Patients' disclosures about therapy: discussing therapy with spouses, significant others, and best friends

This study investigated patterns of disclosure by psychotherapy patients about their own therapy to confidants. A total of 135 patients (M age = 29.4; 18 male; 117 female) currently in individual psychotherapy completed the Disclosure About Therapy Inventory (DATI), a questionnaire of 90 Likert-type items designed to investigate patients' experiences of disclosing aspects of their therapy to their spouses, significant others, or best friends. Findings indicate that most patients are moderately self-disclosing to their confidants about their therapy, endorse highly positive attitudes regarding such disclosure, and report primarily positive feelings after disclosing personal information about their therapy to their confidants. In addition, a significant relationship was found between the extent to which patients disclose about their therapy to their confidants and the extent to which they disclose to their therapists. Therapists, it is suggested, might well glean important clinical data from attending to their patients' patterns of disclosing the details of their treatment to others.