IJSP Number 4, 2022

40 unfinished business and reorient herself ” [7]. Any intervention of the therapist beyond the nurturing accompaniment and care could have a disturbing effect in such a situation and hinder the necessary development process. As a rule, the relationship in this case is not particularly discussed or reflected upon between client and therapist; it is supposed to have a supporting and sustaining effect. The general orientation towards the therapeutic goal is maintained in this phase, even if there is no explicit movement in this direction. Second possibility: relationship centring as a therapeutic tool The therapeutic work may have revealed that the patient ’ s life problems are essentially rooted in relationship problems. Both client and therapist have (more or less) consciously decided to take a comparative look at their relationship experiences in the therapy situation and also to use these experiences „ experimentally ” . This approach is based on the fact that no relationship is completely „ reinvented ” in every new situation; both client and therapist develop their relationship to each other influenced by previous relationship experiences or relationship experiences they make at the same time with other important people in their lives. This assumption is explicitly used in this constellation to understand and possibly correct one ’ s own way of shaping relationships in a real-life situation, with the intention of then being able to implement these insights as fruitfully as possible in everyday life. Also in this constellation the general orientation towards the therapeutic goal is maintained. Third possibility: relationship centring with abandonment of the goal This third constellation is characterized by the fact that the therapeutic process has lead to a relationship-centeredness in which the actual goal is (at least temporarily) abandoned. The working on the immediate life problems has (at least for one side) come to a standstill or crisis, or substitute goals (e.g., appearing attractive to the other person or finding someone to blame) have come to the fore in such a way that the entire therapeutic process revolves around the relationship. It is precisely this latter possibility which obviously runs the risk of rendering the entire therapeutic process unfruitful, namely if it is not possible to understand and constructively work through these processes. But critical courses are also conceivable with the first two variants: In the first, when the reassurance and nurturing does not come about (because, for example, the patient cannot trust anyone or the therapist proves to be untrustworthy); in the second, for example, when the pendulum movement toward the therapeutic relationship leads into the same dead ends in which everyday relationships are already stuck. 3. On the connection between therapeutic task and relationship The therapeutic relationship should be a conductive condition in terms of goal achievement. In the sense of a first approximation, it can be stated that a perceived progress, a progress in terms of goal achievement will usually strengthen the relationship: Both sides are successfully pulling in the same direction. The reverse may also happen: If both (or even only one side of the therapeutic couple) feel stagnation or deterioration in terms of goal achievement, this will probably lead to a strain on the relationship.