Sincerely speaking: Why do psychotherapists self-disclose in therapy? – A qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study
Engelsk titel: Sincerely speaking: Why do psychotherapists self-disclose in therapy? – A qualitative hermeneutic phenomenological study
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Författare:
Berg, Henrik
;
Antonsen, Petter
;
Binder, Per-Einar
Email: Henrik.berg@svt.uib.no
Språk: Eng
Antal referenser: 48
Dokumenttyp:
Artikel
UI-nummer: 18010145
Sammanfattning
In this study, interviews were conducted to investigate therapists’ rationales for self-disclosing
in therapy. Ten therapists were interviewed whereof six were women, four were men and the
median age was 58. The methodological framework was hermeneutic phenomenological which
means that we investigated how therapists attribute meaning to experiences in their practice
and that our pre-judgments and interpretations as researchers are inherent in the results of the
study. The themes found were: To show care and compassion – in which self-disclosures were
described as a way of developing a good patient–therapist relationship; To convey: – “You are
not that different” - in which self-disclosures were presented as a way of normalizing patient
experiences; A way to gain credibility: “I know because I have been there myself” – in which
self-disclosures were regarded as a way for the therapist to reassure the patient that he or she
could understand the patient’s difficulties because they had similar experiences; Objections to
self-disclosure: “My personal voice may suppress your voice as a patient” – in which the possible
detrimental effects of self-disclosure were described. Therapists’ rationales for self-disclosing
were associated with fundamental characteristics of the psychotherapy process.