Judicious Self-Disclosure by the Psychoanalyst

One of Sándor Ferenczi's greatest contributions to clinical theory and method is his pioneering concept of analyst self-disclosure. First introduced in his famous paper ?The elasticity of psycho-analytic technique? (1928), analyst self-disclosure changed the nature of clinical interaction between analyst and analysand, from the Freudian model of a surgeon to the responsiveness of an empathic mother. Ferenczi's clinical work with the so-called ?difficult cases? (narcissistic, borderline and psychotic disorders) moved him to discover the ethos of activity within an empathic method. Analyst self-disclosure is one of those responsive measures he developed to address the deficits in communication and interpersonal functioning in trauma survivors. An outline is presented of the ?Confusion of Tongues? which is the model from which self-disclosure is derived. A contemporary extension of this idea is offered in the clinical and theoretical distinction between judicious vs. conspicuous self-disclosure.     

Facilitating marital intimacy through self-disclosure

Abstract

Intimacy is one of several interpersonal dimensions which describe the quality of a marital relationship. An operational definition of intimacy is presented. Evidence that a lack of intimacy is associated with nonpsychotic emotional illness, marital maladjustment and family dysfunction is reviewed. A technique is described which facilitates marital intimacy through self-disclosure. Evidence is presented that cognitive self-disclosure is a major determinant of a couple's level of intimacy. The assumption is made that facilitating cognitive self-disclosure will increase intimacy with subsequent improvement of neurotic symptoms and marital maladjustment. A case is presented which demonstrates that a structured technique for selfdisclosure of relevant assumptions in a reciprocal manner to a supportive listener can facilitate a couple's level of intimacy. The role of self-disclosure, modeling and cognitive restructuring as therapeutic factors are discussed.     

Intimacy of Self-Disclosure and Response Processes as Factors Affecting the Development of Interpersonal Relationships

Abstract

This study examined the effects of low and increasing intimacy as patterns of self-disclosure and the effects of perspective taking and egocentrism as response styles on the development of a meaningful relationship. Subjects, 44 American female nursing students, responded to a stimulus form consisting of either 15 low-intimacy or increasing-intimacy, open-ended statements; trained confederates responded to their disclosures with either egocentric or perspective-taking behavior. Results of this study indicated that perceptions of the interaction and the potential for further relationship development were more positive under conditions of increasing intimacy; progression of disclosures seemed to produce perceptions leading to further relationship development. The positive effects of perspective taking were strongly supported. Results suggested that progressive self-disclosure combined with response to the other's disclosures in a perspective-taking manner increase the probability of relationship development.     

Qu’est-ce que les professionnels dévoilent d’eux-mêmes dans la relation thérapeutique avec les personnes atteintes de schizophrénie ?

IntroductionHealth professionals’ self-disclosure is a common practice, but there is still controversy regarding when it is appropriate, what the extent and content of self-disclosure should be, and what the clinical consequences are.ObjectivesThis qualitative study aimed to investigate self-disclosure in health and social-care professionals.MethodThirteen in-depth interviews with group leaders of an intervention to improve pleasure and motivation in schizophrenia. The interviews were subjected to thematic analysis.ResultsProfessionals describe their personal disclosures as authentic sharing of lived experiences. From a content point of view, professionals select simple events from their personal or professional life, which they find easy to share with patients, in a group. The selection criteria for these experiences mainly concern the therapeutic value and are formulated in terms of relevance of the content and the usefulness envisioned for the patient as well as authenticity. Self-disclosure generates a redefinition of the places in interaction and a more egalitarian relationship.ConclusionSelf-disclosure is found to be a tool for developing and maintaining the therapeutic relationship. Further studies of the phenomenon would be useful to design training and supervision for professionals.     

Precursors and Underlying Processes of Adolescents' Online Self-Disclosure: Developing and Testing an “Internet-Attribute-Perception” Model

This study developed and tested an “Internet-attribute-perception” model that explains how self-disclosure develops in instant messaging (IM) interactions. Following hyperpersonal communication theory, two attributes of computer-mediated communication (i.e., reduced nonverbal cues and controllability) were assumed to be responsible for increased online self-disclosure in IM. However, our model posed that any actual effects of these attributes would depend on users' perceptions of the relevance of these attributes. Furthermore, our model posed that these perceptions would mediate the relationship between personality characteristics (i.e., pri vate and public self-consciousness, and social anxiety) and online self-disclosure. Using structural equation modeling on a sample of 1,203 Dutch adolescents, we found that adolescents' perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability encouraged their feelings of disinhibition, which in turn increased their online self-disclosure. As expected, private and public self-consciousness and social anxiety stimulated adolescents' perceptions of the relevance of reduced nonverbal cues and controllability, but did not directly influence online self-disclosure. The study shows the vital role of users' perceptions of CMC attributes in Internet-effects research.     

NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS

ABSTRACT

Since beginning readers rely on their oral language to gain meaning from text, oral reading is the preferred mode of reading for these students. While there are several reasons for this, one is that reading development seems to parallel Vygotsky's theory of language development. His theory states that language proceeds from a social speech to the development of inner speech. As children internalize language, which allows for abstract thought processes to develop, they go through a period of egocentric speech. During this time, the children use language overtly to control and monitor their learning. Children's reading behavior may go through a similar process.     

Clinical utility of self-disclosure for adults who stutter: Apologetic versus informative statements

PurposeThe purpose of the present study was to explore the clinical utility of self-disclosure, particularly, whether disclosing in an informative manner would result in more positive observer ratings of the speaker who stutters than either disclosing in an apologetic manner or choosing not to self-disclose at all.MethodObservers (N = 338) were randomly assigned to view one of six possible videos (i.e., adult male informative self-disclosure, adult male apologetic self-disclosure, adult male no self-disclosure, adult female informative self-disclosure, adult female apologetic self-disclosure, adult female no self-disclosure). Observers completed a survey assessing their perceptions of the speaker they viewed immediately after watching the video.ResultsResults suggest that self-disclosing in an informative manner leads to significantly more positive observer ratings than choosing not to self-disclose. In contrast, use of an apologetic statement, for the most part, does not yield significantly more positive ratings than choosing not to self-disclose.ConclusionClinicians should recommend their clients self-disclose in an informative manner to facilitate more positive observer perceptions.     

Inequity in work and intimate relationships: a Spillover–Crossover model

Abstract

This study among 267 Greek teachers and their partners tested and expanded the recently proposed Spillover–Crossover model (SCM) of well-being. Accordingly, experiences built up at work spill over to the home domain, and then influence the partner. The authors integrated equity theory in the model by formulating hypotheses about exchange in interpersonal relationships. Structural equation modeling analyses supported the spillover hypothesis that teachers who lose their work engagement as a result of an inequitable relationship with their students invest less in the relationship with their partner. In addition, the results supported the crossover hypothesis that teachers' relationship investments, in turn, show a negative relationship with inequity in the intimate relationship as perceived by the partner; and inequity in the intimate relationship contributed to partner depression. The findings are discussed in light of the SCM of well-being.     

Relationship enhancement with premarital dyads: A six-month follow-up

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to assess the short-term and longterm effectiveness of relationship enhancement on the self-disclosure and empathy skills of premarital dating couples. Nineteen couples were given the Guerney Relationship Enhancement Program over an eight week period, while 18 other couples were given a lecture/discussion program on relationship development. Behavioral assessments of self-disclosure and empathy skill levels were taken prior to training, immediately following training, and six months after training. Results indicated that from both pretest to posttest and pretest to follow-up, the relationship enhancement couples, relative to the lecture/discussion couples, demonstrated a significant increase in both self-disclosure and empathy skill levels. Discussion centers on the implications of the durability of the skills learned as well as on suggestions for future research on skill generalization to social interactions with others.     

Using Psychodrama Techniques to Promote Counselor Identity Development in Group Supervision

Abstract

The authors briefly introduce the concepts, techniques, and theory of identity development associated with J. L. Moreno's (1946, 1969, 1993) Psychodrama. Based upon Loganbill, Hardy, and Delworth's (1982) model, counselor identity development is conceptualized as consisting of seven developmental themes or vectors (e.g., issues of awareness and effective use of emotions in counseling, issues of professional ethics in counseling practice, etc.). Development along these seven psychosocial vectors may be regarded as resembling the process of role repertoire expansion described in Moreno's (1993) identity development theory. The authors present four representative psychodrama activities that have been used with supervisees in group supervision.     

Therapeutic handling of marital infidelity

Abstract

In working with couples and families, the occasional clinical use of mental imagery techniques can frequently promote therapeutic breakthroughs. When sessions focused on a couple's (family's) current communication problems reach a point where progress seems slow and laborious, a therapist can encourage the couple (parents and perhaps even older children) to try one or more imagery sessions to understand their interactional patterns within the context of their own developmental periods. This article describes how imagery can lead couples to new and more constructive perspectives on the meaning of their interactions.     

Editorial

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to address the issue of trust in the therapeutic relationship from the counsellor's perspective, with a particular reference to working with drug addicts. It is a personal reflection on previous work with drug addicts in which a cognitive-behavioural approach was used. The comparison will be made, in a post hoc, reflective manner, on the issue of trust from a very different perspective; namely psychodynamic. It is suggested that the counsellor's trust in their own ability to contain the patient's often projected anxiety, is a central element or variable that can be seriously disrupted by the process of projective identification. And, moreover, it may have some explanatory power for the choice of method of working with this particular client population, that the issue of trust and its containment says as much, if not more, about us as counsellors, as it does about the client. It is argued that our anxieties may lead us to adopt a certain course of action in the therapy, rather than to address the possible meaning of these anxieties in terms of the relationship regarding the clients' needs.     

