Psychotherapy: Theory, Research, Practice, Training
2007, Vol. 44, No. 4, 371–377
EMPATHIC RELATIONAL BONDS AND PERSONAL AGENCY
IN PSYCHOTHERAPY: IMPLICATIONS FOR
PSYCHOTHERAPY SUPERVISION, PRACTICE,
AND RESEARCH
LYNNE ANGUS AND FERN KAGAN
York University
Although psychotherapy researchers
have become increasingly interested in
identifying common factors that con-
tribute to effective therapeutic prac-
tices, across psycho-diagnostic catego-
ries and treatment approaches,
relatively little attention to date has
been focused on the impact of these
research findings for psychotherapy
supervision and training programs. To
address this gap, in this article we de-
scribe key components of an integrative
psychotherapy supervision and training
program that focuses on the develop-
ment of a strong therapeutic alliance as
an empirically supported, common
principle of change in psychotherapy.
We review empirical research evidence
that addresses the contributions of ther-
apist empathic engagement for the de-
velopment of secure, relational bonds,
heightened client agency, and the de-
velopment of strong therapeutic alli-
ances, and we discuss the implications
of these findings for therapy practice
and supervision training. We conclude
with specific recommendations for fu-
ture research.
Lynne Angus, Ph.D., and Fern Kagan, M.A., Clinical Psy-
chology Graduate Program, York University.
Correspondence regarding this article should be addressed
to Lynne Angus, Clinical Psychology Graduate Program,
York University, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. E-mail:
langus@yorku.ca
Copyright 2007 by the American Psychological Association
0033-3204/07/$12.00 DOI: 10.1037/0033-3204.44.4.371
Keywords: therapist empathy, empathy
and psychotherapy training, enhancing
client agency, principles of change,
psychotherapy supervision
Although psychotherapy researchers have be-
come increasingly interested in identifying com-
mon factors that contribute to effective therapeu-
tic practices, across psycho-diagnostic categories
and treatment approaches, relatively little atten-
tion to date has been focused on the impact of
these research findings for psychotherapy super-
vision and training programs (Castonguay, 2005).
The purpose of this paper is to describe key
components of an integrative psychotherapy su-
pervision and training program at York Univer-
sity that focuses on the development of a strong
therapeutic alliance as a common principle of
change in psychotherapy (Pachankis & Goldfried,
2007). In particular, the contributions of therapist
empathic engagement for the development of se-
cure, relational bonds and heightened client
agency will be highlighted and the implications
for therapy practice and supervision training dis-
cussed. We conclude with specific recommenda-
tions for future research.
The Therapeutic Alliance as a Core Principle
of Change in Psychotherapy
Castonguay & Beutler (2006) recently reported
findings from a Principles of Change Task Force
that reviewed the extant psychotherapy research
literature addressing the treatment of dysphoric,
anxiety, personality, and substance abuse disor-
ders, in relation to participant characteristics,
technique factors, and the therapeutic relation-
ship. The development and maintenance of a
strong working alliance was the only common
relationship principle of change that received em-
pirical support across all four psycho-diagnostic
371
Angus and Kagan
categories. As defined by Horvath and Bedi
(2002), the term therapeutic alliance refers to the
quality and strength of the collaborative relation-
ship between client and therapist in therapy. This
conceptualization of the alliance addresses the
importance of positive affective bonds between
client and therapist as well as more cognitive
aspects of the therapy relationship such as con-
sensus about and active commitment to therapy
goals and the identification and implementation
of specific tasks and interventions. Based on the
empirical evidence that a strong therapeutic alli-
ance is essential for effective psychotherapy, al-
liance building skills have become an important
focus of psychotherapy supervision and training
in the Adult Clinical program at York University.
In particular, we view therapist empathic engage-
ment and the development of a secure, relational
bond as a key precondition for the subsequent
identification of shared goals and introduction of
tasks that taken together constitute a strong ther-
apeutic alliance.
