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Volume 1, Issue 4
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BUILDING A THERAPEUTIC ALLIANCE WITH YOUR CLIENT
By Kathi Stringer

The Holding Environment

During the formation process of the therapeutic alliance a dual interview is taking place. The treater is gathering intake information to assess the symptomology of the client. The client, however is looking for clues to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the treater. A client’s unconscious preverbal structure may be inquiring whether or not the holding environment is defective.

Winnicott who coined the term ‘holding environment’ felt it didn’t need to be perfect but ‘good enough’. He felt the failures of the holding environment would help adjust and acclimate the client to the difficulties encountered in reality.

Too Much, Too Soon

The traumatized and resistant client usually has an acute ability to size up the container [A treater can act as a ‘container’ for the projected emotions/mirrored psych structures from the client. Note, this is far different than the treater acting as a sponge

 and absorbing the vile projections.] that resides in the treater. If the treater’s container presents itself as defective, clients may more than likely withhold information and unconsciously resist disclosure. A client may sense ‘vibes’ that to disclose sensitive material may be met with rejection. These ‘vibes’ may take the appearance that the treater is not qualified to contain the formless identity of the client’s interpersonal dimensions.

Capitalize on Effective Defenses

It is not uncommon for some treaters to capitalize on the developed defenses of the false self that have enabled the client to function and meet the demands of their environment. However, the false self presents a problem when the client wakes up one day and asks, “Who am I? Have I simply been a pretender all along?”

When left with the haunting questions that one is a pretender, the next line of thought may lead the client directly into the abyss,

or as the DSM equates as ‘emptiness’. Which brings us back to the fear of the defective container that resides in the treater.

In the early development of the therapeutic alliance, the client’s distorted, formless and fragmented identity searches for a consistent and delineated personality structure in the treater. Hopefully, the treater can present as the constant object and as an available template from which the client may investigate and examine their feelings without fear of overwhelming the treater.

A Protective Mistake

A novice treater may error on the side of caution hoping to protect the client and say something like this, “Perhaps these feelings are too painful for you, and perhaps it may be in your best interest to stop treatment.”
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