Now Moments in Professional Care - The Importance of Positive Affect in Patient-Therapist Matching

Regarding clinical work, it is known that especially the positive affect shown to the patient and the continuous unwavering interest in the patient are the main criteria for a successful treatment and treatment planning. Psychoanalysis, as the oldest method of psychotherapy, was concerned very early with the patient-therapist matching and the affective involvement. The development of additional therapies was and is necessary to help people in the best way possibly with various approaches. But what can other professional fields, such as medicine, learn from the concepts of matching, working alliance, mentalized affectivity, focusing the dominant affect, holding or containment? We discuss the importance of the positive affect and primary interest along three cases from the viewpoint of different therapeutic methods. Also, in order to inspire other medical fields that are concerned with authentic clinical care.