The Dilemma of Self-Disclosure | Psychology Today

I have a client who is severely depressed and has been since I started working with her six months ago. She presents with passive suicidal ideation but says she doesn’t want to die; she merely wants the pain to end.

I tell her it will get better and that there is hope. She thanks me for that. I have no idea if she has Googled me and found my website that includes my detailed history or some of my published posts that also contain selected aspects of my illness. Sometimes when we are in session I want to tell her directly I’ve been where she is. I want to provide living proof that people do come back from the depths of the severe depression she has been experiencing. But I hold back because once I disclose, there is no going back.

In a study of the effects of therapist response modes in psychotherapy, Hill et al. stated that although TSDs (therapeutic self-disclosures) occurred only one percent of the time in their sample of therapy sessions, they received the highest client helpfulness ratings of all therapist responses.

This past week a client and I were chatting as our session opened about not looking forward to the upcoming winter. She asked if I had considered moving to Florida and I said no, because my family is in the Northeast. She asked me if I had a family of my own, meaning was I married. I don’t wear a wedding ring, which clients can see even if the sessions are virtual, so I…