Effect of Therapist's Self-Disclosure on Patients' Impressions of Empathy, Competence, and Trust in an Analogue of a Psychotherapeutic Interaction

Abstract

The present study examined the relationship between a therapist's self-disclosure and the patients' impressions of the therapist's empathy, competence, and trust. Written dialogues were constructed to manipulate three conditions of high, low, and no disclosure by the therapist. 57 subjects were randomly selected and assigned to one of three treatment conditions, and the Barrett-Lennard Relationship Inventory and Sorenson Relationship Questionnaire were measures of perceived empathy, competence, and trust. Findings confirmed the initial prediction: the greater the use of therapist's self-disclosure, the lower the subjects' impressions and evaluations of the therapist's empathy, competence, and trust. The results raise doubt regarding the predictability of therapist's self-disclosure as a psychotherapeutic technique and suggest that, at least with respect to the type of self-disclosure used in this study, therapists who utilize self-disclosing techniques may risk adversely affecting essential impressions on which a therapeutic alliance is established.