Objective To explore how patients and therapists in an outpatient specialized substance use disorder treatment setting experienced the first treatment session, and to identify relational facilitators and barriers seen from both patient and therapist perspectives.Method: The study is based on a qualitative approach and semi-structured interviews of patients (n = 12) and therapists (n = 12). Interviews were conducted soon after the first treatment session and analyzed in accordance with reflexive thematic analysis.Results: We identified subthemes for patients and therapists, respectively. In addition, we found that patients and therapists described certain comparable experiences and actions which we integrated as core themes: (a) feeling uncertain about what to expect; (b) forming first impressions; (c) balancing multiple concurrent concerns; (d) seeking feedback from the other; and (e) sensing a way forward. The subthemes specify patients' and therapists' unique meanings and approaches to each core theme. Finally, we summarized unique and shared relational facilitators and barriers.Conclusion: Patients and therapists use the first session to form an impression of the other, but they are also concerned with the impression they themselves give. They, therefore, monitor the other's in-session reactions and responses which constitute facilitators or barriers for their own further relational actions.
Keywords: alliance formation; barriers; facilitators; first session; qualitative study; substance use disorders.