A recent study shows that a positive, trusting relationship between a client and their counselor can improve alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment success.\u00a0 Known as a \u201ctherapeutic alliance,\u201d the trust between patient and counselor can positively affect treatment outcomes.<\/p>\n
In a study of 63 people who were in a 12-week cognitive behavior therapy program for AUD, those who reported the most positive relationships with their counselors drank less alcohol between counseling sessions than those who perceived their relationships with their counselors in a less positive light.<\/p>\n
Study author Gerard Connors, Ph.D., senior research scientist at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions, states that efforts to ensure a good match between patient and counselor can have considerable benefits to the patient\u2019s recovery.<\/p>\n
Confronting a client about their alcohol use behavior has been a traditional method of treating AUD.\u00a0 Connors notes that confrontation can damage the counselor-client relationship, and the chances of a patient staying in treatment. \u201cBy studying the alliance on a session-to-session basis, we could see how a fractured alliance at a given point in time interferes with the pursuit of treatment goals by running the risk of a client dropping out of treatment,\u201d says Connors. \u201cTherefore, it\u2019s important for the therapist to continue assessing the alliance throughout the entire course of treatment.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another finding of the study was that a positive relationship was even more important for those who had not changed their drinking patterns before beginning treatment. \u201cIn contrast, patients who had already reduced their drinking prior to entering treatment were not as dependent on the therapeutic alliance to continue the process of behavior change,\u201d Connors says.<\/p>\n
Future research may help determine which factors help build a strong therapeutic alliance, which could be used as a mechanism of change for treating AUD.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A recent study shows that a positive, trusting relationship between a client and their counselor can improve alcohol use disorder (AUD) treatment success.\u00a0 Known as a \u201ctherapeutic alliance,\u201d the trust between patient and counselor can positively affect treatment outcomes. In … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2125"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2127,"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2125\/revisions\/2127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2125"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2125"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pgdf.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2125"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}