Self disclosure, does it ever serve the patient?

That's very perceptive Anne!

I actually never had a t self-disclose until I was art a trauma treatment center. He disclosed his struggles with self injury, therapy, flashbacks and such. He did not disclose details of anything but the emotions. He did this to the group, and from my understanding, he does this with his private clients as well. It was very liberating to know that he intimately understood my struggles. It was also a huge sleep something me to first start trusting him...
Other experiences of self-disclosure with other therapists since have not been as profoundly "moving" but always also been in context of building the relationship and bringing about insight. I think it's a constant struggle to balance what and when to self-disclose. Even if you may think it is helping the client, it may have the opposite effect... other times, it may work exactly as planned. A lot depends on the client's state...
I think it would be incredibly therapeutic for me to know if my therapist has had similar struggles... though I may not necessarily want to know the gory details, I would appreciate someone who intimately understood the draw of self injury for instance...

I'm sorry she shared something with you that wasn't really helpful or healing for you.

I've personally found that some disclosure from my T's helps me, because otherwise I start to idealize them as these perfect beings who never make mistakes or have never dealt with anything like what I'm going through. They've never shared something super super personal (like abuse or trauma) with me, but enough to where I realize they're human too and so I don't feel quite so crazy. Plus, when they do make mistakes or forget something, I'm more understanding instead of being incredibly hurt (in an overreacting way) like I used to get.

I think self disclosure should be limited. XT self disclosed WAY too much, and I ended up not respecting him. It was hard to see him as a bad husband and father but ask for advice. Current T only has self disclosed limited things, like that she's a grandmother or that she dances. She also described swimming in a way that only another water lover would, and it made me favor her a bit.

Oh yes, I'm with you on the the hobbies. I play guitar and often refer to it. One day I asked my T if he was right or left-handed (it was relevant at the time) and he said he was right-handed but the left was quite dextrous as he played guitar. I was really happy that we played the same instrument but also appreciated the fact he only mentioned it then, rather than saying "So do I" when I told him I played and turning the conversation away from me.

I absolutely need to see him as a human with a life and not some perfect being.