| Abstract: | This paper attempts an exhaustive review of the literature on the psychotherapeutic relationship. The nature of the ideal psychotherapeutic relationship is defined and approximations of this ideal are shown to correlate positively with various measures of patient progress in the therapeutic enterprise. Other correlates of good therapeutic relationships are then explored: patient variables, therapist variables, therapist-patient similarity, and technique variables. In all these areas, significant correlations are found, though not as often as one might expect. The research on therapist variables is especially disappointing, while patient variables seem to be quite good predictors of the quality of the ensuring patient-therapist relationship. Methodological issues are considered throughout the paper. (72 ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved) |
