Review of Self-disclosure in psychotherapy

Reviews the book, Self-disclosure in psychotherapy by Barry A. Farber (see record 2006-11792-000). At one point or another, most therapists have wondered how much their patients are telling them and wrestled with how much they should reveal themselves to their patients. This book aims to provide an integrative and up-to-date review of the literature that has addressed these kinds of questions. By looking at patient, therapist, supervisee, and supervisor self-disclosure, Farber attempts to show both common and unique aspects of self-disclosure across the different parties involved in psychotherapy. Work from historical, clinical, research, and cultural perspectives comes together to provide readers with a multifaceted view of self-disclosure in psychotherapy. This book will be of interest to therapists, researchers, psychotherapy supervisors, and therapists-in-training. Farber's discussion of self-disclosure offers a nuanced perspective on the dilemmas involved in the psychotherapy process. By highlighting the features of self-disclosure across patients, therapists, supervisees, and supervisors, Farber enriches understanding of the phenomenon and encourages empathy for the perspectives of those in other psychotherapy roles. We believe that Farber has successfully synthesized work from various perspectives to create an illuminating review of self-disclosure in psychotherapy. The book condenses a broad range of literature into clearly organized and digestible chapters. The integration of research and theory with clinical vignettes, quotations from books and movies, and popular song lyrics make this work an unusually engaging and accessible read. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved).     

Self-disclosure in psychotherapy supervisors: gender differences

OBJECTIVE: This article will explore the possible reasons for gender differences found in self-disclosure in psychotherapy supervisors. METHOD: Trainees and supervisors in the Brown University Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior completed a questionnaire that asked about the appropriateness of the actions of a psychotherapy supervisor. RESULTS: On three items, male and female supervisors differed significantly in their perceptions of appropriate boundaries. These items were: interacting with the resident alone outside of supervision e.g. playing tennis (p = .0005), publishing identifiable content of supervision discussions with resident's consent (p = .0006), and disclosing the supervisor's prior struggles with substance abuse (p = .0008). Female supervisors answered "never" to these items in greater numbers than the male supervisors, who, for the most part answered "occasionally". CONCLUSION: Traditional gender role behaviors and differential gender socialization patterns are possible reasons for the gender difference in perception of boundaries by supervisors.     

Barry A. Farber Self-disclosure in psychotherapy

Ohne Zusammenfassung     

Self-disclosure in group therapy with schizophrenics.

Self-disclosure was investigated as a process variable in group psychotherapy with chronic schizophrenic patients. Consistent with previous data obtained from nonpsychotic populations, greater perceived therapist interpersonal facillitativeness was associated with higher levels of patient self-disclosure. In contrast to earlier findings, however, patients who were more self-revealing made less therapeutic progress than their counterparts who divulged less personal material. This failure to replicate was tentatively attributed to the limited ability of psychotic persons to integrate social feedback. The results underscore the delicacy of the psychotherapeutic undertaking with schizophrenics.     

Self-disclosure in therapy: marriage of the therapist.

The author presents how his interest on the general subject of self-disclosures in therapy evolved. Literature on this subject is reviewed with particular attention to intercurrent events in the therapist's life that may affect ongoing psychotherapy. Six clinical vignettes of psychotherapy cases illustrate varying reactions. The effects that planned disclosure of an intercurrent event (his marriage) had on this process are discussed.