Epistemic trust and therapeutic alliance in patient-therapist dyads. How trust affects psychotherapy

Epistemic trust is the ability to regard interpersonally transmi!ed knowledge as trustworthy, relevant, and generalizable. Psychopathology seems characterized by a disruption of this ability and a permanent state of epistemic hypervigilance. In this perspective, the patient’s experience of the therapist and the therapist’s ability to promote trust seem vital for the therapeutic relationship. "is study aims to assess epistemic trust, mistrust, and credulity in patient-therapist dyads and evaluate their association with the therapeutic alliance. Other variables will be measured (e.g., a!achment, mentalization, transference and countertransference). A variety of questionnaires will be used to assess these variables and to collect data about socio-demographic characteristics. It is expected that higher levels of epistemic trust will predict a stronger therapeutic alliance, while higher scores concerning epistemic mistrust and credulity will be related to a lower quality of the alliance and of transference and countertransference processes. "e investigation of the relationship between epistemic trust, therapeutic alliance, and the other variables considered will shed light on the dynamics underlying the therapeutic process, allowing for the planning of e#ective interventions.