</font><blockquote><div id="quote"><font class="small">Quote:</font>
PsyChris said:
From most of the books I have read on therapy they suggest not sharing personal information with a patient and I have to agree.... therapy should be focused on the patient

</div></font></blockquote><font class="post">Only certain therapeutic approaches do not include self-disclosure. Other approaches do include it, and this is also discussed in the literature. My T uses self-disclosure to enhance my therapy and build our relationship, so it actually is about me. He is very skilled at weaving it into our conversation. (For some Ts, maybe it would be difficult, if they don't have the appropriate training.) Interestingly, my high school daughter just finished her AP Psychology course and they even teach about this there. I love reading in this forum as I have learned a lot about the diversity of therapeutic approaches.

For a great example of the value of self disclosure in therapy, I recommend the wonderful book, The Call of Stories by psychiatrist Robert Coles. Gosh, I love that book! (Its main theme really isn't even about traditional psychotherapy but it has a great self-disclosure example near the beginning.)