Creative use of interpersonal skills in building a therapeutic alliance

The therapeutic alliance has emerged as one of the? more important and last ing constructs in psychotherapy research. However, the basic interpersonal shills used by therapists to help shape a positive therapeutic alliance are not well understood We have turned to construct theory to enrich our ongoi ng empirical and clinical observations of therapists who widely vary in the ir abilities to form a successful positive alliance. We suggest that creati vity in building positive therapeutic alliances includes a vast array of th erapist shills, including interpersonal perception, anticipation, experimen tation, and revision of interpersonal hypotheses. Two illustrative cases ar e presented of how the therapist's creativity encourages, or alternatively discourages, the client's openness to interpersonal transactions in therapy and the development of a positive working alliance.