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Conducting psychotherapy in the Trump era: Therapists’ perspectives on political self‐disclosure, the therapeutic alliance, and politics in the therapy room
Author(s) -
Solomonov Nili,
Barber Jacques P.
Publication year - 2019
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.22801
Subject(s) - alliance , politics , similarity (geometry) , psychology , psychotherapist , affect (linguistics) , social psychology , clinical psychology , political science , law , communication , artificial intelligence , computer science , image (mathematics)
Objective To examine therapists’ perspectives on political self‐disclosure, perceived shared values with patients, and the therapeutic alliance. Method Therapists from all US states completed a structured survey ( N = 268; 62% Democrats; 7% Republicans; 23% independents; 8% others). Results Most therapists (87%) reported they discussed politics in‐session; 63% reported political self‐disclosure (21% explicit; 42% implicit). Therapists who perceived political similarity with most patients were more likely to report political discussions and self‐disclosure. Therapists who reported shared political views with a higher percentage of patients, and those who explicitly disclosed, also reported stronger alliances. Clinton supporters reported significant observed preelection–postelection increases in political discussions, increases in patients’ expression of negative emotions, and decreases in positive emotions. Trump supporters reported the opposite phenomenon. Conclusions Politics play an important role in therapeutic processes as in‐session political discussions are common and perceived political similarity may affect decisions to self‐disclose and alliance quality.