Therapeutic Alliance and Hospital Treatment Outcome

The effect of therapeutic alliance on treatment outcome in a stratified sample of 96 hospital inpatients was assessed by means of a 6-point alliance scale as well as by demographic, treatment history, and psychopathological data. Alliance was correlated with improvement at discharge but not with demographic or prior treatment characteristics. Symptom patterns and personality dysfunction were shown to be differentially related to the quality of the alliance. Patients with axis I substance abuse, adjustment, and somatoform disorders had the poorest alliance and the poorest outcomes. The authors generated a model to predict outcome of hospital treatment, using patient alliance ratings, axis I and II diagnoses and their combinations, and admission Global Assessment Scale scores.