| Research has shown that the strongest predictor of successful therapy is the Therapeutic Alliance that develops between patient and therapist. As the research on the importance of the Alliance has developed, it has become necessary for therapists to learn those skills that work to improve the Alliance. Mindfulness, defined as, "bringing one's attention to the experiences occurring in the present moment, in a nonjudgmental or accepting way" (Baer et al. 2006), has been found to increase those qualities that have also been shown to strengthen the therapeutic alliance. In this study we used data from the Brief Psychotherapy Research Program, N = 90 therapeutic dyads, to examine what effect therapist mindfulness as measured by the Kentucky Inventory of Mindfulness Skills (KIMS) had on the subjective and inter-subjective patient and therapist views of the therapeutic alliance. We also examined what effect this had on overall therapeutic outcome. Results showed that KIMS scores had a strong correlation with therapist's subjective views of the strength of the Therapeutic Alliance. Results also showed that therapist KIMS scores predicted patient and therapist inter-subjectivity in the reporting of ruptures that occurred during treatment. No specific link was found between either KIMS scores or therapeutic process scores and overall therapeutic outcome. |
