The Objective of Evidence: Balancing Faith and Truth in Therapeutic Alliances

This article examines the tension psychologists experience when navigating between the treatment and assessment contexts, particularly in interdisciplinary settings. The therapeutic alliance prioritizes empathy, a measured suspension of disbelief, and faith in the patient and their autonomy while the evaluative alliance prioritizes neutrality, skepticism, and truth-discovery. Using Alberta’s practice guidelines to highlight relevant examples, the paper argues that these moving between service contexts poses role-strain to the practitioner and is poorly understood by other allied health professionals. The analysis outlines why dual-role expectations are especially fraught in interdisciplinary rehabilitation, where third-party funders request frequent progress assessments that may add to role strain. The paper synthesizes research on the working alliance and ethics to illustrate how care can be framed within an interdisciplinary environment. Practice recommendations are offered for clinicians, teams, and relevant stakeholders.

Objective of Evidence (2025).docx

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