Abstract
The focus of this research thesis is the therapeutic concept of the ‘alliance’. I conducted a literature review on key documents from within the American Psychological Society that sought to establish an evidence-base for psychotherapy that was methodologically compatible and comparable with pharmacotherapy. The ontological assumptions that defined and informed an alliance construct derived from experimental methodology were considered from the perspective of UK Counselling Psychology. This was followed by my first research study, which used a qualitative method to investigate the alliance construct from the clients’ perspective. This was felt to better reflect the Humanistic assumptions of UK Counselling Psychology and further explore the alliance construct and its relevance to clinical practice. A further research project qualitatively investigated Counselling Psychologists experiences of making clinical choices. It sought to develop the current understanding of Counselling Psychologists’ dialectical engagement within the UK’s healthcare climate of efficacy derived practice evidence.