Some Thoughts on Self-Disclosure

This paper explores the pros and cons of self-disclosure and self revelation in the analyst. It takes as its starting point a paper by Jeffrey Stern that shows a mixed but generally positive outcome of an incident of self-disclosure. The trend in more recent times has been toward somewhat more self-disclosure, with modern analysts' views on a continuum. The author discusses an example from his own practice, in which he delayed self-disclosure for some time, but did reveal facts about himself, and how this had a mostly positive outcome. He concludes by distinguishing self-disclosure that entails stating facts about self from self-revelation, when the analyst tells his feelings about some specifics from his own life or in the patient's disclosure. Such revelation is not likely to be beneficial to the therapeutic alliance in its early stages, but may be of value as the analytic relationship and trust develop over longer time.