Why different therapies work for the same problem? Researcher say, Maybe it's not the therapy

or at least it wasn't for the participants in this study. Successful treatment was about getting along with the therapist.

Ever wonder why so many different therapies exist and seem to work for -some- people? Well, it maybe that some patients more easily adjust to a therapeutic alliance while others don't.

Perhaps the most important thing that we, as gregarious animals, need is a social bond.

All the emphases in the following are mine
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This ... research showed that it is the quality of the relationship between the therapist and patient which causes improvement and not the different techniques employed in the two therapies that were compared.

The paper, 'Psychological treatments for early psychosis can be beneficial or harmful, depending on the therapeutic alliance: an instrumental variable analysis,' was published in the journal, Psychological Medicine.

Does successful treatment make patients feel well disposed towards their therapist or is the relationship actually at the heart of whether therapy succeeds?"

...the researchers found that a good level of therapeutic alliance had a beneficial impact on wellbeing, but where the relationship was poor, the treatment could actually be damaging.


"The implications are that trying to keep patients in therapy when the relationship is poor is not appropriate," Lucy said. "More effort should be made to build strong, trusting and respectful relationships, but if this isn't working, then the therapy can be detrimental to the patient and should be discontinued.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/04/150410083508.htm