Clients' perceptions of the process and consequences of self-disclosure in psychotherapy

The primary aim of this multimethod study was to investigate client perceptions of the process, benefits, difficulties, and consequences of disclosing and withholding material in psychotherapy sessions. Twenty-one clients in psychotherapy, most engaged in long-term psychodynamically oriented treatment, participated in semistructured interviews and completed several Likert-type scales. Results indicate that most clients feet that therapy is a safe place to disclose, made especially so by the goodness of the therapeutic relationship; that the disclosure process initially generates shame and anticipatory anxiety but ultimately engenders feelings of safety, pride, and authenticity; that keeping secrets inhibits the work of therapy, whereas disclosing produces a sense of relief from physical as well as emotional tension; that disclosures in therapy facilitate subsequent disclosures to one's therapist as well as to family members and friends; and that therapists should actively pursue material that is difficult to disclose.