ABSTRACT
Whether or not therapists should or should not self-disclose their religious/spiritual identification or non-identification to which clients and under which clinical circumstances is a multi-faceted issue. Further discussion of this subtopic is necessary in light of the helping profession’s longer standing aversion to the topic of religion/spirituality, as well as research suggesting that clients tend to be significantly more religious than are their therapists. The scholarly literature focusing on religious TSDs is largely conceptual and with limited empirical research on the subject. Extent literature suggests the potential benefits associated with disclosure of similar religious identification, at least in some cases, as well as a likelihood of negative outcomes associated with therapists disclosing their affiliation/non-affiliation in a dramatic, oppositional, or poorly thought-out way. Potential benefits and drawbacks of disclosing or not disclosing religious identification/non-identification, in clinical scenarios wherein questions about the therapist’s religiosity are discussed and explored. Implications include that decisions to or not to disclose should be made with consideration of the client’s personality structure, intentions, and needs from treatment, a conceptualization that may be clouded by therapist countertransference and thereby warrants consideration in supervision, consultation, and future research.
