Therapist Self Disclosure

This presentation outlines possible questions of discussion surrounding the topic of Therapist Self-Disclosure in Forensic Settings. It was presented as part of a graduate seminar, "issues in Forensic Psychotherapy" led by Dr. Yael Idisis, Department of Criminology, Bar-Ilan University.

We investigated 185 therapist self-disclosure events in 16 cases of open-ended psychodynamic/interpersonal psychotherapy. One disclosure occurred approximately every other session, with the most frequent type being disclosure of facts. Therapists initiated 73%, and focus returned to the client following 93%, of disclosure events. Disclosures of feelings and insight were judged to be more intimate and higher in quality than were disclosures of facts. Overall disclosure occurrence was positively related to client-rated working alliance and feelings disclosure occurrence was positively related to client-rated real relationship. Factual disclosure occurrence was negatively related to working alliance and real relationship. Results suggest that disclosure is multifaceted, nuanced, and complex. Implications for practice, training, and research are discussed.

Syaraf kejepit adalah penyempitan rongga di daerah leher, tulang belakang, atau pinggang yang dilewati oleh sekelompok syaraf. Dalam bahasa medis, penyempitan rongga tulang ini disebut dengan istilah stenosis. 90% penderita syaraf kejepit dapat sembuh sendiri dengan bantuan obat penahan rasa nyeri. Tapi rasa nyerinya mungkin bisa kambuh lagi di lain waktu.
Pengobatan yang ditawarkan medis selama ini adalah meringankan beban rasa nyerinya dengan memberikan analgesik. Tapi 10% dari seluruh pasien saraf kejepit tidak dapat sembuh sendiri dan mengalami cacat syaraf. Ini adalah masalah yang sangat serius karena penderita akan mengalami impotensi, lumpuh lengan dan tungkai, atau tidak mampu menahan kencing dan BAB.

Resumen
La pareja ha sido comentada y estudiada desde diferentes disciplinas y, por lo tanto, con distintos énfasis.
No obstante, en los últimas cinco décadas, en la psicología y, más específicamente, en la psicoterapia se han levantado una serie de reflexiones e investigaciones acerca del ser y estar en pareja, como un asunto de la mayor relevancia para la salud mental de las personas, de las familias y de la sociedad toda.
A través de este artículo se busca describir las características que contienen las relaciones de pareja, como una díada distinta de otras díadas, enfatizar la importancia que las respectivas familias de origen tienen, tanto para la formación de la pareja, como para su posterior desarrollo y cómo este tópico ha sido considerado en el encuadre terapéutico.
En síntesis, interesa observar a la pareja como una de las formas de estarcon-otro-en-el-mundo (Cornejo, 2008).
Abstract
The couple has been discussed and studied from different disciplines and, therefore, with different emphases.
However, in the last five decades, in psychology and, more specifically, in psychotherapy have been raised a series of reflections and investigations about being-in-couple, as a matter of the greatest importance for mental health of
individuals, families and society as a whole.
Through this article seeks to describe the characteristics containing couple relationships, as a dyad different from other dyads, to emphasize the importance of the respective families of origin have, both for the formation of the
couple, as for further development and how this topic has been considered in the therapeutic setting.
In short, what matters is in observing couple as one way of being-in-the-worldwith-other (Cornejo, 2008).
Palabras Claves: ser y estar en pareja - identidad de la pareja - intimidad -terapia de pareja- familia de origen
Key Words: Being a couple - identity of the couple - intimacy - couple therapy -family of origin

The goal of any therapeutic session is to relieve the symptoms of suffering for the patient to the degree by which he or she establishes as a goal at the onset of a session or consultation. It is ethically appropriate then to research the means by which this can be accomplished, such as within the various roles a therapist can assume to best establish a solid rapport with the client allowing for a variety of qualities of characteristics to be present in the patient-therapist relationship whereby the patient feels comfortable to share and express the concerns they are experiencing.

The authors of the article being reviewed, Jutta Schnellbacher and Mia Leijssen (2009) (referred to in this article as “the authors” and to be distinguished from the author of this article, Crampton (2017) referred to as “the author”), set out to discover the degree to which the quality of genuineness of a therapist would be a crucial factor not only for alleviation of problematic symptoms for the patient but also personality change. Although the study presents flaws and limitations, which are also identified by the authors, the extent to which the authors prevent researcher bias is quite significant.

In this review the reader will obtain a brief overview of Schnellbacher and Leijssen’s article, intended points of critique of the overall quality of their research report, including the appropriateness of the research method for their particular study, steps taken to produce valid results, suggestions for improvement beyond what the authors of the original article provide, and finally concluding with the overall effectiveness of such a study and its relatedness to effective practices in the field of psychology, psychotherapy and for qualitative research methodology.

The present study reflects on the encounter of Feminist Therapy (FT) and Functional Analytic Psychotherapy (FAP). A study of the literature compared their clinical styles. It highlighted the compatibility of their views concerning the management of the therapeutic relationship; inclusion of social and cultural elements in treatment; emphasis on the acquisition of abilities to transform the client’s environment; openness about therapist and client values and feelings; and the validation of the client’s emotional experience instead of trying to change it. On these points, the two clinical styles are highly similar to each other. Their conceptual registers, however, build on different sensibilities, namely a contextual and functional clinical analysis in the case of FAP and political values in the case of FT. The study suggests that joining the perspectives of the two therapies can produce a broader clinical vision and provide a relevant and viable strategy to work on gendered themes in clinical practice.

""The therapist´s feelings play a remarkable role in contemporary models of psychotherapy. However, these models are biased toward negative feelings. The present study explores therapists’ personal experience with positive emotion in-session. A grounded theory analysis was conducted of interviews with 26 Brazilian psychotherapists. Clinicans derive positive affect from the client’s input in treatment, from  their own input and from the personal relationship with the client. Therapist positive emotion adds to the material that can be worked on in-session by providing interpersonal events in the relationship with the client. It can improve therapist input in treatment by increasing in-session awareness, resourcefulness and daring and by cuing efforts for professional development. It enhances involvement in the relationship with the client by prompting compassion and closeness in the dyad. Its effects may spill over and contribute to the therapist’s personal thriving. These results are discussed in  light of what positive psychology can add to current work on therapist effects in the treatment process.
Key words: positive emotion, psychotherapy, person of the therapist, therapeutic relationship.
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