Pretreatment correlates of the therapeutic bond

This study examined the association between pretreatment client characteris tics and the therapeutic bond, which is defined as the emotional aspect of the therapeutic alliance. Three types of interpersonal problems and four in dicators of emotional distress were measured and compared to the therapeuti c bond and its subscales (role investment, empathic resonance, and mutual a ffirmation) measured early in treatment. Interpersonal problems related to being overly detached were associated with a poorer quality bond and, in pa rticular, with a tendency to feel as if the therapist does not understand w hat the client is thinking and feeling (lower empathic resonance), Higher l evels of distress were correlated negatively with the therapeutic bond. Ana lyses indicated that interpersonal problems were better predictors of the b ond than was distress. The relevance of these findings for practitioners is discussed. (C) 2001 John Wiley & Sons, inc.