The Therapeutic Alliance in Couple Therapy for Depression: Predicting Therapy Progress and Outcome from Assessments of the Alliance by the Patient, the Spouse, and the Therapists

This study examined Couple Therapy (CT) for depression in a naturalistic setting. It looked at the associations between the therapeutic alliance and subjective distress, and between the alliance and depression outcome. Twenty-nine depressive patients and their spouses were treated via CT. Treatments were adapted in accordance with the patient’s need. The couples assessed the alliance and their subjective distress at every session. In addition, the therapists assessed the alliance at every session. The patient’s depression outcome was assessed at baseline and at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months post-baseline. The Outcome Rating Scale, The Session Rating Scale, and the Beck Depression Inventory were used. At any given session, the patients’ and spouses’ deviations from their average subjective distress ratings predicted their deviations from their average alliance ratings in the same session. At any given session, the patients’ and spouses’ deviations from their average alliance ratings predicted their deviations from their average subjective distress in the next session. The therapy-system alliance was significantly associated with the patients’ depression outcome, explaining 19.4 % of the variance in the patients’ depression change. The results indicate the importance of taking into account the association between the alliance and subjective distress during the treatment, and confirm the usefulness of routine evaluation of the therapeutic process as an indicator of the association between alliance and therapy outcome in everyday CT for depression.