Grant: Project Grant

This study will look at improving the relationship or alliance between therapists and patients who are receiving psychotherapy. The study focus was determined by the research priorities identified by a large practice-research network of psychotherapists in Canada. Psychotherapy is the treatment of choice for many mental disorders, yet there is a gap between research and practice. Research indicates that: the therapist-patient alliance is important to reduce patient symptoms, alliance tensions are detrimental to patients, and those therapists who identify and repair alliance tensions can improve patient outcomes. In this study we will use state of the art research to train community-based therapists in evidence-based interventions to identify and repair alliance tensions. Trained therapists and their patients will be compared to therapists who provide usual care to their patients. We will measure improvement in therapists' skills in identifying and repairing alliance tensions and how this is associated with better patient mental health outcomes. We will also interview trained therapists to identify the best ways of improving the training and disseminating the findings to psychotherapists across Canada. Research to improve practicing therapists' ability to identify and repair therapeutic alliance tensions will result in better mental health outcomes for patients.