The Therapy Relationship

In The Therapy Relationship, Charles J. Gelso discusses his model of client–therapist relationship using illustrative examples from the therapy demonstration he conducts in this video.

This tripartite model of the psychotherapy relationship consists of the personal or real relationship between the therapist and the client, the working alliance, and transference/countertransference. This model posits that each therapy relationship must to some degree consist of these three elements, although the importance of any one part of the relationship may vary depending on the client and therapist, the type of therapy used, and the stage of the therapy.

In this video, Dr. Gelso explains this therapy relationship model then works in a session with a young man who resists intimacy in his relationships. After the demonstration session, Dr. Gelso discusses the tripartite model, pointing to moments in the session that illustrate aspects of the model and provide some hint at how the therapy relationship might unfold in the future.

For more than three decades, Dr. Gelso has focused on the development of effective therapeutic relationships, which has resulted in a tripartite model in which all therapeutic relationships, regardless of the therapist's theoretical orientation, can be seen as consisting of a real relationship, a working alliance, and a transference-countertransference configuration.

Not only a function of the therapeutic relationship, therapeutic progress also includes the techniques and tactics used by the therapist and is usually tied to the therapist's theory of treatment. Fundamentally, the relationship and techniques work synergistically in affecting change.

Dr. Gelso's theoretical approach to psychotherapy is psychoanalytic/psychodynamic, with the integration of other approaches when necessary — such as humanistic/experiential and cognitive behavioral therapy. With special attention paid to understanding the patient's underlying dynamics, his own dynamics, and the dynamics of the therapeutic relationship, Dr. Gelso administers long-term psychotherapy with the aim of fostering patient insight, and subsequent behavioral change.

Dr. Charles J. Gelso, Professor Emeritus of the Department of Psychology at University of Maryland, College Park, received his doctorate from Ohio State in 1970, and has been a professor of psychology and staff psychologist at the University of Maryland Counseling Center since then.

Having practiced individual psychotherapy continually for more than 40 years, Dr. Gelso has written 5 books, and has had approximately 150 articles and chapters published. A few of Dr. Gelso's major psychotherapy publications include The Psychotherapy Relationship: Theory, Research, and Practice (1998), Countertransference and the Therapist's Inner Experience: Perils and Possibilities (2007), and The Real Relationship in Psychotherapy: The Hidden Foundation of Change (2010). His latest text, Counseling Psychology, Third Edition, was released in April 2014.

APA Videos

• Accelerated Experiential Dynamic Psychotherapy (AEDP) With a Male Client
  Diana Fosha
• Psychoanalytic Therapy
  Nancy McWilliams
• Qualities and Actions of Effective Therapists
  Bruce Wampold
• Short-Term Dynamic Psychotherapy
  Donald K. Freedheim
• Three Approaches to Psychotherapy With a Female Client: The Next Generation
  Judith S. Beck, Leslie S. Greenberg, and Nancy McWilliams
• Three Approaches to Psychotherapy With a Male Client: The Next Generation
  Judith S. Beck, Leslie S. Greenberg, and Nancy McWilliams

APA Books

• Becoming an Effective Therapist: Adopting a Theory of Psychotherapy That's Right for You and Your Client
  Derek Truscott
• Exploring Three Approaches to Psychotherapy
  Leslie S. Greenberg, Nancy McWilliams, and Amy Wenzel
• Inside the Session: What Really Happens in Psychotherapy
  Paul L. Wachtel
• Insight in Psychotherapy
  Edited by Louis G. Castonguay and Clara E. Hill
• The Real Relationship in Psychotherapy: The Hidden Foundation of Change
  Charles J. Gelso