What is your opinion of a counselor self disclosing information about themselves in a session?

Question

A professor of mine says that self-disclosing personal information about yourself (a) takes the focus off of the client, (b) makes the counselor vulnerable to attack, and (c) is unprofessional. She doesn't tell her clients anything, especially marital status, religion, sexual orientation, past experiences, whether or not she has ever been in the same situation as the client, etc. But research I have done shows that self-disclosure increases counseling-relevent communication, enhances the client's evaluation of the counselor, and increases the client's willingness to seek counseling in the first place. What do you think? Serious answers only please.

Answer 1

I think your teacher has a point but is taking it too far. Which is probably a good idea for him, because if you do self-disclose and it gets you in trouble later, you can't blame him. I don't think you can ever get in trouble for NOT self-disclosing. But you may be right that it will make you more effective as a counselor, in some cases. I recommend that if you do, you do it with caution, and watch the results.



Now that I've guessed, I asked my wife, who has a masters in counseling and has worked as a social worker for 3 years and a counselor for 1. She says it's OK if it's not too detailed, and it's appropriate to the situation. But she agrees that it's something you should approach with caution, and you should always keep the focus on your client. It's not something you should do all the time, and not as a first strategy, but sometimes it may be useful.



Back to my own opinion: As a writer I've always been taught that it is sometimes appropriate to break the rules, but first you need to know the rules, so you can break them with understanding.

Answer 2

i think that it would depend on the client. I am the kindof person who is more comfortable if i know that someone "relates" with me. Therefore I would not take offense, or use it as an attack. Actually it would make me feel closer and make it easier for me to talk. So my thought is that a good counselor should be able to tell the difference betweem someone they can disclose to and someone they cant. And I would only disclose information that may help the client. Irrelevance would make a counselor vulnerable to attack.. I hope this helped and wasnt just rambling lol.

Answer 3

I think it is unprofessional. I wouldn't tell your clients things about your personal life. That doesn't mean you cannot say something like "I can understand how that could be difficult because I have done something like that too" or

"I have been through something similar myself so I have an idea how you might feel."

I just would not get specific.

Answer 4

The client is there for guidance. In my experience my therapist figured she was being paid to help me. We would exchange pleasantries and if I would ask her a specific question about her life she would answer me if she felt comfortable. Never would I ask very personal questions because that was her own business. And once again I was paying for the hour session for my particular problem and didn't want to use it for chit chat.

Answer 5

Seriously,be carefull, stick with your instincts on this one. if you think it would work to the clients advantage and build trust then go ahead..Not everyones the same,im sure you know that. Sometimes we need to trust to be trusted ..

Answer 6

By self-disclosing you narrow or eliminate the distance between you... and detachment is a *good* thing.

Answer 7

I guess it would depend what they are saying to you. Sometimes they say things make you feel more comfortable and for you to open up more.

Answer 8

Don't self disclose.

Answer 9

counselors suck. i saw one once and he was so stupid!