Repairing alliance ruptures in psychodynamic psychotherapy with young people: The development of a rational-empirical model to support youth therapists.

Alliance ruptures in youth psychotherapy can have a significant impact on treatment outcomes. However, there is currently limited guidance on how to effectively repair these ruptures with young people. This study aims to address this gap specifically in the context of psychodynamic psychotherapy with adolescents. The objectives of the study are (a) to understand the therapeutic interventions and attitudes that either facilitate or hinder the resolution of alliance ruptures and (b) to develop a model for repairing these ruptures within this particular treatment approach. To accomplish this, a task analysis of a previously developed rational model of resolving alliance ruptures was conducted using 16 sessions from short-term psychodynamic psychotherapy with depressed adolescents. The analysis supported some stages of the hypothesized rational model while revealing the need for revisions. As a result, the study developed a rational-empirical model that includes flexible strategies that therapists can use to repair alliance ruptures. This model emphasizes the significance of a collaborative, open, and empathetic approach to resolving ruptures. In contrast, rigid, defensive, or invalidating therapist attitudes can hinder the resolution process. The evidence-based model developed from the study can provide valuable guidance to psychodynamic psychotherapists working with young people, offering insights on how to approach ruptures and employ effective strategies to promote their resolution. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Can session-by-session changes in self-reported alliance scores serve as a measure of ruptures in the therapeutic alliance?

OBJECTIVE: During treatment, the therapeutic alliance is characterized by rupture and repair episodes, which in turn are associated with psychotherapy outcome. It would be important to have a parsimonious tool to identify ruptures in psychotherapy sessions to provide therapists with meaningful feedback about when they occur. The present study thus aims to establish whether measuring self-reported alliance dynamics can function as a measure of alliance ruptures. METHOD: The sample consisted of 58 depressed patients, who received 22 sessions of cognitive therapy for depression in an outpatient setting. The observer-rated Rupture Resolution Rating System (3RS) was applied to 58 sessions where the self-reported Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) completed by patients after each therapy session indicated that alliance ratings declined more than 2 SDs from that patient's individual mean. For comparison purposes, the 3RS was also applied to 58 randomly chosen sessions from the same treatment phase (early, middle, late). RESULTS: Results showed significant differences between sessions where the WAI indicated a drop in the alliance and randomly chosen sessions of the same treatment phase with regard to the frequency and impact of ruptures. CONCLUSION: This speaks for the construct validity of the 3RS. Session-by-session alliance ruptures may reliably be measured using a case-sensitive approach to identify meaningful drops in alliance self-report (WAI). (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Opening the Black Box of Family-Based Treatments: An Artificial Intelligence Framework to Examine Therapeutic Alliance and Therapist Empathy.

The evidence-based treatment (EBT) movement has primarily focused on core intervention content or treatment fidelity and has largely ignored practitioner skills to manage interpersonal process issues that emerge during treatment, especially with difficult-to-treat adolescents (delinquent, substance-using, medical non-adherence) and those of color. A chief complaint of "real world" practitioners about manualized treatments is the lack of correspondence between following a manual and managing microsocial interpersonal processes (e.g. negative affect) that arise in treating "real world clients." Although family-based EBTs share core similarities (e.g. focus on family interactions, emphasis on practitioner engagement, family involvement), most of these treatments do not have an evidence base regarding common implementation and treatment process problems that practitioners experience in delivering particular models, especially in mid-treatment when demands on families to change their behavior is greatest in treatment - a lack that characterizes the field as a whole. Failure to effectively address common interpersonal processes with difficult-to-treat families likely undermines treatment fidelity and sustained use of EBTs, treatment outcome, and contributes to treatment dropout and treatment nonadherence. Recent advancements in wearables, sensing technologies, multivariate time-series analyses, and machine learning allow scientists to make significant advancements in the study of psychotherapy processes by looking "under the skin" of the provider-client interpersonal interactions that define therapeutic alliance, empathy, and empathic accuracy, along with the predictive validity of these therapy processes (therapeutic alliance, therapist empathy) to treatment outcome. Moreover, assessment of these processes can be extended to develop procedures for training providers to manage difficult interpersonal processes while maintaining a physiological profile that is consistent with astute skills in psychotherapeutic processes. This paper argues for opening the "black box" of therapy to advance the science of evidence-based psychotherapy by examining the clinical interior of evidence-based treatments to develop the next generation of audit- and feedback- (i.e., systemic review of professional performance) supervision systems.

