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How Plan Analysis can inform the construction of a therapeutic relationship
Author(s) -
Kramer Ueli,
Fisher Shimrit,
ZilchaMano Sigal
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.23300
Subject(s) - psychology , plan (archaeology) , psychotherapist , archaeology , geography
The construction of a positive therapeutic relationship was shown to be related with outcome in psychotherapy, but there are only a few prescriptive concepts helping the therapist to contribute to such a process. The present case illustrates the use of Plan Analysis (PA) and the motive‐oriented therapeutic relationship (MOTR) in the explanation of the construction of a positive therapeutic relationship. We analyze the case of Sharon, a 22‐year‐old student presenting with major depressive disorder. We present the case formulation according to PA and select Session 7 from the therapeutic process to illustrate three moments of the therapist focus on the underlying motives: (a) a first moment when the therapist presents with nonoptimal features of responding to the patient's profile, (b) a second moment when the therapist intervenes optimally, and (c) a third moment when the therapist intervenes excellently. We discuss this case from the perspective of personalizing psychotherapy.