Compatibility, Rapport and Therapy

By Dr. Robert Dee McDonald

At some point in their training, most therapists begin to sense the importance of naturally occurring compatibility or rapport with clients. It’s no secret that some clients and therapists get along more easily than others. Some naturally fit together; they seem to be spontaneously compatible. It is true that therapists can learn to artificially create rapport with some clients. But naturally occurring compatibility and rapport is effortless.

Rapport is a kind of harmony; it is evidence of compatibility. A client and therapist in rapport are on the same wavelength. They are in agreement, almost of one mind. When rapport occurs the therapist and the client experience mutual understanding, they are in accord or in tune with one another.  Through such compatibility, a therapeutic alliance is more likely to emerge, bringing the possibility of deep influence.

According to the great Carl Rogers, PhD., founder of Person Centered Counseling, compatibility is absolutely necessary to create a climate for therapeutic change. He taught generations of therapists that a good relationship always includes rapport or trust between the therapist and the client.  Rogers claimed that a client in rapport with a therapist will feel safe enough to explore deeper feelings and even uncover hidden aspects within.  More recently, a study by Bruce Wampold, University of Wisconsin, in 2001 reported that the therapeutic alliance, i.e., rapport, is a key factor in psychotherapy.

In essence, when two people are in rapport, they are much more likely to trust one another and express greater emotional transparency.  And since constructive change is the hallmark of an effective therapeutic alliance, rapport is imperative. Rapport increases the likelihood that the client will become more self-accepting and express greater self-esteem and mental and emotional flexibility. Without rapport, without trust, without compatibility, therapeutic movement cannot occur.

I’ve been teaching clinicians how to resolve unnecessary human suffering for more than 25 years. And although I provide therapists with useful tools and attitudes that lead to measurable change in counseling and psychotherapy, I always point out that nothing is more important than therapist/client compatibility. In fact, I commonly start my classes by saying, “No rapport, no therapy.”

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Dr. Robert Dee McDonald, co-founder of MyTherapistMatch.com, has taught clinical skills to therapists for the past 25 years in 18 countries throughout the world. He is the Director of the Mental and Spiritual Wellness Programs at the Center for New Medicine, Irvine, California.  He is also a co-founder of The Telos Healing Center, Yorba Linda, California as well as the creator of The Destination® Method, itself. He co-wrote two books, the best-selling NLP: The New Technology of Achievement and Tools of the Spirit: Pathways to the Realization of Universal Innocence. He is a state licensed provider of Continuing Education Units for licensed therapists in California, Louisiana and Texas.

Dr. McDonald can be reached at 714-577-5717, Robert@TelosCenter.com and www.TelosCenter.com