Psychologue dans le champ scolaire : une pratique sous le sceau du paradoxe

Starting from an experiment she coordinated among a group of educational psychologists, the author reflects on psychological intervention programmes. Following the group's questions, she organises her reflection along three main lines: the function of the institution, the function of the reference theories, and the nature of the process involved in those programmes. As far as the first two points are concerned, the clinical psychologist's practice appears paradoxical. The first paradox is that the institution does not acknowledge him or her as a promoter of subjectivity; the second concerns the lack of articulation of the relationship with theory, i.e. psychoanalytical theory. After questioning those paradoxes, which cannot be resolved, the author shows that the specific action of clinical psychologists can have a legitimate place, providing they ponder deeply on the meaning of their intervention, and ground their reflection on transitional analysis, as it has been defined by several French authors, in reference to Winnicott: the transition period as well as the transitional area.     

Aging and the Search for Meaning

SUMMARY

The natural science model is not adequate alone to deal with some of the profound problems of gerontology because it does not deal well with meaning and values issues. This paper develops the topic “Aging and the Search for Meaning” using phenomenological and hermeneutical methods. It is assumed that finding a meaning in life is a primary drive across the years. Such a quest requires a hermeneutic, i.e. a means by which life may be symbolized or given meaning and direction. Using Viktor Frankl's meaning theory, the paper introduces an approach which describes the process by which the meaning of aging can be interpreted.     

Death and the Meaning of Life

Abstract

Thoughts of mortality sometimes bring on a crisis in confidence in the meaning in one's life. One expression of this collapse is the midlife crisis. In a recent article, Kieran Setiya argues that if one can value activities as opposed to accomplishments as the primary goods in one's life then one might avoid the midlife crisis. I argue that Setiya's advice, rather than safeguarding the meaning in one's life, substitutes for it something else, a kind of happiness. I use Susan Wolf's concept of meaning in order to make this case. Wolf has not written much about the importance of death, but I argue that her account of meaning shares essential features with the theories developed by Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger. Sartre argues that death is an unqualified harm, while Heidegger argues that there is meaning in life only because we are mortal. I conclude by showing how Heidegger's theory of mortality underwrites accounts of meaning like those found in Wolf.     

The relationship between perceived interpersonal competence and self-disclosure in an online context: The moderating role of shyness

The purpose of this study is to examine the reported level of self-disclosure in online communication and understand the relationship between perceived interpersonal competence and self-disclosure in an online context, taking into account the moderating role of shyness. The study sample consists of university students (N = 585). Hierarchical multiple linear regression analyses revealed that, controlling for participants' online media use, shyness moderated the relationship between online self-disclosure and perceived interpersonal competence. Moderation results showed that the relationship between online self-disclosure and perceived interpersonal competence was weaker for individuals with higher levels of shyness, and stronger for those with moderate or low scores on the shyness measure. The study's implications and contributions to the existing literature are discussed.     

Meaning in life and violations of beliefs and goals: reciprocal relations among individuals with congestive heart failure

Background and objectives: In the context of highly stressful experiences, violations of beliefs and goals and meaning in life may have a reciprocal relationship over time. More violations may lead to lowered meaning, whereas higher meaning may lead to lowered violations. The present study examines this relationship among congestive heart failure (CHF) patients.

Design: A cross-lagged panel design was used.

Methods: CHF patients (N?=?142) reported twice, six months apart, on their meaning in life and the extent to which CHF violates their beliefs and goals.

Results: Overall, results were consistent with a reciprocal relationship, showing that greater goal violations led to negative subsequent changes in meaning, whereas greater meaning led to favorable subsequent changes in violations of beliefs and goals.

Conclusions: Meaning in life and violations may contribute to one another, and therefore, in understanding the adjustment process, it is important to consider their interrelationship. The results are also broadly informative regarding the experience of meaning, showing that disruption of beliefs and goals may undermine meaning.     

Relational Message Interpretations of Nonverbal Matching Behavior: An Application of the Social Meaning Model

Abstract

The social meaning model asserts that some nonverbal behaviors have consensually recognized relational meanings within a given social community. According to this perspective, the interpretations made by encoders, decoders, and 3rd-party observers of the same nonverbal behavior should be congruent. The authors applied the model to the identification of relational message interpretations of nonverbal matching behavior. Confederates either matched or did not match the nonverbal behaviors of conversational participants while being watched by nonparticipant observers. All three nonconfederate participants provided interpretations of the confederates' relational messages. As the authors had expected, there were moderate correlations between the 3 perspectives, with observers usually providing less favorable assessments than the conversational participants. The authors also examined the influence of positive and negative stimulus behavior on relational message interpretations.