Stability of theraperrtic alliance arid its relationship to out-

The relationship of therapeutic alliance to patient and treatment characteristics and to outcome, was studied in a sample of 106 patients consecutively admitted to a short-term psychiatric ward. The main finding was that a better therapeutic alliance at discharge was related to a greater improvement in symptoms during treatment. A multiva-riate model for prediction of outcome revealed a significant 'contribution from therapeutic alliance at discharge but not from alliance at admission or from changes in alliance during treatment. Improvement in alliance was seen in 41.5 % of the patients, no change in 28.370 and a deteriora-tion in 30.2%. Patients who improved their alliance did not differ from the others in background characteristics, but were more often subject to psyehopharmocological treat-ment and were more often treated in a basic activatio