Empathic Relational Bonds and the
Development of the Therapeutic Alliance
General recognition of the importance of a
warm, nurturing relationship and the establish-
ment of a secure emotional bond with a caregiver,
for adaptive psychological development, dates
back to the Harlow monkey experiments
(Harlow, 1958). The pivotal role played by at-
tachment patterns formed in childhood—
particularly the experience of a safe, secure bond
with an empathic caregiver—for the establish-
ment of satisfying interpersonal relationships in
adulthood has also been noted by many theorists
(Ainsworth, 1979, 1989; Bartholomew &
Horowitz, 1991; Bowlby, 1969, 1988).
Psychotherapy researchers have established
correlations between clients’ recollections of
caregiver relationships and their capacity to
form an early working alliance in therapy
(Mallinckrodt, 1991) and identified the specific
contributions of therapist empathy for the devel-
opment of secure therapeutic bonds and produc-
tive outcomes in psychotherapy (Orlinsky,
Grawe, & Parks, 1994). As defined by Rogers
(1975), therapeutic empathy entails the ability to
(a) accurately attune with and perceive a client’s
internal, implicit frame of reference, in terms of
both conceptual and emotional meanings, and (b)
372
evocatively and effectively communicate that un-
derstanding to the client, during therapy sessions.
Building on the empirical research evidence,
and informed by the work of Rogers (1975),
therapist empathic engagement is a key focus of
our integrative approach to psychotherapy super-
vision and training at York University. First of
all, the feeling of being understood and accepted
by an engaged, empathic listener enables clients
to disclose their most important and emotionally
salient personal experiences to a therapist (Angus
& Hardtke, 2006). Once externalized as a story,
clients are then able to “stand back” from and
actively reflect on their inner world of emotions,
intentions, motives, goals, expectations, and be-
liefs for the identification of effective problem-
solving strategies and the construction of more
coherent and empowering personal meanings.
More important, sensing and “seeing” new pos-
sibilities for the resolution of problematic life
concerns engages a hopeful expectancy for
change and a heightened willingness to take ac-
tion in the world. Bandura (2006) argued that the
meta-cognitive ability to reflect on oneself and
the adequacy of one’s thoughts, feelings, and
actions is the most distinctly human, core prop-
erty of personal agency. It is a heightened sense
of personal agency (Williams & Levitt, 2007), in
which clients become engaged in taking action to
effect change in their own therapy relationships
(Bohart, 2000) and personal lives (Bandura,
2006; Frank, 1961), that we view as an key client
“outcome” of therapist empathic engagement.
Drawing on Rogers’s (1975) definition of ther-
apeutic empathy, both therapist attunement and
communication skills are viewed as essential for
sustained empathic engagement and the develop-
ment of a secure, relational bonds in psychother-
apy. Specifically, therapist empathic attunement
skills are viewed as facilitating the following
client outcomes:
1. A safe and trusted relational bond enables
clients to disclose specific, emotionally sa-
lient personal stories to the therapist (Angus,
Lewin, Bouffard, & Rotondi-Trevisan,
2004), without fear of rejection or censure,
that in turn facilitates the identification of
core relational (Luborsky & Crits-
Christoph, 1990) and emotion themes
(Greenberg, 2002) for the formulation of
comprehensive case conceptualizations
 Special Section: Relational Bonds and Personal Agency in Psychotherapy
(Goldfried, 2003) and the articulation of
shared therapeutic goals.
2. Therapist empathic attunement helps clients
engage in active, self-reflection for the ex-
pression and symbolization of primary
adaptive emotions (Greenberg, 2002) and
core beliefs (Goldfried, 2003) leading to the
construction of new, more coherent, and
empowering personal meanings (Angus,
Levitt, & Hardtke, 1999).
3. Therapist empathic attunement helps sus-
tain client’s active self-reflection in the
therapy hour and engenders a heightened
sense of personal agency (Bandura, 2006)
and self-mastery (Frank, 1961) for the cli-
ent.
4. The experience of an empathic relational
bond and heightened personal agency pos-
itively impacts client expectancies for
change and leads to enhanced motivation
for engagement (Westra, 2004) in therapy
tasks and goals.
5. Therapist active empathic attunement to
fluctuations in the depth and affective tone
of the therapeutic bond functions as an early
warning system for the detection and repair
of alliance ruptures (Safran & Muran,
2000).
