Books / Clinical practice & common factors
Negotiating the Therapeutic Alliance: A Relational Treatment Guide
Jeremy D. Safran and J. Christopher Muran’s Negotiating the Therapeutic Alliance (2000) presents a relational approach to understanding and addressing strains in the therapeutic alliance.
Book details
Author of listed edition: Jeremy D. Safran and J. Christopher Muran
Edition: Hardcover edition (2000); paperback edition (2003)
Publisher: Guilford Press
Edition year: 2000
Language and origin: English (Canada / United States)
ISBN: 9781572305120
Form and genre: Treatment Manual & Clinical Guide
Level: Advanced
Historical era: 1980–2009 · Evidence-Based, Trauma & Integrative Era
Covers: A relational account of the therapeutic alliance; Withdrawal and confrontation as ways of describing alliance ruptures; Metacommunication and stage-process models of rupture resolution; Brief relational therapy, training and supervision
APA 7th reference: Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: A relational treatment guide. Guilford Press.
What it is
Published in 2000, this clinical guide by Jeremy Safran and J. Christopher Muran presents a relational framework for understanding and negotiating strains in the therapeutic alliance.
What it covers
The book discusses the therapeutic alliance, alliance ruptures, metacommunication, stage-process models of rupture resolution, brief relational therapy and clinical training.
Research and interpretation
A 2018 meta-analysis found that rupture resolution was associated with positive patient outcomes across the studies reviewed. Its separate analysis of rupture-resolution training and supervision did not find a statistically significant effect on patient outcome. Associations alone do not establish that a particular technique causes improvement or that every rupture requires the same response.
Reader level and educational scope
This is a clinical guide intended for trained practitioners. The publisher’s description and table of contents were checked; the full book was not read for this entry. The summary is educational and does not provide personal clinical advice.
Paired academic and clinical scholarship
Paired work: Alliance Rupture Repair: A Meta-Analysis (Catherine F. Eubanks, J. Christopher Muran, and Jeremy D. Safran, 2018)
Reference: Eubanks, C. F., Muran, J. C., & Safran, J. D. (2018). Alliance rupture repair: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 508–519.
A 2018 meta-analysis found an association between rupture resolution and patient outcome across 11 studies. Its separate analysis of six training and supervision studies did not find a statistically significant effect on patient outcome.
Source-mapped claims and evidence notes
Claim 1: The authors describe withdrawal and confrontation as categories for understanding alliance ruptures. (The publisher’s description and contents identify the book’s focus on alliance ruptures; the full text was not checked.) [Source 1: Safran, J. D., & Muran, J. C. (2000). Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: A relational treatment guide. Guilford Press.]
Claim 2: A 2018 meta-analysis reported an association between rupture resolution and patient outcome, but its training analysis did not find a statistically significant effect on patient outcome. (The two analyses address different questions; the association does not by itself establish causation.) [Source 2: Eubanks, C. F., Muran, J. C., & Safran, J. D. (2018). Alliance rupture repair: A meta-analysis. Psychotherapy, 55(4), 508–519.]
Sources and inspection notes
Supports: Publisher description, contents and publication details for the 2000 hardcover and 2003 paperback. Full text was not accessed.
Supports: Abstract reports separate analyses of rupture resolution and of training or supervision; the latter did not find a statistically significant effect on patient outcome.
Open Library. Negotiating the therapeutic alliance: 2000 hardcover catalogue record.
Supports: Catalogue details for the 2000 hardcover, including ISBN 9781572305120.