Episode 11: "Alliance Rupture and Repair" with Catherine Eubanks, PhD

Catherine Eubanks, PhD is co-director of the Center for Alliance-Focused Training, and professor of clinical psychology at Adelphi University. She is a fellow of the American Psychological Association and received the Outstanding Early Career Achievement Award from the Society for Psychotherapy Research in 2015. Dr. Eubanks helped to develop the Rupture Resolution Rating System and is coauthor of Therapist Performance under Pressure: Negotiating Emotion, Difference and Rupture. She also recently released Rupture and Repair in Psychotherapy as part of the APA Video Series.

In this episode, Bruce and Catherine discuss the importance of a good working therapeutic alliance, particularly how to recognize and repair ruptures in the alliance, both big and small. They identify the most common markers of alliance ruptures, and talk about how clinical supervisors can work with therapists in training to better recognize these markers. They also talk about supervision of supervisors, and other applications of the alliance rupture framework outside of psychotherapy.

Learn more about Catherine’s work at: https://www.therapeutic-alliance.org/

References:

Bordin, E. S. (1979). The generalizability of the psychoanalytic concept of the working alliance. Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, 16(3), 252–260. https://doi.org/10.1037/h0085885

Stiles, W. B., Glick, M. J., Osatuke, K., Hardy, G. E., Shapiro, D. A., Agnew- Davies, R., Rees, A., & Barkham, M. (2004). Patterns of alliance development and the rupture-repair hypothesis: Are productive relationships U-shaped or V-shaped? Journal of Counseling Psychology, 51, 81–92. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.51.1.81

Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (1996). The resolution of ruptures in the therapeutic alliance. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 64, 447–458. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0022-006X.64.3.447