In addition, the communication of therapist
empathic understanding and validation is viewed
as facilitating the following client outcomes:
1. The experience of disclosing deeply per-
sonal and painful experiences to the thera-
pist, and feeling accepted and understood,
may be the basis of a new, corrective inter-
personal experience (Castonguay, 2005;
Pachankis & Goldfried, 2007) for the client.
2. Therapists’ empathic understanding is ex-
perienced as relieving and soothing by cli-
ents and enhances their capacity for emo-
tional self-regulation (Elliott, Watson,
Goldman, & Greenberg, 2004) during the
therapy session.
3. Therapist empathic validation of client ac-
counts of positive change—new outcome
stories—in their lives helps to bring sa-
liency and meaning to those experiences
(Hardtke & Angus, 2004; Kagan, 2007) and
may facilitate the emergence of insight
(Angus & Hardtke, 2006; Castonguay &
Hill, 2006) and new, more positive views of
self/self-identity (Goldfried, 2003; Kagan,
2007).
Just as it is essential that beginning therapists
establish a safe, secure therapeutic bond for pro-
ductive therapy outcomes, supervisees also need
to experience a sense of safety and security—
empathic attunement and understanding—for op-
timal learning to occur in psychotherapy super-
vision sessions. Accordingly, the importance of
an empathic bond for heightened personal agency
(Bandura, 2006) and mastery (Frank, 1961) in
supervisory relationships will now be addressed.
Empathic Relational Bonds and the
Development of the Supervisory Alliance
As noted earlier, the ability to form a strong
bond with others seems to be a transferable skill
that is learned in the context of significant rela-
tionships and then generalized to subsequent re-
lationships. Recent studies have consistently
demonstrated a similarity between the quality of
the supervisory relationship and the strength of
the therapeutic alliance evidenced in supervisee
training sessions (Alpher, 1991; Doehrman,
1976; Friedlander, Seigel, & Brenock, 1989;
Martin, Goodyear, & Newton, 1987). Addressing
these findings, Patton and Kivlighan (1997) sug-
gested that “trainees are taking the knowledge
they are gaining in supervision about building
and maintaining relationships and applying it to
the relationship with their client” (p.113). On the
basis of a recent review of the psychotherapy
supervision research literature, Ronnestad and
Ladany (2006) recommended that supervisors at-
tend to the development of a strong supervision
alliance by using and generalizing therapy skills
such as empathy and clarification responses.
In addition, a strong working alliance in the
supervisory relationship appears to foster an in-
creased sense of self-efficacy (Lent et al., 2006)
and personal agency in supervisees (Bordin,
1983; Patton & Kivlighan, 1997). The establish-
ment of a secure, relational bond in the supervi-
sory relationship appears to help foster a height-
ened sense of trust and confidence in beginning
therapists wherein they are more likely to try new
ways of empathically responding to clients and
test out specific interventions and techniques.
373
Angus and Kagan
At York University, Masters clinical students
complete an introductory psychotherapy training
practicum that focuses on the development of
specific helping skills (Hill & O’Brien, 2001)
such as active listening, open-ended questioning,
emotional validation, and evocative reflections
for the development of secure, empathic bonds
with clients. Through a series of in-class role
plays, readings on the alliance and videos of
therapy sessions, supervisees experience how
empathic attunement and communication skills
encourages clients to disclose core concerns and
emotionally salient personal stories.
During the first year of the Ph.D. program
trainees complete a second, more advanced level
psychotherapy practicum that adopts an integra-
tive approach to the implementation of assess-
ment and practice-based case formulation skills
introduced in Masters-level courses. In addition
to further developing empathic attunement and
understanding skills for the establishment of se-
cure relational bonds, supervisees also learn how
to identify the emergence of within-session client
process markers—for example, disclosure of
emotionally salient personal stories (Angus et al.,
2004), expression of heightened emotional
arousal (Greenberg, 2002), changes in therapeu-
tic collaboration (Safran & Muran, 2000) and
irrational beliefs (Goldfried, 2003)—as indicators
for the implementation of specific therapeutic
interventions. It appears to be particularly helpful
when supervisors model a process-diagnostic ap-
proach to listening to therapy sessions wherein
components of the therapeutic alliance (e.g.,
bond, tasks, goals) and specific client process
markers are identified and assessed in the context
of the cut and thrust of the unfolding therapeutic
dialogue.
