Assessments in Psychotherapy with Suicidal Patients: The Precedence of Alliance Work

Abstract

In this article the aim was to explore how therapists handle suicide risk assessment in connection with patient’s experience of alliance in psychotherapy. In a naturalistic, longitudinal study, 19 suicidal patients were interviewed three times: just before they started in therapy (T1), during the early phase (T2), and again after one year (T3). 17 therapists were interviewed separately at T2 and T3. The interviews explored the personal experiences of both patients and therapists, including their handling of suicidality and the quality of their relationships. An interpretative-phenomenological approach was used to analyze the research interviews case by case, as seen from the perspective of both therapist and patient in each dyad. Because of their duties within the Norwegian Healthcare System, all therapists are obliged to follow the National Guidelines in suicide risk assessment. The results indicate that there are two pitfalls for therapists: to avoid the topic of suicidality and using the suicide risk assessment in a rigid way. Both pitfalls have disturbing effects on the working alliance between therapist and patient. Most of the therapists were able to integrate personalized assessment procedures in the running dialogue. Our argument here is that in order to integrate assessment with therapeutic work, it is important for the therapist to establish ethical responsibility with patient. A modern philosophical perspective on ethics of closeness is discussed.