Integration and Discussion

Abstract

In this chapter the author discusses the most salient content from each of the previous eight chapters with the goal of highlighting themes and of integrating ideas for the reader. A working alliance must be cultivated and maintained, at times even repaired. Simply putting together a well-meaning therapist and a motivated client does not guarantee that a working alliance will develop between the two. While the working alliance is a collaborative effort and product, it is the therapist’s primary job to foster its development, along with the contributions and collaboration of the client. Finding a shared focus and purpose to the work is at the heart of what constitutes the working alliance, and this is exactly what the therapist must set to accomplish from the earliest moments in treatment. The author organizes the themes along the lines of the therapist, the client, and therapist–client interactions. The author discusses implications for future thinking with respect to training and clinical practice from the perspective of the working alliance.