Although session outcomes measures such as
the Working Alliance Inventory (WAI; Horvath
& Greenberg, 1989) are systematically reviewed
in supervision sessions, supervisors also stimu-
late beginning therapist’s reflective engagement
in the moment-by-moment process of psycho-
therapy by replaying taped therapy sessions and
empathically exploring supervisee responses and
disclosures. Supervisors also foster supervisee
agency by directing trainee attention to interven-
tion choices they have made in sessions to bring
new information to the trainee’s awareness. In the
advanced practicum, we also help supervisees to
become more aware of their own therapy session
skills by having them identify and transcribe a
374
20-minute segment from a recent therapy session
and complete an intensive process analysis of the
client–therapist dialogue. Supervisees are re-
quired to reflect on and descriptively analyze the
client–therapist exchanges in terms of four basic
categories: client utterances, therapist responses,
alternative responses and comments, and reflec-
tions on the interaction between client and ther-
apist. By critically assessing their own within-
session responses and using their own clinical
judgment to identify possible alternate strategies
for future implementation, supervisees begin to
develop a heightened sense of trust in their own
capacity to become effective agents of change in
psychotherapy.
In terms of novice therapists’ contributions to
productive supervisory relationships, we have
found the following supervisee attitudes to be
important for successful new learning and skill
development:
1. Openness to new learning. Skill acquisition
and increased personal agency are not well
served by either overly self-critical apprais-
als or blaming, externalizing attitudes in
supervision sessions.
2. A compassionate awareness of the vulner-
abilities and strengths of self and others.
Empathic self-attunement (Rogers, 1975)
and self-reflexive awareness is essential for
enhanced personal agency (Bandura, 2006)
and skill mastery (Frank, 1961) in supervi-
sion.
Although it is clear that empathy and personal
agency have important roles to play in the devel-
opment of productive relational bonds, and new
learning in both psychotherapy and clinical su-
pervision, it is also important to address key
differences that distinguish the nature and pur-
pose of supervisory and therapeutic alliances.
Empathic Relational Bonds in Psychotherapy
and Supervision: Key Differences
One key difference is in the focus of inquiry in
supervision versus therapy. The focus of therapy
is the elaboration of the client’s story and the
client’s acquisition of new self-knowledge and
skills to live a fuller, more satisfying life. In
contrast, both supervisee and supervisor are fo-
cused on establishing a helping relationship with
 Special Section: Relational Bonds and Personal Agency in Psychotherapy
the client. The supervisee’s personal develop-
ment is in the service of providing a better out-
come for the client, not an end in itself.
In addition, there is evidence to suggest that
the interpersonal basis of the alliance is different
in supervision than therapy. Specifically, clients
initial disclosures of personal information and
emotionally-salient stories seem to contribute to
the rapid development of a shared affective bond
between therapist and client in good outcome
therapy dyads (Angus et al., 2004). In contrast,
the discussion of supervisee personal issues, dur-
ing initial therapy supervision sessions, has been
found to occur more often in low alliance dyads
and may be linked to weaker supervisory alli-
ances (Chen & Bernstein, 2000). Supervisory re-
lationships, by definition, include an evaluative
component and an early focus on supervisee per-
sonal issues, before a sense of safety has been
established, may undermine the development of a
sense of shared trust and the development of a
robust supervisory alliance.
The specific intentions and goals that guide the
focus of inquiry in supervision and psychother-
apy are also different. It seems likely that super-
visees are primarily seeking assurances of their
competence as clinicians from their supervisors
and this differs from the understanding and new
meaning construction that clients often seek from
their therapists. Clients seek understanding first
and only once this has been achieved do they feel
safe enough to make changes. Supervisees seek
understanding and require the empathy of their
supervisors, but they do so in the context of their
efforts to achieve competence as psychothera-
pists. It is only when a sense of confidence as a
beginning therapist has been securely achieved
that it is “safe” to disclose personal issues and not
have them undermine the supervisory working
alliance.
