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Patient self‐disclosure: A review of the research
Author(s) -
Farber Barry A.
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.124
H-Index - 119
eISSN - 1097-4679
pISSN - 0021-9762
DOI - 10.1002/jclp.10161
Subject(s) - psychology , shame , self disclosure , unsaid , affect (linguistics) , salience (neuroscience) , alliance , clinical psychology , psychotherapist , aggression , social psychology , communication , cognitive psychology , political science , law
Research shows that whereas most patients disclose deeply personal experiences in therapy, a significant proportion conceal some significant information. Findings also indicate that there are several categories of nondisclosed information (secrets, things left unsaid, and client reactions); that patients tend to withhold immediately experienced negative reactions; that disliked characteristics of oneself and parents are among the most thoroughly discussed issues in therapy while sex, aggression, and personal failure are least discussed; that men and women disclose to the same extent and on similar topics; that shame inhibits disclosure of negative affect; that a strong therapeutic alliance, overall tendency to be disclosing, and time in therapy facilitate disclosure; and that the discrepancy between disclosure and patients' ratings of salience of disclosure is a more powerful predictor of outcome than disclosure alone. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol/In Session 59: 589–600, 2003.