A review of therapist characteristics and techniques negatively impacting the therapeutic alliance

The present review is a comprehensive examination of the therapist's personal attributes and in-session activities that negatively influence the therapeutic alliance from a broad range of psychotherapy perspectives. Therapist's personal attributes such as being rigid, uncertain, critical, distant, tense, and distracted were found to contribute negatively to the alliance. Moreover, therapist techniques such as over structuring the therapy, inappropriate self-disclosure, unyielding use of transference interpretation, and inappropriate use of silence were also found to contribute negatively to the alliance. In addition, this review reveals how therapist's personal qualities and use of technique have a similar influence on the identification or exacerbation of ruptures in the alliance.