Therapeutic Alliance in Cognitive Behavior Therapy for Videoconferencing: A Literature Review

Abstract

Recent years have seen an increase in the number of Internet users in Brazil and in the world, while videoconferencing interventions have emerged as forms of treatment for various mental disorders. It is known that the therapeutic alliance is a key component to implement the psychotherapeutic practice; however, there is no consensus about psychotherapeutic practice and training in psychotherapy by videoconference. Therefore, this article aims to conduct a review of literature about training and the role of therapeutic alliance in Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT) by videoconference. For this, a search in four databases (Pubmed, Psycarticles, Lilacs and SciELO) was performed, with specific descriptors of the dictionaries of the bases. In total, 365 articles were found, but only 9 met the inclusion criteria based on the objective of this study. It was observed that most of the articles indicated that the alliance was high during the CBT sessions by videoconference and this can be compared with the alliance formed in face-to-face therapy; it was also observed that few articles evaluated the alliance as a predictor of outcomes and adherence. Despite this indicative, this study discusses the methodological limitations of the articles and indicates the need for studies that clarify the evidence about the formation of the alliance and its role in this alternative treatment modality.

Videoconferencing; Therapeutic Alliance; Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy