Research Paper on:
Professional Psychological and Counseling Practices and Self Disclosure

Unformatted Sample Text from the Research Paper:
to their clients. This is not really a relating of the counselors personal experience for cathartic purposes, but rather serves as an example for the client or to further bonding.  After all, clients are not always trusting and implementing such a technique can help to further cement a working relationship between the patient and therapist. While self-disclosure is par  for the course in the field, questions arise as to how much a therapist should reveal about his or her own personal life. Should they tell about certain controversial views  or experiences? Is religion or politics off limits? In discussing the topic, there is a great deal of literature in the field. For example, a survey revealed that 46% (Edwards  & Murdock, 1994, p.384) of participants who returned questionnaires were using self-disclosure with the clients to some extent. Most participants noted that they used it primarily to disclose professional qualifications  and experience and did so to increase the similarities between themselves and their clients (1994). Research in the field has indicated that self-disclosure can be beneficial to the patient  (Cosby, 1973; Doster & Nesbitt, 1979; Halpern, 1977; Hendrick, 1987; Rogers, 1961; Strickler & Fisher, 1990; Watkins, 1990; Weiner, 1983 as cited in Edwards et al., 1994). Self-disclosure is  applauded in some way, but is criticized in others. Therapists should never cross the line, get too personal or date a client. What is self-disclosure exactly? Self-disclosure is generally  defined as "verbalized personal revelations made by the counselor to the client" (Watkins, 1990 quoted in Edwards et al., 1994, p.384). The technique is not the same as self-involving statements,  like comments made by the counselor that pertains to the counseling process (Edwards et al., 1994). At the same time, there are personal aspects to such disclosure. Simone & McCarthy