V-episodes in the alliance: A single-case application of multiple methods to identify rupture repair.

The therapeutic alliance has been consistently found to be a robust predictor of therapeutic outcome across various modalities of psychotherapy. Alliance ruptures are thought to occur commonly within each therapeutic dyad and, if left unresolved, are associated with premature termination and worsened psychotherapy outcome. Research efforts have identified V-shaped shifts in the alliance, characterized by a high-low-high pattern of postsession alliance scores, as a meaningful method of operationalizing rupture-repair episodes, but these efforts rarely evaluate the within-session process of the identified sessions. As a result, it is often unclear whether these sessions identified by methods based on postsession alliance measures are reflective of clinically meaningful within-session rupture process. This article aims to further explore the V-episode operationalization of rupture-repair episodes by assessing for convergence between rupture process identified by between-session measures and the within-session observer-based Rupture Resolution Rating Scale (3RS) in a single patient-therapist dyad in a 30-session brief relational therapy. V-episodes were operationalized using various previously utilized methods to identify ruptures based on postsession measures of alliance. Results of this case study demonstrate that postsession patient-rated V-episodes in the therapeutic alliance can be indicative of within-session rupture process, demonstrating convergence between within- and between-session measures of alliance process. Implications of these results for methodological approaches for identifying alliance ruptures are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Renegotiating tasks or goals as rupture repair: A task analysis in a cognitive-behavioral therapy for personality disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to provide some definition of rupture repair in a cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for personality disorders, specifically how treatment tasks or goals are renegotiated. METHOD: Following a task analysis, a rational model was developed with the support of an expert panel. An empirical analysis was conducted on six CBT cases sampled from a clinical trial that included personality disordered patients and treatment adherent therapists. Two sessions from each case indicating rupture repair were selected, based on patient and therapist ratings of the Working Alliance Inventory-12 item version (WAI-12) and rupture presence. A qualitative analysis of the sessions was conducted with the support of the observer-based Rupture Resolution Rating System (3RS-2022). RESULTS: The empirical analysis provided some support for many of the stages defined in the rational model, but less support for the hypothesized sequences of stages. A rational-empirical synthesis yielded a revised model that suggested therapists combine various strategies in rupture repair in a variety of ways, not necessarily in consistent sequences. CONCLUSIONS: The renegotiation of tasks and goals in this CBT sample was variable. The importance of responsiveness and the need to validate the rational-empirical model were highlighted.

Future Challenges in Psychotherapy Research for Personality Disorders.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Individuals with personality disorders are frequently seen in mental health settings. Their symptoms typically reflect a high level of suffering and burden of disease, with potentially harmful societal consequences, including costs related to absenteeism at work, high use of health services, ineffective or harmful parenting, substance use, suicidal and non-suicidal self-harming behavior, and aggressiveness with legal consequences. Psychotherapy is currently the first-line treatment for patients with personality disorders, but the study of psychotherapy in the domain of personality disorders faces specific challenges. RECENT FINDINGS: Challenges include knowing what works for whom, identifying which putative mechanisms of change explain therapeutic effects, and including the social interaction context of patients with a personality disorder. By following a dimensional approach, psychotherapy research on personality disorders may serve as a model for the development and study of innovative psychotherapeutic interventions. We recommend developing the following: (a) an evidence base to make treatment decisions based on individual features; (b) a data-driven approach to predictors, moderators, and mechanisms of change in psychotherapy; (c) methods for studying the interaction between social context and psychotherapy.

