Building and maintaining a recovery focused therapeutic relationship

Frank P. Deane, University of Wollongong
Trevor P. Crowe, University of Wollongong

Article comments

Deane, FP & Crowe, TP, Building and maintaining a recovery focused therapeutic relationship, In King, R, Lloyd, C & Meehan, T (Eds), Handbook of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 2007, p 57-70, Carlton, Victoria: Blackwell Publishing Ltd.

Abstract

In this chapter we review the evidence for the importance of therapeutic relationship and particularly therapeutic or working alliance in facilitating recovery processes for individuals with mental illness. Most of the existing empirical evidence comes from psychotherapy research related to the treatment of non-psychotic disorders. However, there is growing evidence that therapeutic alliance may also be an important predictor of treatment outcome for people with serious mental illness including those diagnosed with psychotic disorders.