Patient self‐disclosure: A review of the research

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.