Disaggregating between- and within-patient effects of ruptures and resolutions on the therapeutic alliance and symptom severity.

The therapeutic alliance is considered a robust predictor of psychotherapy outcome. Ruptures and resolutions in the alliance have been the focus of recent alliance literature. Most previous studies investigated their between-patient effects. We used hierarchical linear models to disaggregate the between- and within-patient effects of ruptures on the alliance from patient- and therapist perspective and symptom severity. Further, the moderating effects of rupture resolutions were analyzed. The sample consisted of 56 patients diagnosed with depressive or anxiety disorders who received 25 ± 3 sessions of integrative cognitive behavioral therapy in the outpatient setting. The observer-rated rupture resolution rating system was applied to all 1st, 8th, 16th and 24th therapy sessions. The alliance quality and symptom severity were assessed using self-report questionnaires after these four sessions. Results showed that a higher intensity of ruptures across treatment was associated with lower alliance ratings from both patient- and therapist perspectives during treatment. After sessions with more intense confrontation ruptures, both reported a weaker alliance. Rupture resolutions significantly moderated the withdrawal rupture effect on the alliance. The results provide meaningful practical implications for therapist feedback and training. They further underline the importance of using appropriate statistical analyses to the data structure and nature of psychotherapy to better understand the role of the alliance, rupture, and repair during therapy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Evidence-based tailoring of treatment to patients, providers, and processes: Introduction to the special issue.

Given the many evidence-supported psychotherapy interventions, and the fact that no single approach or therapist can successfully help all patients, in recent years, there has been a surge in studies focused on evidence-based methods of tailoring treatment to patients, providers, and processes. Although the field still has a long way to go in reliably mapping specific empirically supported avenues to personalized therapies, emerging results from this line of research underscore the potential for such optimization. In this vein, the articles in the special issue describe some of the most auspicious recent developments in the field of personalized mental health treatment. In this introduction to the special issue, we synthesize the articles and propose a list of some of the most promising personalization principles. These include (a) a diversity of aims that the approaches seek to achieve; (b) a diversity of outcomes used to evaluate the merits of these approaches; (c) the information on which the tailoring is based; (d) the tailoring approaches themselves; and (e) the research designs used to evaluate them. These pathways can inform the most current tailoring guidelines that can help clinical decision-making and inspire future translational science in this area. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Addressing interpersonal patterns in patients with personality disorders partially explains psychotherapy outcome via changes in interaction patterns: A mediation analysis.

Objective Many patients with personality disorders (PDs) present with problematic interaction patterns. These may also manifest in the therapeutic relationship. For successful treatment, therapists must therefore find effective ways to address such problematic interaction patterns. Methods: A total of 382 patients with PDs were recruited within a naturalistic setting and received integrative cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT). Two subscales of the observer-rated Process-Content-Relationship Scale were applied to sessions 15, 20, and 25 of treatment: one on patient interaction patterns and the other on therapist addressing these. Symptom severity was assessed at intake and discharge. Mediation analysis was applied. Results: We found significant main effects of (1) therapists' addressing problematic interaction patterns in session 15 on patients' changes in such patterns from session 15 to 25 and (2) patients' changes in problematic interaction patterns on symptom severity at treatment termination. Further, the effect of therapists' addressing problematic interaction patterns on outcome was mediated by changes in patients' interaction patterns. Conclusion: The results indicate that therapists' addressing of PD patients' problematic interaction patterns may be particularly important to improve such patterns and thereby treatment outcome. Future research should identify in which patients the mechanism of addressing interaction patterns works best.

Operationalizing alliance rupture-repair events using control chart methods.

