In the thesis Ethical and Procedural Aspects of Therapist Self-Disclosure in Relational Individual, Marital and Family Therapy, we investigated the ethical and procedural aspects of the therapist's self-disclosure as a therapeutic intervention. The thesis consists of a theoretical and an empirical part. In the first, theoretical part, based on a review of the literature, we defined the term therapist's self-disclosure and presented how the attitude towards therapist's self-disclosure has changed through the development of psychotherapeutic science. We presented the relationship of different psychotherapeutic modalities to the use of therapist self-disclosure in the therapeutic process. We also presented the basic characteristics and premises of relational family therapy and identified the potential applicability of the intervention in this therapeutic model. We thoroughly reviewed research that looked at the use of therapist self-disclosure in the therapeutic process from different perspectives. We reviewed reports on the use of intervention in clinical practice found in the published scientific literature. We have summarized the findings to date on the ethics of the therapist's use of self-disclosure and provided guidelines for the ethical use of therapist's self-disclosure in the therapeutic process. We have presented a decision-making wheel tool that can help therapists to judge the ethics of the intervention. We discussed the process aspects of the therapist's self-disclosure, evaluated the role of common factors in finding a change in therapy, and presented a neuropsychological view of the therapist's role in self-disclosure. We highlighted the importance of the therapist’s authentic posture for developing a secure attachment and achieving change in the therapeutic process.
In the empirical part of the thesis, we investigated the role of the therapist's self-disclosure in relational individual, marital, and family therapy. We were interested in the ethically appropriate use of therapist self-disclosure and how to integrate therapist self-disclosure into therapeutic work to promote the process of change in clients. The empirical part of the thesis consists of three research sets. In the first part, we checked the use of self-disclosure of relational family therapists within the Partnership and Family Counseling on the online forum Med.Over.Net. We identified eight categories of therapist's self-disclosure: (1.) disclosure of the therapist's countertransference, (2.) disclosure of therapist's identity, professional competencies and contact data, (3.) disclosure of therapist's professional experiencies, views and beliefs, (4.) disclosure of therapist's abilities, doubts and limitations, (5.) disclosure of simmilarities with client, (6.) the therapist's strategies for coping with difficult situations, (7.) the therapist's disclosure of private information, and (8.) the therapist's apology. It turned out that therapists revealed their countertransference experience at the client's distress significantly more often than other topics. In the second part of the research, we used a structured questionnaire to check the attitude of therapists towards the therapist's self-disclosure and their experiences in therapeutic practice. Also in this context, it has been shown that therapists most often use interpersonal disclosures. Among the factors influencing the therapist's self-disclosure, the quality of the therapeutic relationship, the therapist's intuitive sense, and the sense of security in therapy were the most evaluated. Motivation to use self-disclosure was related to helping the client, deepening the therapeutic relationship or promoting the therapeutic process. There were some differences in self-disclosure according to the type of therapy (individual, marital, family, group). The positive and negative experiences of therapists from clinical practice and the impact of supervision and training on the development of their practice were presented. In the third part of the research, we used the focus group method to further evaluate the intervention of the therapist 's self-disclosure and the obtained results in the first two research sets. It was confirmed that this is an important but demanding intervention that needs to be used with great sensitivity to the client's needs, but brave enough for a therapist with an authentic attitude to co-create a safe therapeutic relationship in which therapeutic change can occur. In the concluding part of our research, we placed the intervention in a relational model of therapy and provided guidelines for ethically appropriate and process-effective use of the therapist's self-disclosure in relational individual, marital, and family therapy. We also submitted a proposal to amend the Code of Ethics of the Association of Marriage and Family Therapists of Slovenia.
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