Congruence of Counselor Self-Disclosure and Perceived Effectiveness

Abstract

Sixty-seven college students rated a counselor on expertness, trustworthiness, and attractiveness based on reading 1 of 2 randomly assigned session transcripts. The desire to choose the depicted counselor was also measured. In both transcripts, the counselor self-disclosed his or her use of prayer. A single-client statement varied across the 2 transcripts such that one contained a congruent counselor self-disclosure (counselor disclosure after client disclosure) and the other included an incongruent self-disclosure (counselor disclosure without client disclosure). A potential covariate, religiosity, was examined but did not draw significant variance. Participants in the congruent group reported a more favorable total perception, a higher attractiveness perception, and a greater desire to choose the counselor than did participants in the incongruent group. Limitations and implications for future research are discussed.

The Use of Self-Disclosure: Lived Experiences of Recovering Substance Abuse Counselors

“…The respondents were particularly interested in therapists' professional qualifications and experiences, but they were also interested to know about therapists' personal lives, including information about their interpersonal relationships and feelings (Nyman & Daugherty, 2001). These findings offer additional support to the notion that therapist disclosures may have a beneficial impact on the therapeutic relationship.…”

“…Other studies indicate that clients prefer that therapists disclose information about themselves early in the psychotherapeutic process and that they disclose numerous types of information, including information about their feelings and personal relationships (Hendrick, 1988;Nyman & Daugherty, 2001). Furthermore, Myers and Hayes (2006) conducted an analogue study with undergraduate students and found that when working alliance is high, potential clients see therapist disclosure as deepening the counseling process and results in perceiving the therapist as more expert.…”

“…Nyman and Daugherty (2001) measured client perceptions of efficacy among therapists who disclosed their personal use of prayer either before or following a client disclosure of some personal information. Results from this study indicated that clients perceived the counselor who disclosed after the client as more attractive and favorable than the therapist who disclosed prior to a client disclosure.…”

Counselor Self-Disclosure: Does Sexual Orientation Matter to Straight Clients?

“…A numbers of studies have explored the consequences of counselor self-disclosure of religious affiliation and ethnicity (e.g., Cashwell et al 2003;Nyman and Daugherty 2001). As might be anticipated, findings suggest that clients from culturally diverse backgrounds are especially responsive to their counselors' selfdisclosures (Hays 2008;Mathy 2006).…”

Religious issues in counselling: are Australian psychologists “dragging the chain”?

“…Conversely, a well-timed disclosure may be therapeutic. Nyman and Daugherty (2001) asked psychology students to read one of two scenarios in which a counsellor disclosed the use of prayer. In one scenario, therapist disclosure about prayer came after the client spoke about prayer (i.e., a congruent disclosure); while in the other scenario, the counsellor disclosed without a prior statement about prayer by the client (i.e., incongruent disclosure).…”