This study aimed to determine how control charts-a form of time-series line graphs-can be implemented in psychotherapy research to indirectly identify probable rupture-repair episodes that are associated with psychotherapy outcome. There is no current standard in psychotherapy research with regard to how to use control charts to identify rupture-repair events. Control charts were generated for each patient (N = 73) using patient-rated Working Alliance Inventory (WAI) scores obtained at the end of every session in a 30-session therapy protocol of either brief relational therapy (BRT) or cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). Empirically derived cut-off points were used to identify rupture and repair based on each dyad's control chart. Coded rupture-repair episodes were correlated with outcome measures to assess for their relationships. The results of these analyses provide preliminary support for the utility of control charts in psychotherapy research for the indirect identification of probable rupture repair events that are associated with psychotherapy outcome.

The beginning of the end: A comparison of treatment completers and early dropouts in trainee-provided time-limited Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

About one in five clients drops out of treatment prematurely. Premature termination has been found to correlate with patient, therapist, and treatment factors, as well as complex interpersonal processes, including ruptures in the therapeutic alliance. This study examines the therapeutic alliance using a qualitative approach to patient-, therapist-, and observer-based data. The sample includes five trainee therapists, each of whom worked with one patient who terminated after the first or second session, and one who completed a cognitive-behavioral therapy protocol. The session(s) preceding premature termination in the drop case and the corresponding session(s) in the completer case were examined. Rupture resolution process was prevalent in both groups, though confrontation ruptures seemed more prevalent with completers and withdrawal ruptures were more clinically impactful with dropouts. Therapist awareness of process and responsiveness or contribution to rupture were identified as potential factors contributing to patient retention.

Deepening the Group Training Experience: Group Cohesion and Supervision Impact in Alliance-Focused Training.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the current study is to explore experiences of trainees engaged in alliance-focused training (AFT), a group supervision modality with an explicit focus on awareness of ruptures and implementation of repair strategies. Using Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) group supervision as a point of comparison, the study examines supervisory alliance, ruptures, group cohesion and safety, and supervision impact. METHOD: Eighty-three trainees (clinical psychology interns, advanced-level psychology externs and psychiatry residents) at a metropolitan medical center in New York City who received supervision in CBT (N = 38) or AFT (N = 45) reported on their group supervision experience. Participants had a mean age of 29.5 (SD = 4.9); 77% were women; 84% of participants identified as White, 7% as Multiethnic, 6% as Hispanic/Latinx, 1% as Black, and 1% as Asian. Participants reported on occurrence of ruptures with their supervisor, supervisory alliance (Working Alliance Inventory-Short), group safety, supervision depth and smoothness (Session Evaluation Questionnaire), and group cohesion (Group Climate Questionnaire). Mixed and general linear models, and correlation analyses were used for analysis. RESULTS: All trainees reported equally low incidence of ruptures with their supervisor alongside high ratings of supervisory alliance. Trainees in AFT reported experiencing less safety, smoothness, and greater intergroup conflict than trainees in CBT supervision; however, they also reported stronger group engagement and a deeper supervision experience. CONCLUSIONS: Results suggest that AFT may provide a rich environment to foster a certain level of discomfort and risk-taking that may facilitate an engaging and meaningful learning experience.

Identifying Ruptures and Repairs in Alliance-Focused Training Group Supervision.

Group supervision presents unique opportunities for psychotherapy trainees to deepen their understanding of alliance ruptures and repair strategies. Trainees can explore challenging clinical moments and benefit from diverse perspectives and support. Group supervision also provides trainees with multiple opportunities to experience ruptures and repairs firsthand in their interactions with the supervisor and other group members. More research, particularly research using observer-based methods, would enhance our knowledge of rupture and repair processes in group supervision. In this study, seven sessions of Alliance-Focused Training, a group supervision that specifically aims to improve trainees' abilities to recognize and negotiate ruptures, were coded for alliance rupture markers and repair strategies using a modified version of the Rupture Resolution Rating System (3RS). Excerpts of the coded sessions were used to illustrate AFT process in the absence of ruptures, and in the context of ruptures between the supervisor and trainees, between trainees, and between a trainee and the group. There were no clear examples of ruptures between trainees. The ruptures between the supervisor and the trainees were deemed to have only a minor impact on the alliance, and these minor ruptures were at least partly addressed. Based on the coding, themes related to supervisor authority, complex and subtle ruptures, and the use of metacommunication within the AFT group were discussed. The findings of this exploratory study suggest that the 3RS can be useful for measuring process in group supervision, and that greater attention to group process and ruptures within the group holds promise for enhancing the effectiveness of AFT.

