Self-disclosure in a counselling session: what do you think?

You may have been told at work that self-disclosure is a great "no no", you do not do it, I certainly have. Like wise as a client you may have wondered why the staff (or certain staff) in an organisation do not self-disclosure to you or other clients. This may be the same when you see a psychologist or counsellor. Well, when we are getting trained we are taught not to self-disclosure, because it may bring about transference or the information within the self-disclosure can be used against the therapist. Personally I was taught to be couscous, and only tell others what you can put in the news paper, because you have no idea where that information goes with that client. As a therapist we are bound by Law and Ethics that the information that a client tells us remains confidential and can only be told to others with the clients signed consent, this is not the case with clients. But at the core of this issue is, is it beneficial to the therapeutic process for the therapist to self-disclosure?   Personally, my opinion is yes, it is beneficial in some cases, the trick is to know which clients will benefit with knowing the therapists personal experience of what ever the issue is. I have had some clients tell me more of their plight because they know that I know what they are going through , because I may have had a close friend suffer from the same thing and it touched me deeply. This builds a working relationship a lot faster than if I would not have self-disclosure. Like wise respect is built in a shorter time and the client is more likely to follow advice or do the work in the CBT in their day to day living.   But this is all great if I am telling you about what I have experienced in my vocation, and it is up for debate. Barrett and Berman (2001) discuses this issue and have performed an experiment with a group of therapists, with each therapist self-disclosure to 50% of their clients and not at all with the other 50%. The findings match some of my experiences.   It is argued that self-disclosure takes the focus away from the client and interferes with the process of therapy, because the therapist is supposed to act as a mirror or "blank screen" for the client's emotionality (Barrett & Berman, 2001). Self-disclosure is thought to enhance the ethos of honesty, understanding, and empathy to build the working relationship (Barrett & Berman, 2001). Barrett and Berman (2001) investigated what are the outcomes of self-disclosure from the therapist. The interesting thing was that the symptoms of distress in the client were significantly reduced, and the therapist was liked significantly more with the therapist self-disclosing (Barrett & Berman, 2001). However the research did not show a significant increase in client's self-disclosure when the therapist self-disclosed, thus the level of therapist self-disclosure has no impact on the amount information the client opens up to the therapist (Barrett & Berman, 2001).   So in a nutshell do what you want as a therapist if you feel comfortable with what you are doing. I am an advocator to light levels of self-disclosure with in mind that you should only self-disclosure what you can put in the News Paper, Facebook, or and social media so the world can know about it. It is because as soon as that information is given out you no longer have control over when that information ends up. This is not the issue that the client needs to think about, because they are protected with the working ethics that therapists must work by.        

Bibliography

Barrett, M. S., & Berman, J. S. (2001). Is psychotherapy more effective when therapists disclose information about themselves? Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology , 69 (4), 597-603.