Couple therapy with conflictual and distressed couples. therapeutic alliance, ruptures and repairs

When the intimate relationship is stressed and conflictual, great loneliness, angst and suffering emerge and represent a risk factor to partners mental and physical health (Whisman, 2007; Snyder, 2012), as well as parenting skills (Krishnakumar, 2000). There are consistent claims of the effectiveness of Couples Therapy (CT) in reduction of relationship distress and in mental and physical wellbeing of adults and children (Carr, 2009; Fivaz Depeursinge, 2015). However, in CT there is a high risk of drop-out (Allgood, 1991; Bischoff, 1993). Therapeutic Alliance (TA) in CT is one of the most important factors of maintaining the therapeutic process (Escudero, 2015). This study explores the TA in therapies with couples engaged in high levels of distress and conflict. The aim is to investigate: 1) TA in three groups of termination status of CT (Conclusion with Agreement, Without Agreement, No-Show. Bartle-Haring et al., 2012): differences between groups and intragroups (men vs women); 2) differences in therapists between groups; 3) interactive processes of Rupture and Repair of TA. The TA has been measured with SOFTA-o (Italian Validation, Mazzoni, Ciocca, Porcedda, 2015), Ruptures and Reparations have been identified with CIS-r (Colli, Lingiardi et al. 2014) and a qualitative scale specifically developed for the CT. Preliminary results are based on 239 sessions (110 agreement, 63 disagreement, 66 no-show) and show significant differences between groups in intrafamily alliance (F: 15.0, α.000), engagement and security of men (F: 5.6; α:.004; F: 4.8; α:.009), emotional connection of men (F: 6.9; α:.001) and women (F: 7.9; α:.000). There aren’t intra-groups differences. The groups of Without Agreement and No-Show have a statistically significant difference only for the Therapist's contributions in the dimensions of emotional connection (F: 19.9; α:.000). Learn more about TA is important because it can identify crucial clues for clinicians to prevent premature termination on CT.