Commentary: Rupture repair as a transtheoretical corrective experience.

This commentary highlights common principles shared across the diverse clinical case examples featured in this In Session issue on Rupture Repair in Practice. We discuss the importance of therapists recognizing subtle signs of rupture and responding to ruptures with curiosity and compassion. We also consider how therapists can use repair strategies responsively to facilitate a corrective experience for the patient. We explore the ways in which the specific resolution strategy of linking a rupture to larger interpersonal patterns can benefit the therapeutic process, and the ways in which it can constitute a form of avoidance. We conclude by noting promising future directions and celebrating the generosity evidenced by these insightful authors' willingness to share and explore challenging moments in therapy.

One more time with less jargon: An introduction to "Rupture Repair in Practice".

In this introduction to this issue on Rupture-Repair in Practice, we present our understanding of alliance ruptures using common language to appeal to all theoretical orientations. Specifically, we define withdrawal movements away from another or oneself (efforts towards isolation or appeasement) and confrontation movements against another (efforts towards aggression or control). In addition to these interpersonal markers, we suggest that therapist emotional experiences can be considered as intrapersonal markers indicating rupture. We emphasize understanding ruptures as relational phenomena. Then we present various pathways toward rupture-repair, highlighting renegotiation of therapy tasks or goals and exploration of patient and therapist contributions and needs. We explain how these paths can be understood as critical change processes that can transform obstacles in treatment into opportunities. We finish with some mention of our alliance-focused training for self-development. This issue represents an important step towards demonstrating the transtheoretical and practical potential of rupture-repair.

Achieving successful resolution of alliance ruptures: for whom and when?

Contemporary theories and the empirical literature stress the importance of successful resolution of alliance ruptures for the process and outcome of treatment. Yet, little empirical work has examined what leads to successful resolutions. The aim of the present study was to examine which patients are more likely to achieve successful resolutions of ruptures and under which circumstances.Sixty-five patients completed measures assessing their trait-like pretreatment characteristics (alliance expectations and general attachment orientation), and state-like changes in treatment (working alliance, therapist serving as an attachment figure, and the implementation of common factor techniques). Successful resolutions were coded using observer behavioral coding at four time points.State-like changes, but not trait-like characteristics significantly contributed to successful resolution. Stronger working alliance and the therapist as an attachment figure, and the implementation of common factors techniques were found to contribute to successful resolutions.The current findings emphasize the importance of the process that occurs within treatment, and the therapeutic context in which the resolution process take place for the ability to achieve successful resolutions.

A moderating factor for patients with vindictive interpersonal problems.

Individuals high in vindictive interpersonal problems tend to experience and express anger and irritability. In treatment, they have poor prognosis for alliance and outcome. We propose that positive expectation may serve as a moderating factor for these patients. In the current study, we examined the ability of expected alliance to act as a moderating factor in the early process and early progress of treatment for patients with vindictive interpersonal problems. A sample of 65 patients received short-term dynamic psychotherapy. At intake, before meeting the therapist, participants completed assessments for vindictive interpersonal problems and expected alliance. All therapy sessions were videotaped, and Session 2 was coded for confrontation ruptures. Early progress was assessed using the improvement from intake to Week 2 in the measure of distress from interpersonal relations. Our results show that, at high levels of vindictive interpersonal problems, higher expected alliance was associated with fewer confrontation ruptures. At high levels of vindictive interpersonal problems, higher expected alliance was associated with greater early improvement in distress from interpersonal relations. The findings demonstrate how positive expectations may function as a moderating factor that enables patients with vindictive tendencies to achieve a positive process and progress early in treatment. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Can we agree we just had a rupture? Patient-therapist congruence on ruptures and its effects on outcome in brief relational therapy versus cognitive-behavioral therapy.

