The first goal is for the clinician to find the patient, and the patient to find the clinician, as both are required for a real alliance.
Above all, the clinician must not shake what little faith the patient has in himself.
The slow compromise, or even surrender, of our fondest hopes is a regular feature of normal human life.
Many patients cannot hear until they feel heard.
An argument can be made that relationship building is the treatment.
Today many medications act across diagnostic groups. Alliance effects also transcend specific psychotherapy methods. Both may be affecting profound psychopathological processes.