Loss, trauma, and self-disclosure

Contemporary relational perspective recognizes that the therapist’s presence as an authentic and empathic other is fundamental to the therapeutic process. The therapist’s willingness to reveal the subjective aspect of her experience at particular moments of impasse can be fundamental to the therapeutic process. The author offers a critical review of self-disclosure, tracking its often controversial history and illuminating its relevance to the experience of loss, illness, and mourning. A clinical example will show how the therapist’s disclosure during the patient’s prolonged withdrawal allows the patient to recover and elaborate memory and fantasy life and to restore her capacity for hope.