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Self-disclosure Re the discussion on self-disclosure
I don’t have the technical skills to be a professional counsellor. Every single argument that is used to try to justify using self-disclosure merely demonstrates the counsellor’s inability to use appropriate counselling skills. Counselling must be signi fi cantly di ff erent from having a casual chat with a neighbour, otherwise seeking a quali fi ed counsellor will become completely pointless. People who are calling themselves counsellors must be able to create a real bond with their clients, be able to demonstrate a truly empathic connection, be able to build trust and acceptance with their clients, be able to convince their clients of their ability to help them, be able to communicate human sensitivity, be able to build con fi dence in the counsellor/client relationship, be able to get their clients to open up about di ffi cult issues, without using self-disclosure – otherwise they should simply not be counselling. Too many people are already giving our profession a bad name because of their lack of ability in using genuine counselling skills and by trying to cover this by resorting to the use of friendly techniques they have used in the past. Trainers and tutors need to wake up to this problem – if trainee counsellors don’t learn how to avoid using self-disclosure they will continue to undermine the whole counselling profession. Trevor Summerlin MBACP The power of film I agree with Jenny Hamilton and Helen Kemp (‘Watch and learn’, Therapy Today , February 2024) that movies can give us insight and awareness, a di ff erent way of looking at our problems and di ffi culties. They ask us to use our imagination as they access our unconscious wishes and dreams, our unspoken fantasies. A fi lm can release our hidden emotions, bringing to the surface feelings of hope and joy, desire and longing, suspense and tension, concern and awareness, release
(‘Reactions’, Therapy Today , March 2024), as an eating disorders specialist I always ask clients if there is anything they would fi nd useful to know about my training and expertise with eating disorder treatment but also about my own relationship with food. Assumptions about a counsellor, such as ‘you wouldn’t understand me’ or ‘I expect you eat perfectly so would fi nd my behaviour shameful’ interfere with the therapy alliance. I have known recovery groups disintegrate because the counsellor declines to share their own eating history while expecting others to tell the truth. I am not talking here about dumping it all into the room – disclosure needs to be brief enough without going into details while motivational for the client. This is why the therapist who still has problems with body image and with eating control ideally must seek help for their own issues before taking on the eating disorder client. If the client asks about past issues the therapist must be able to congruently say, yes I did once have issues but now I don’t think too much about food, I am content with how I eat, I have a wide diet and I am able to take care of myself, and so on. This both confers hope and lets the client know that they are in safe hands. Deanne Jade , Director of National Centre for Eating Disorders I have patiently endured the recent discussion in Therapy Today around the topic of self-disclosure but feel that I can no longer refrain from making a point that seems to have been completely overlooked. I have been quali fi ed as a counsellor for more than 40 years and am acutely aware that everything about me automatically contributes to some form of self-disclosure. However, I am absolutely convinced that any and every attempt at sharing my personal experiences with my clients constitutes a grave dereliction of duty. Furthermore, it demonstrates that
Like a therapy session a fi lm provides a timed space with de fi ned boundaries, a safe place for exploring psychological processes
and relief – in a word, catharsis. Films don’t just depict characters and events, they may ask us to think about our moral values, how we make choices and decisions, how we live our lives. The experience of watching a fi lm is both inclusive and exclusive, shared and private, popular and elitist. A fi lm is nothing without the viewer. It only asks that you watch it, yet it is uniquely interactive. Like a therapy session it provides a timed space with de fi ned boundaries, a safe place for exploring psychological processes. Movies place our personal issues in a wider context. We can take a short break from our own reality and enter the illusional reality of the fi lm we are watching. Our personal problems are put into perspective. We see the characters in a fi lm transformed by their experiences, and we can fi nd comfort in the hope that we too can be transformed by what we ourselves are going through. Movies are accessible to everyone. You don’t have to be literate, well educated or intellectual. You just have to show up. Films are magic. Go to the movies, be a hero for a while, live it for a moment. Carol Martin-Sperry FBACP
14 THERAPY TODAY MAY 2024
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