Rupture and Repair in the Working Alliance : Relation to Psychotherapy Outcome and Within-Session Interaction

Abstract: Ruptures and repairs are processes related to shifts in the collaborative relationship Cthe working allianceJ between patient and therapist in psychotherapy. Ta study ruptures and repairs is one way ta disentangle mechanisms that might underlie the association between the working alliance and psychotherapy outcome. The overarching aim af this thesis was ta analyze the clinical relevance af the rupture and repair concepts at different process levels. The same three alliance patterns were investigated in the three empirical studies: the rupture pattern, the repair pattern, and the no-rupture/stable pattern. The analyses af the alliance patterns moved fromwhole treatments ta session segments. In Study I ruptures were found ta be associated with worse outcomes than treatments without ruptures. Repairs were, in longer therapies, shown ta be related ta better outcomes than norupture treatments. In Study Il it was found that the three alliance patterns could be discerned within sessions. Ruptures and repairs within sessions were found ta be associated with patient-ratings af the working alliance. In Study 111 the alliance patterns were found ta be related ta different  interaction patterns within sessions. In these analyses, importont patient contributions ta repairs af ruptures were found.