Ethics: Self-Disclosure in Therapy

How much of your life should you reveal to therapy clients? While historically psychotherapy has discouraged self-disclosure, today even many psychoanalysts support some forms of self-disclosure. Sharing elements of your social location can help marginalized clients feel valued and understood. Well-timed self-disclosure may salvage interventions that seem to be going off the rails.

This advanced course examines the ethics of several different forms of self-disclosure, including family life, hobbies, social location, personal values, religious and political affiliations, feelings about the client, and personal history of mental illness. The course also examines disclosure of the four words that strike fear into the hearts of many clinicians: “I made a mistake.”

In accordance with professional ethical standards, this course honors the complexity of decision-making around self-disclosure, and encourages careful consideration of the specific context and situation alongside consideration of the content of the disclosure.

1.5 hours CE. Recorded video format (non-interactive)

ESTIMATED COURSE LENGTH: 1.50 hours

CE CREDITS: 1.50 continuing education/contact hours for social workers, psychologists, counselors, and marriage and family therapists

TARGET AUDIENCE: Mental Health Practitioners

LEVEL OF INSTRUCTION: Advanced

PREREQUISITE(S): None

INSTRUCTIONAL METHOD: Recorded video format (non-interactive)

ACCESSIBILITY ACCOMMODATIONS: closed captioning of audio components. In order to request further accessibility accommodations, please email support@psychhub.com.

COMPLETION REQUIREMENTS: To obtain your CE certificate, learners must complete a pre-test (not scored), progress through all course segments, complete a participant evaluation, and obtain a score of 80% or higher on a post-test. Learners are expected to complete the quiz within 3 attempts. If unable to do so, the learner will need to re-review the course segments.

FINANCIAL/COMMERCIAL SUPPORT STATEMENT: This course has no commercial support.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST:  This course has no potential conflict of interest or outside commercial support. Psych Hub's conflict of interest statement is found in the footer of the training center.

GRIEVANCE AND REFUND POLICIES: Grievance and refund policies are found in the footer of the training center.

PARTICIPATION COSTS:  The cost to participate in this CE activity is included in the subscription registration fee.

COURSE CREATION DATE: 5/18/2021

By the end of this workshop, participants will be able to:

• Identify at least one ethical principle related to their use of self-disclosure
• Identify at least two potential positive clinical impacts of self-disclosure and two potential negative clinical impacts of self-disclosure
• Describe at least three recent research findings regarding self-disclosure of specific types of content
• Describe at least one research finding regarding acknowledgment of mistakes in therapy

1. Historical context
   1. Traditional psychoanalytic view
   2. Modern psychoanalytic view
   3. Feminist influence
2. Ethical standards
3. Purposes of self-disclosure
4. Impacts of self-disclosure
5. Specific examples and considerations
   1. Personal/family life
   2. Hobbies
   3. Social location
   4. Personal values and morals
   5. Feelings about the client or the therapy
   6. Religious affiliation
   7. Political affiliation
   8. Therapist’s mental health condition
   9. Mistakes