS) manual, a popular assessment tool for measuring alliance ruptures and repair strategies.