THE CONTRIBUTION OF GROUP COHESION AND GROUP ALLIANCE TO THE OUTCOME OF GROUP-PSYCHOTHERAPY

The contribution to outcome of two group-process factors group cohesio n and group therapeutic alliance, was tested in the context of a rando mized controlled treatment trial for borderline personality disorder. Group members from four time-limited groups of an experimental model o f group psychotherapy completed measures of group cohesion and group a lliance at prespecified intervals across the 30-session therapy. Outco me was measured in terms of psychiatric symptoms, social adaption, and indicators of behavioral dysfunction. The results showed that cohesio n and alliance were correlated significantly and separately contribute d to outcome on most of the dependent measures. Stepwise regression an alyses showed however that when compared with cohesion, alliance accou nted for more outcome variance on the dependent measures. The clinical implications of the findings and the limitations of the study are dis cussed.