Psychotherapy, according to the Spanish Federation of Associations of Psychotherapists (1992), consists of a scientific treatment of a psychological nature that promotes the achievement of changes in the way of acting, physical and psychological health, coherence and integrity of identity and the well-being of both groups and individuals.
Its effectiveness lies in the therapeutic change that allows the patient to live their life in a more functional and healthy way. What factors encourage this change?
Numerous studies indicate that the quality of the therapeutic alliance, which is the relationship established between the patient and the therapist in therapy, It is the most robust predictor of treatment, with the type of therapy used being less important as there are no significant differences between them, since they are fundamentally moderated by contextual and relational factors.
So, different characteristics, attitudes and therapeutic skills are especially relevant in the effectiveness of the intervention. Which are the most important?
Among the personal characteristics of the professional who they favor change of his patients the following stand out.
Essential therapeutic skills
The fundamental attitudes for establishing the therapeutic alliance are active listening, empathy, unconditional acceptance and authenticity.
1. Active listening
Knowing how to listen is essential in therapy since it encourages patients to talk about themselves and their problems, increasing the possibility of understanding them and encouraging them to be responsible for their process of change, seeing the therapist as a collaborator rather than an expert.
Active listening involves three activities: receiving the message (through verbal, non-verbal and vocal communication and attitude), processing the information (knowing how to discriminate what is important and establish its meaning) and issuing listening responses.
2. Empathy
Empathy consists of the ability to understand people’s thoughts and feelings from their own frame of reference. Implies attend to the manifest and also the latentcapturing and understanding the meaning of the emotional, cognitive and behavioral implications beyond what is expressed. Furthermore, it requires knowing how to communicate to the other person that we understand them.
Some empathic strategies are: active listening (previously defined), clarification (formulation of questions to know what the patient expresses), the use of paraphrases, synthesis and recapitulations (collecting and expressing the ideas previously expressed by the patient) and reflection (collect and capture the emotional component presented).
3. Unconditional acceptance
Accept the patient as he isvaluing him without judging him.
Among the components of unconditional acceptance we find: commitment to the patient (interest and willingness to help them), effort to understand them and a non-evaluative attitude.
4. Authenticity
Authenticity means being yourself. communicating one’s own feelings and internal experiences. The therapeutic situation requires knowing what to say or express, how and at what moment so as not to harm the patient or the therapeutic relationship.
Some of its main elements are: non-verbal behaviors (such as smiling, eye contact and body orientation towards the patient), little emphasis on the authoritative role of the therapist, spontaneity (ability to express oneself naturally, without deliberating about everything that is said and done) and self-disclosure (controlled offering, by the therapist, of information about himself and his reactions to the situation in therapy).
