About the Book
This book presents alliance-focused training (AFT), which helps therapists better anticipate, recognize, and repair ruptures in the therapeutic alliance.
Decades of clinical research and experience have proven the essential contribution of the therapeutic alliance to psychological change and positive outcomes in therapy. A key element of a successful alliance is the ability to anticipate and navigate the inevitable misunderstandings and miscommunications that can lead to ruptures in the therapeutic relationship if unaddressed. But many therapists lack this ability, and they require training to fully address ruptures and repair therapeutic relationships with their clients.
In this book, authors J. Christopher Muran, Catherine F. Eubanks, Lisa Wallner Samstag, and James Macdonald present alliance focused training (AFT), an empirically-supported, transtheoretical protocol which has been shown to increase patients’ expressiveness, which is a key component in positive outcomes in therapy, as well as therapists’ ability to recognize and tolerate their own negative reactions to clients. In AFT, therapists are given the opportunity to experiment with metacommunication, by which they can better explore their own internal experience and recognize conflicts as they emerge during alliance ruptures. Chapters first describe the background and research that led to the development of the protocol; next, the protocol itself is presented, with chapters on rupture recognition and rupture repair, via didactic instruction and experiential exercises. Then, rich and extensive case examples demonstrate how therapists can successfully use the protocol to identify and repair real ruptures with clients, and lead to long-lasting therapeutic change.
Table of Contents:
Preface: Contextualizing and Positioning
Introduction: Why This Book?
Chapter 1. Research on Training: Some Critical Considerations
Chapter 2. Alliance as a Change Process: Some Organizing Formulations
Part I. Alliance-Focused Training Protocol
Chapter 3. Rupture Recognition: Didactic Instruction
Chapter 4. Rupture Recognition: Experiential Exercises
Chapter 5. Rupture Repair: Didactic Instruction
Chapter 6. Rupture Repair: Experiential Exercises
Part II. Alliance-Focused Training Illustration
Chapter 7. Individual Supervision Process
Chapter 8. Group Supervision Process
Chapter 9. Rupture Repair in Supervision
Conclusion: What Have We Learned?
References
Index
About the Authors
About the Author :
J. Christopher Muran, PhD is dean and professor at the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University, and codirector of the Center for Alliance-Focused Training. He is principal investigator of the Psychotherapy Research Program at Mount Sinai Beth Israel where he is also on faculty at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has had postdoctoral training in cognitive (University of Toronto) and psychoanalytic therapies (New York University). He is a fellow of APA and has served on its Clinical Practice Guidelines Advisory Steering Committee. He is also past-president of the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR) and past-editor of its journal Psychotherapy Research. He has served on several editorial boards, held other faculty appointments, and received multiple honors, including distinguished career awards from APA, SPR, and the National Register. He has published over 180 papers, 10 books, and 4 videos—generally on rupture repair and alliance-focused training.
Catherine F. Eubanks, PhD is professor in the Gordon F. Derner School of Psychology, Adelphi University and codirector of the Center for Alliance-Focused Training. She is a fellow of APA, past president of the Society for the Exploration of Psychotherapy Integration (SEPI), past executive officer of the North American Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR), and a previous recipient of early career awards from APA Division 29 and SPR. She was associate editor of Journal of Clinical and Consulting Psychology and currently serves as managing editor of Psychotherapy Research. She has published a number of journal articles and book chapters, coauthored one book, coedited two others, and co-produced three videos, primarily focused on rupture repair and alliance-focused training.
Lisa Wallner Samstag, PhD is full professor in the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program and the Department of Psychology at Long Island University (Brooklyn Campus) where she is the director of Psychotherapy Research and a cinical supervisor in the Psychological Services Center. She is also a senior consultant at the Psychotherapy Research Program at Mount Sinai Beth Israel. She completed postdoctoral training in psychoanalysis at the William Alanson White Institute, is a fellow of APA and is past associate editor/book review editor of Psychotherapy. Dr. Samstag has published over 50 psychotherapy research studies, articles, and book chapters, and coedited one book, with a particular focus on the study of the therapeutic relationship, including the identification of ruptures and other factors that contribute to poor outcome and premature termination.
James Macdonald, PhD, DClinPsych, MSt MBCT, is a clinical psychologist in private practice at Headington Psychotherapy, Oxford, UK. He has had extensive training in various treatment and training models, including Experiential Dynamic Therapy (EDT), Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT), Emotion-Focused Therapy (EFT) and Alliance-Focused Training (AFT). He has previously taught at the Oxford Institute for Clinical Psychology Training and Research. He has a longstanding interest in how psychotherapy research can lead to improvements in clinical process and outcomes, and has supervised, taught and published in the area of psychotherapy research. He is currently interested in the development of mindfulness approaches in AFT and the integration of AFT principles and practices with those of EFT, with recent publications on these two topics.
Review :
"Despite rapid growth in psychological therapies, the evidence guiding effective training and supervision methods remains strikingly sparse. This book brilliantly addresses this gap by presenting alliance-focused training with remarkable clarity, making it an indispensable addition to every psychological educator’s tool kit. It not only provides a lucid and practical framework for navigating some of the most challenging clinical scenarios therapists encounter, but it also introduces a structured and evidence-informed approach to supervision and deliberate practice, enabling these essential skills to become deeply ingrained. Anyone actively involved in training or supervising others to deliver psychological treatments of any type must read and learn from this book." - Professor Peter Fonagy, PhD, CBE, FMedSci, FBA, FAcSS, Head of the Division of Psychology and Language Sciences, University College London, London, England
"This book rests on decades of work that have provided conceptual models, practical guidelines, and empirical research to address the clinical reality of alliance ruptures. Now, Muran, Eubanks, Samstag, and Macdonald are offering a broad, detailed, flexible, and transtheoretical system to train and supervise clinicians in identifying and repairing such ruptures. With the addition of this “chef-d’oeuvre,” it is difficult to think of a more cohesive, programmatic, actionable, helpful, and visible contribution to today’s field of psychotherapy." - Louis G. Castonguay, PhD, Liberal Arts Professor of Psychology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States
"Whether you are training from a psychodynamic, cognitive behavior, emotion-focused, feminist–multicultural, or integrative perspective, this book will speak to you and enrich your supervision and training! The client–therapist alliance is one of the strongest contributors toward therapy success and therefore learning to bolster alliances and to address alliance ruptures is an essential, valuable skill set. The authors, who are leading experts in this area, bring insight, sensitivity, and clear guidance on how to conduct therapy in an alliance-focused manner. I especially enjoyed the many tips for managing the tricky issues that often arise within therapy and supervisory contexts. I will recommend that my students and colleagues rush out to obtain a copy!" - Heidi M. Levitt, PhD, Professor of Clinical Psychology, University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, MA, United States
"From the masters and leaders of AFT, this primer book provides an exceptionally comprehensive and integrative protocol that builds on human relations, alliance and emotion theories, microtheories of change, process measures, up-to-date research evidence, and a wealth of clinical expertise in practice and supervision. Educators, trainers, supervisors, trainees, and practicing psychotherapists will find the step-by-step AFT protocol with its didactic instruction, experiential exercises, and profound illustrations of individual and group supervision to be engaging and eye-opening in their depth, breadth, and richness." - Hadas Wiseman, PhD, School of Therapy, Counseling, and Human Development, University of Haifa, Haifa, Israel
