The use of therapist self-disclosure: clinical psychology trainees' experiences

This qualitative study examined clinical psychology trainees' experiences of using, or not using, therapist self-disclosure and their experience of training and supervision on this issue. Fourteen trainees were interviewed and their accounts analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis, yielding nine themes organized into two domains. The first domain ("the decision in the moment") concerned participants' struggle with decision making about disclosure; the second ("the developing therapist") reflected their evolving ideas about disclosure over training and within the wider philosophical context of therapy. The dilemmas surrounding disclosure seemed to distill some central issues associated with participants' developing professional therapist identity. Working out one's position on self-disclosure is a challenge that trainee therapists may require support in mastering.