In summary, we foster the development of
trusting, empathic relational bonds—in therapy
and supervision—for heightened personal
agency, identification of shared goals, and the
effective acquisition and implementation of spe-
cific therapeutic interventions. It is clear however
that more research is needed to empirically vali-
date the unique contributions of empathic bonds
for the development of heightened mastery and
personal agency in the context of psychotherapy
practice and therapist training programs.
Future Research Directions
Given that supervision continues to occupy a
central role in the transmission of therapeutic
skills, future research would be well advised to
explore the nature of the supervisory relationship
from different role perspectives, using a multi-
methodological approach. In particular, we be-
lieve that it will be important to more fully in-
vestigate the relationship between empathic
engagement and heightened agency for produc-
tive outcomes in both psychotherapy supervision
and practice.
Previous research studies, representing a range
of therapeutic approaches, have consistently es-
tablished that the impact of therapist empathy for
treatment outcomes is most accurately assessed
from the client’s perspective (Burns & Nolen-
Hoeksema, 1991; Lafferty, Beutler & Crago,
1991; Lorr, 1965). Accordingly, it may be impor-
tant to acquire novice therapists first person ac-
counts of productive and unproductive supervisor
relationships— using qualitative research meth-
ods (Hardtke & Angus, 2004)—to gain a fuller
understanding of the relationship between super-
visor empathy and the development of supervisee
self-efficacy (R. L. Lent et al., 2006; R. W. Lent,
Hill, & Hoffman, 2003) and personal agency as
novice therapists (Lehrman-Waterman &
Ladany, 2001; Ronnestad & Ladany, 2006).
The role of agency in psychotherapy and su-
pervision is another important direction for future
research. In a recent qualitative study, Williams
and Levitt (2007) interviewed 13 expert thera-
pists and identified a set of core principles that
are commonly used to encourage agency in cli-
ents. Delineating the ways in which expert ther-
apists encourage client agency has important im-
plications for psychotherapy practice and
training. Future investigations could also use
qualitative methodologies to assess how super-
visee agency is enhanced in supervisory relation-
ships and assess the impact of those findings in
terms of supervisee therapy outcomes.
In addition, the link between a focus on alli-
ance building skills in supervision and therapy
outcomes remains cloudy. Although several re-
searchers have put forth evidence that the alliance
is a measurable skill that can be taught (Bambling,
King, Raue, Schweitzer, & Lambert, 2006; Crits-
Cristoph et al., 2006; Hess, Knox, & Hill, 2006;
Summers & Barber, 2003), there remains a need
for more research into how specific supervisory
375
Angus and Kagan
interventions such as the use of empathic attun-
ement and communication skills, impacts on cli-
ent satisfaction with treatment goals and tasks,
supervisee self-efficacy and the overall strength
of the alliance. The concept of parallel processes
(Ekstein & Wallerstein,1972) and the exploration
of the different ways in which the supervisory
relationship is reflected in the therapy process
may also be an illuminating approach to studying
the nature of the supervisory relationship and the
contribution of supervision to therapy outcomes.
Using the WAI (Horvath & Greenberg, 1986) to
measure the client–therapist alliance and the
training version of the WAI, which assesses the
strength of the supervisory alliance (WAI–T;
Ladany, Ellis, & Friedlander, 1999) to measure
the interrelationship between the supervisory and
training alliance is also a promising direction for
future research.
Turning our attention to first person accounts
of productive and helpful events in psychother-
apy supervision holds the promise of providing
the field with an in-depth understanding of key
principles of supervisory practice that contribute
to the development of relational competencies—
such as empathic attunement, the communication
of shared understanding, and personal
agency—in novice therapists. Finally, by further-
ing our understanding how empathy and agency
is fostered in productive psychotherapy relation-
ships and contributes to efficacious therapy out-
comes, this research program also has the poten-
tial to make an important contribution to the field
of psychotherapy research and practice as a
whole.
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