Relational Healing in Psychotherapy: Reaching Beyond the Research

ABSTRACT

Therapeutic relationships with well-established alliances and favorable signs of therapist empathy and genuineness are strong predictors of successful psychotherapy. However, amassing the declarative knowledge associated with knowing that a constructive therapeutic relationship contributes to successful outcome is insufficient in preparing a clinician with the procedural knowledge leading to him or her knowing how to competently implement this. The present article strives to address this gap by definitionally and descriptively unpacking key aspects of alliance building, and therapist empathy and authenticity/genuineness, for pragmatic learning purposes. It is argued that a humanistic revival in the education and training of beginning psychotherapists is long overdue to enable them to acquire the self-expansion, relational versatility, and ethical sensibility necessary to optimally perform their clinical duties.

KEYWORDS:

• Relational/clinical know-how
• empathic immersion
• humanistic clinical training

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Enrico Gnaulati

Enrico Gnaulati, Ph.D., is a clinical psychologist based in Pasadena, California, and Affiliate Professor of Psychology at Seattle University. He has published numerous journal and magazine articles and his work has been featured on Al Jazeera America, China Global Television Network, KPCC Los Angeles, KPFK Los Angeles, KPBS San Diego, WBUR Boston, KPFA Berkeley, Wisconsin Public Radio, Public Radio Tulsa, and online at The Atlantic, Salon, Psychology Today and Psychotherapy Networker, as well as reviewed in Maclean’s, Pacific Standard, the Huffington Post, The Australian, Prevention and The New Yorker. He is a blogger for Mad in America, a nationally recognized reformer of mental health practice and policy and the author of Back to Normal: Why Ordinary Childhood Behavior is Mistaken for ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder (Beacon Press, 2013) and Saving Talk Therapy: How Health Insurers, Big Pharma, and Slanted Science are Ruining Good Mental Health Care (Beacon Press, 2018).