The recovery of the self through therapeutic alliance focused group therapy

Therapeutic alliance is an essential aspect and meaningful mechanism for change in psychotherapy. In addition to mediating the outcome of therapy, therapeutic alliance is considered important as it enables the enhancement of metacognitive abilities. However, although considered beneficial, it is broadly assumed that forming a therapeutic alliance with clients who have been diagnosed with psychosis might be especially challenging. Therefore, several therapeutic approaches were developed in order to specifically focus on this construct in the context of recovery from psychotic disorders. One such approach is Therapeutic Alliance Focused Therapy (TAFT), which is a group adaptation based on the manual for Therapeutic Alliance Focused Family Intervention. The TAFT aimed to address the challenges to therapeutic alliance by emphasizing the use of interventions that enhance agreement on goals and feeling a positive emotional bond, as well as safety, in the therapy context. The current chapter presents the TAFT's four therapeutic elements, and later discusses the enhancement of meta-cognitive abilities that might be achieved throughout the reflections on self and other as part of the intervention. A group case study is presented to illustrate the elements of the TAFT and group's dynamics, followed by a critical discussion on challenges in implementation.