Exploring therapeutic alliance for digital mental health
The therapeutic alliance, the relationship that develops between a therapist and a patient, is a significant factor in the outcome of psychological therapy. As mental healthcare starts to increasingly adopt digital technologies and offer therapeutic interventions that may not involve human therapists, the notion of the therapeutic alliance in digital mental healthcare requires exploration. What is the nature and role of the therapeutic alliance in digital mental health solutions? Do aspects of the traditional therapeutic alliance have digital analogues and what novel aspects emerge in the digital realm? This symposium is interested in these and a broad range of questions on the theme of the digital therapeutic alliance. We are also interested in the various ways this theme can be involved:
- The standard patient-therapist alliance in the case of telehealth therapy sessions
- The relationship between a mental health app and its user
- The relationship between users and their smartphones
- The nature of the therapeutic alliance in AI-driven interventions, including chatbots and virtual human therapists