ABOUT THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIPS

Abstract

The effectiveness of psychodynamic psychotherapies is based on multiple aspects which are not easy to distinguish and describe. Over the last two decades, clinical and scientific interest in the role of the therapeutic relationship in the treatment process has increasingly grown. Currently it seems reductive to consider the therapeutic relationship as a merely nonspecific factor consequently shared by any helping relationships. In the present article we discussed the peculiar characteristics of the therapeutic relationship in psychodynamic psychotherapies particularly concerning Adlerian treatments. Moreover, we reviewed some critical factors which are intertwined with psychotherapies in order to highlight that the space needed by the “analytic play” can rise by the dialogue intrinsic to the therapeutic relationship, its technical pertinence, and its correct use. We will refer to the relationship between rituality and spontaneity within the setting, to the issue of truth and authenticity, and to the empathic encouragement, as both necessary and risky. We conclude this work with the issue of training in psychotherapy, with respect to shapes, limitations, and unconscious “currents” which run through the therapeutic relationship