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The 3 kinds of contact and the working alliance

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Avatar for INTEGRA CPD INTEGRA CPD
October 13, 2026
1

The 3 kinds of contact and the working alliance

Avatar for INTEGRA CPD

INTEGRA CPD

October 13, 2026

Transcript

  1. The 3 kinds of contact Field alliance and the working

    © Michael Soth 1995 web: www.integra-cpd.co.uk email: [email protected] © 2010 - 2022 Michael Soth | All Rights Reserved
  2. 1. effortless working alliance core conditions client therapist self-actualisation embodied

    working alliance resonance = working alliance (via attunement)
  3. 2. blocked self-actualisation - therapist trapped in contradiction/“the antidote” the

    negative pattern: • defensive ego • conditions of worth • anti-libidinal • repression/dissociation client therapist therapist = enemy of client’s defensive ego therapist takes sides and pro-actively precipitates interpersonal enactment of client’s internal conflict self-actualisation blocked self-actualisation impulse: therapist champions self-actualisation side of the conflict, against defensive ego • life force • organismic self • libidinal • emergent process attunement/resonance blocked
  4. 2. disturbed/conflicted working alliance ? client ? therapist ? ?

    working alliance disturbed = therapist confused, conflicted, under pressure = wounding has entered the room / the relationship = the client’s conflict becomes the therapist’s conflict ? ?
  5. 3. working alliance threatened (wounding dynamic is in the foreground/takes

    over) client therapist projection of transferential object(s) working alliance threatened or lost = therapist under pressure, conflicted, confused by being ‘objectified’ and mixed up with some ‘object’
  6. Cycles of rupture & repair = oscillations between working alliance

    & enactment Different conceptions of working alliance versus enactment 1) working alliance assumed = systematic avoidance, denial and unawareness of enactment (medical model) therapist responsible for maintenance of ‘good’ working alliance (by providing ‘core conditions’) therapist responsible for making therapeutic mistakes which lead to enactment (which therapist is responsible for repairing) 2) transference - countertransference process makes enactments inevitable, but therapist’s task is to anticipate, avert and contain them (through timely interpretation) rupture of working alliance via enactment understood as counter-therapeutic AND potentially transformative = inevitable AND necessary as avenue for therapeutic action 3)
  7. 2. disturbed/conflicted 2. disturbed/conflicted working alliance: working habitual alliance mode

    VS emergency client therapist differentiating being separate ‘habitual mode’ identifying ‘emergency’ working alliance threatened = therapist under pressure, conflicted, confused
  8. 3. alliance‘opposite’ threatened (wounding dynamic is in the foreground/takes 3.

    working When Gomez's position allows transference to manifest and take over) over client therapist a fixed old Gestalt (‘ghosts’) interfering with dialogical encounter working alliance threatened or lost = therapist under pressure, conflicted, wounding dynamic manifests in confused client’s habitual pattern relation by to ‘opposite’ therapist and (implicit out-of-awareness outweighs ‘alongside’denial/refusal empathy, of hereacceptance & now dialogical relating) & support
  9. 2. When empathy, acceptance Gomez's ‘alongside’ position are ‘emergency’ NOT

    being received The client’s internaland conflict: ‘habitual mode’ versus ‘habitual mode’ ‘emergency’ therapy in the service of the ‘habitual mode’ = another brick in the wall Perfection Therapy therapy in the service of the ‘emergency’ = transformational butterfly therapy Wholeness Therapy
  10. 2.Self-regulation When empathy,and acceptance Gomez'soperate ‘alongside’ position are NOT being

    conflict received window and of tolerance within underlying character window of tolerance therapy in the service of the ‘habitual mode’ = another brick in the wall ‘habitual mode’ therapy in the service of the ‘emergency’ = transformational butterfly therapy ‘emergency’ exists within character habit of … chronic conflict characterologically given self-regulation has the enactment of the wounding as well as the protection against the wounding structured into it how do we engage with chronic underlying limitations and restrictions of self-regulation capacities?
  11. Charting the changing Working Alliance - graph & turning points

    degree of working alliance client: “I’m not sure what we’re doing here.” th: “I don’t need your money.” c: “You’re just being nice because I pay you!” therapist: “I notice you look away when you say that.” c: ”I don’t trust anybody!” c: ”I do remember being more open with you than anybody!” time of session
  12. Find further materials (articles, presentations and hand-outs, etc), info on

    CPD events & join the community at: https://hub.soth.co.uk/login web: www.integra-cpd.co.uk email: [email protected] © 2010 - 2022 Michael Soth | All Rights Reserved