To draw clinically meaningful evidence-supported implications about the alliance-outcome association, recent studies have investigated patient-therapist congruence on ruptures in alliance. The present study investigated patient-therapist congruence on ruptures and its consequences on subsequent session outcome in 2 types of treatments that differ in the training therapists receive to identify ruptures: brief relational therapy (BRT), in which therapists receive alliance-focused training, and cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), in which no training specifically focused on the alliance is provided. We implemented polynomial regression and response surface analysis, and the truth and bias model on data of 162 dyads reporting weekly on their levels of ruptures, for 30 sessions, during either CBT or BRT. Therapists and patients exhibited substantial temporal congruence in their session-by-session rupture ratings. Therapists showed a tendency to detect more ruptures than did their patients. This tendency correlated with higher levels of congruence and was more evident in BRT than in CBT. Agreement and disagreement between patients and therapists on the question of whether a rupture had occurred was found to have a greater effect on subsequent session outcomes in BRT than in CBT. These findings may suggest that therapists who are more attuned to their patients may demonstrate greater vigilance in identifying ruptures than their patients do. This vigilant stance may be taught. Greater congruence may result in better subsequent session outcome throughout treatment in BRT than in CBT. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The Difficult Task of Assessing and Interpreting Treatment Deterioration: An Evidence-Based Case Study.

Objectives: Literature on outcome assessment suggests that 35-40% of patients in randomized control trials terminate treatment with unchanged or higher levels of symptomatology. The goal of the present study was to shed light on this phenomenon and the factors accounting for it using a single case study design that investigates the process and outcome of a treatment conducted within a non-randomized clinical trial comparing a cognitive behavioral and a brief relational treatment. Method: The condition of L., a Caucasian man undergoing cognitive-behavioral therapy in a large metropolitan research program, was classified as deteriorating using the Reliable Change Index for the Inventory of Interpersonal Problems (IIP) and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Therapeutic process and outcome were examined using quantitative and qualitative methods rated by several sources. Results: Analysis showed that the treatment was delivered skillfully, and that despite initial difficulties, a strong alliance eventually developed between the patient and the therapist whose perspectives on the outcome of therapy nevertheless diverged. The patient's satisfaction with treatment was high, and he believed his deterioration was caused by its termination. Discussion: Results suggest that the deterioration was not caused by a negative process or a faulty delivery of the therapy. Several explanations were discussed in the context of the literature.

Sudden gains in the alliance in cognitive behavioral therapy versus brief relational therapy.

OBJECTIVE: Two decades of empirical research suggest that changes in symptoms are not linear, and many patients gain much of their symptom reduction in one between-sessions interval. Theoretically, such gains are expected to be manifested in the working alliance as well, following a rupture session; however, no study to date has directly examined between-sessions sudden gains in the alliance. In the present study we examined whether ruptures predict subsequent sudden gains in the alliance, which in turn show an effect on outcome that is specific to the treatment in which the alliance is conceptualized as an active mechanism of change. METHOD: In a sample of 241 patient-therapist dyads, patients received either brief relational therapy (BRT), in which the alliance is conceptualized as an active mechanism of change, or cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), in which it is not. We examined whether patient and therapist reports of ruptures predicted sudden gains in alliance in the subsequent session, and whether early sudden gains in alliance were significantly associated with treatment outcome in BRT versus CBT. RESULTS: Rupture sessions, as reported by therapists but not by patients, predicted a sudden gain in both patient and therapist-reported alliance in the subsequent session. Findings revealed a moderating effect of treatment condition on the association between sudden gains and treatment outcome, in which gains in alliance were associated with better treatment outcome in BRT than in CBT. CONCLUSIONS: The findings support the potential role of gains in alliance as a specific mechanism of change in BRT versus CBT. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).