What Is Self-Disclosure Key To Healthy Relationships?

How Therapist Self-Disclosure And Non-Disclosure Affects Clients”, stated that, “The study results suggest that therapist self‐disclosure has both positive and negative treatment implications.” It depends on how therapeutic the self-disclosure would benefit the client in that given situation, and the client’s receptiveness to what information is given to them; for example, one patient may respond positively to a therapist’s self –disclosure that reveals another safe point of view of an issue, while another patient might feel that therapist’s has over stepped their boundaries. Madill et al. stated that, “These were sometimes attributed to inexperience and sometimes the characteristics of the total situation, such as events from the therapist's personal life” (13). There are times when sharing something from the therapist can help explain an issue that is present during the time of that therapy appointment. Another problem with a therapist’s self-disclosure is that after years of treatment, the therapist can run out of examples to use to clarify a point made during the appointment. Years and years of treatment sometimes cover issues where the therapist, will add something about himself or herself. People who tend to talk for a very long time during therapy can relate on a level that is not crossing the boundaries. In addition, self –disclosure may be a major problem for therapists who live and work in rural communities, because

Self-disclosure can be used to produce insights to the clients own behaviors and life. I remember hearing that one of the most helpful things in counseling is when the therapist shares their own story with the client. It can make the client see that we are all human, make similar mistakes, and can all relate/connect to each other. I believe today it is more acceptable to share personal information with clients than ever before. Also, sometimes counselors do not plan self-disclosure in advance it is more of on the spot if you get the feelings to do so. It is more a spontaneous technique that can lead to further self-examination for the client. It can also be

Yalom & Leszcz states “Therapist help clients confirm or disconfirm their impressions of the therapists by gradually revealing more of themselves. The client is pressed to deal with the therapist as a real person in the here-and-now (2005, pg. 214). This is where self-awareness comes into play because as a group leader or therapist there are boundaries you should not cross ethical and morally for the sake of the therapeutic process. When considering how much to self-disclose or when is a right time to self-disclose. The reading expressed “ask yourself where the group is now. Is it a concealed, overly cautious group that may profit from a leader who models personal self-disclosure? Or has it already established vigorous self-disclosure norms and is in need of other kids of assistance? (Yalom & Leszcz, 2005, pg.

Andrew Clark’s own self-disclosure leads to the reciprocity of self-disclosure, in which other students begin to open up about themselves to each other. In order

You create a great name for yourself knowing that others know you are an honest person. People can trust you with things and count on you for being accountable for keeping something they don't want to be shared. I have

Self-disclosure refers to communicating information about yourself that you would normally keep hidden to others. Self-disclosure has to involve at least one other individual and it has to be received and understood by another individual. Who you are, your culture, your gender, your listeners and your topic all influence self-disclosure. Self-disclosure and can have personal risks, relational risks, and professional risks.

We as individuals’ decide what, when and to whom, and how much to disclose personal thoughts and feelings. Although level of self-disclosure and personal relationships are not synonymous concepts, self-disclosure plays an important role in constructing what kind of relationships individuals have with each another.1 Self-disclosure, depending on reactions of relationship partners, also plays an important role in validating self-worth and personal identity.2

In conclusion, self-disclosure is important in relationship. “These mutual disclosures have increased your vulnerability to being hurt or taken advantage of by the other person, and fact that you have invested so much of yourself may make it difficult to disrupt or to end the relationship” (Sole, 2011). As mentioned above, genders have many roles that are different but share some similarities. Rather being married or in a relationship, quality communication is the key to successful relationship. I hope one day that I will find a partner to share this information with one day.

This paper begins with a general idea of self-disclosure by therapists and the importance of keeping the client’s needs first. It covers many aspects of self-disclosure including ethically what to look for in the motives of using self-disclosure with a client. There are other aspects of self-disclosure which include transference and countertransference which are issues which need to be attended to immediately for the therapist to remain objective and not react to a client. Therapists must be cautious in disclosing information and make sure it is relevant to treatment. Beneficence and nonmaleficence are important things to consider when self-disclosing and the therapist must be educated, well trained, and have experience before considering self-disclosure. Also included in this paper are different orientations in relation to self-disclosure. Those orientations include Adlerian therapy, cognitive behavioral therapy, feminist therapy, and relational therapy. Although these are only a few orientations,

Some forms of self-disclosure are unavoidable. When a client walks into a therapy room they learn a great deal about their therapist. They will instantly see their therapist’s gender, approximate age, race, body type and style of dress (Peterson, 2002). In addition, information about credentials, where they were

Self-disclosure is an important part of any close relationship. Without sharing our own fears and weaknesses, we can

Self-disclosure is the voluntary sharing of personal history, preferences, attitudes, feelings, values, secrets, etc. with another person (Griffin, p. 97). As stated in the introduction Altman and Taylor look at relationships as an “onions.” The different layers are representative of different feelings of a person. When

The realizations I have on self disclosure is that, it is one way of letting my self go. Letting another human being know my inner most feelings and my fears. I am a very private person and I tend to not say much about myself unless I know the person very well. I tend to not to like people who disclose a lot of information to me mainly if we do not have a very close relationship, because to me that means I also have to let them in on some of my inner most feelings. I feel like even if they are a lot of advantages to self-

Most people receive pleasure from speaking about themselves. But, here we have to be careful; if we always speak about our achievements, trials or tribulations, people will not find an interest in talking to us.

Individuals have different levels of disclosure and when combined with another individual’s disclosure level can have positive or negative outcomes. The decision to communicate can also cause uncertainty within relationships. Prior research was conducted to try and measure what exactly causes the uncertainty and negative results to show up in a relationship. Intimacy, security, problematic events, and irritations are all different elements that can be stronger or weaker in the relationship based on the disclosure (Theiss and Solomon 2006).