therapists create an atmosphere of trust and elicit more disclosure from cli-
ents. Consistent with this position, some studies find a positive relationship
between therapist disclosure and client progress (Hill & Knox, 2001). One
team of investigators instructed counselors to either increase or decrease the
amount of personal information they disclosed to clients during therapy ses-
sions (Barrett & Berman, 2001). After four weeks, clients receiving the in-
creased disclosure reported fewer symptoms of distress than clients whoexperienced a decrease in disclosure. However, self-disclosure by therapists is
a controversial issue (Farber, 2006; Zur, Williams, Lehavot, & Knapp, 2009).
Many psychologists are concerned about potential harm to the therapeutic pro-cess when therapists talk about themselves (Bridges, 2001). Although many
therapists reveal information about themselves on selected topics (Jeffrey &
Austin, 2007), the appropriate level of self-disclosure for therapists remains anopen question.
Disclosure Reciprocity
If you are like me, you have had the unfortunate experience of being stuck ona plane or a bus sitting next to a stranger who wanted to tell you all about
Self-disclosure plays a key role in the development of personal relationships. However,
researchers find that this is rarely one-sided. Instead, relationships develop as eachperson reveals intimate information about him- or herself at roughly the same level ofintimacy.Self-Disclosure 309