Self-Disclosure

A review of the analog literature about therapist self-disclosure suggests that nonclients generally have positive perceptions of therapist self-disclosures. A review of the naturalistic psychotherapy literature indicates that therapist self-disclosure occurs infrequently, is used more often by humanistic-experiential than psychoanalytic therapists, is most often about professional background than about intimate personal details, is used for many different reasons, is used cautiously by therapists, and is helpful in the immediate process of therapy. Effects of therapist self-disclosure on the ultimate outcome of therapy are less clear. Limitations of the research (poor and inconsistent definitions and lack of a clinically appropriate methodology for studying self-disclosure) and guidelines for therapeutic practice are presented

Therapeutic Challenges Of Multi-Being

This paper emerges from an attempt to shift the locus of understanding human action from the individual to relationship. In doing so we come to see persons as multi-beings, that is, as constituted within multiple relationships from which they emerge with multiple, incoherent, and often conflicting potentials. Therapy, in this context, becomes a collaborative relationship with the aim of transforming the client\u27s broader relational network. In this view, schooling in a singular practice of therapy artificially limits the therapist\u27s potential, and thus the possible outcomes of the client–therapist relationship. Invited, then, is a reflective eclecticism, in which the myriad potentials of both the therapist and client are considered in tandem. This view is illustrated by contrasting three relational conditions in which clients find themselves, each of which invites a different form of self-expression from the therapist

Journeying to visibility:an autoethnography of self-harm scars in the therapy room

This autoethnography explores the experience of a therapist negotiating the visibility of their self‐harm scars in the therapy room. Its form takes the shape of the author's personal meaning‐making journey, beginning by exploring the construction of the therapist identity before going on to consider the wounded healer paradigm and the navigation of self‐disclosure. A thread throughout is finding ways to resist fear and shame as both a researcher and counsellor. The author concludes by recounting fragments of sessions from the first client she worked with while having her scars visible. While not every therapist will have self‐harm scars, all therapists have a body which plays “a significant part of his or her unique contribution to therapy” (Burka, 2013, p. 257). This paper is, therefore, potentially valuable to any therapist, at any stage of development, who seeks to reflect on the role of the body and use of the self

A Qualitative Analysis of Client Perceptions of the Effects of Helpful Therapist Self-Disclosure in Long-Term Therapy

Thirteen adult psychotherapy clients currently in long-term therapy were interviewed twice, with semistructured protocols, about their experiences with helpful instances of therapist self-disclosure. Data were analyzed with a qualitative methodology. Results indicated that helpful therapist self-disclosures (a) occurred when these clients were discussing important personal issues, (b) were perceived as being intended by therapists to normalize or reassure the clients, and (c) consisted of a disclosure of personal nonimmediate information about the therapists. The therapist self-disclosures resulted in positive consequences for these clients that included insight or a new perspective from which to make changes, an improved or more equalized therapeutic relationship, normalization, and reassurance. Implications for psychotherapy are discussed

The prevalence and characteristics of relational depth events in psychotherapy

We introduce two complementary measures of relational depth, defined as a state of profound contact and engagement between client and therapist. Using an internet-based survey of client and therapist accounts (n = 342), judges rated relational depth as present in over a third of significant therapy event descriptions. Participants also completed the Relational Depth Inventory (RDI), for which we report reliability, validity and factor structure. Relational depth events were more likely to occur in the presence of strong therapeutic alliance, and with female participants, but client or therapist role and therapy duration were not related to relational depth content or RDI. RDI items for connectedness, love, respect and intimacy were most strongly associated with relational depth content

Whakapapa sharing in the context of therapy

Maori experience disproportionately negative outcomes in mental health in New Zealand. The adaptation of therapeutic assessments and interventions to allow more culturally appropriate work with Maori occurs, however, little research promoting an understanding of client’s experience of these adaptations exists. One such adaptation is the sharing of whakapapa (genealogy) between therapist and client. Whakapapa sharing involves a level of therapist self disclosure not yet investigated in psychological literature. This Maori centred analogue study investigates the client’s experience of whakapapa sharing during the first session of therapy. A mixed, between and within subjects design was used, both quantitative and qualitative data were collected and analysed. 30 Maori women between the ages of 18 and 40 participated in two sessions of Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, participants were allocated to either a Whakapapa Sharing group or a Therapist Non-Disclosure group. All participants completed questionnaires measuring the therapeutic alliance, therapy expectancy, outcome of therapy and a cultural questionnaire measuring participant knowledge of their own whakapapa. Participants from the Whakapapa Sharing group also reported on their experience of the sharing. Quantitative analyses revealed no group differences in either the therapeutic relationship measure or the outcome measure. All participants from the Whakapapa Sharing group, regardless of their level of knowledge of their own whakapapa, reported the whakapapa sharing as a positive experience. Further analysis of the qualitative data revealed five main themes; the whakapapa sharing process reported to promote engagement, was perceived as important for Maori, allowed the establishment of connections between therapist and client, provided clients with information with which to form judgements about the therapist and the sharing was seen to be an equitible experience. These themes were arranged into a theoretical model, in which, all five were hypothesised to have a relationship with the power imbalance inherent between therapist and client. Whereby four of the themes were hypothesised to contribute to a decrease in the imbalance of power and the final theme was seen as a result of the decrease in the power imbalance. These tentative findings suggest that the exchange of whakapapa between a therapist and client may serve to decrease the power imbalance in the therapeutic relationship, and as such, it is an appropriate process of engagement in a therapeutic setting with Maori clients, who often experience marginalisation

Problems in Play Psychotherapy

Vera Denty is a London University trained Child Therapist of many years experience. For the last four years, she has been the Child Therapist, Ioview Clinic, Toronto. She is also much in demand as a lecturer at colleges and libraries in the Ontario area. Vera Denty\u27s article deals with recognizing and alleviating neurosis in children. She observes that in the Playroom, the child runs the whole gamut of humanity\u27s emotional-ethical development

Predictors of Therapists Use of Homework in Community Mental Health: Session and Therapist Characteristics

Assigning and reviewing homework as a strategy to help clients gain therapeutic skills is a common technique used across a variety of evidence-based practices (EBPs) and has been shown to improve therapy outcomes for children and youth. However, in studies characterizing routine psychotherapy delivered in community mental health settings, homework is rarely used in sessions. While some therapist and client level predictors of EBP strategy use have been identified in routine psychotherapy (e.g. client stressors, therapists’ attitudes towards EBPs) it is unknown what is associated with community mental health therapists using homework in the increasingly common context of system-driven implementation of multiple EBPs. To identify predictors of therapists’ use of homework, 680 videos of sessions with 274 clients were collected from 103 therapists (of which 55% were Hispanic) providing children’s mental health services through the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (LACDMH). The current study uses a multilevel logistic regression analysis model to identify which factors are associated with therapist use of homework in therapy sessions when there is system-driven implementation support for the use of multiple EBPs in community mental health settings. After controlling for the EBP delivered in session and the number of EBPs therapists were trained in, having a caregiver present in the therapy session, older child age, and being an unlicensed therapist were associated with a higher likelihood of therapists assigning and reviewing homework during a specific session. Therapist race/ethnicity, perceptions of the EBP being delivered, their report of emotional exhaustion, and direct hours with clients, as well as emergent unexpected stressful client life events within a session were not significantly associated with therapists’ delivery of homework. These findings underscore the need to provide explicit attention during therapist training on the use of homework with younger clients when caregivers are absent from sessions and the need to facilitate the use of homework among licensed therapists