Self-disclosure, tears, and the dying client.

Counselman, Eleanor F.

doi:10.1037/h0087715

Cited by 9 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 10 publications

(15 reference statements)

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“…Based on data from the 411 most recent TCIT episodes collected and analyzed in the present study, it appears that TCIT occurs with a range of clients (including children, adolescents, and adults) who have a range of diagnoses and in a range of session content areas. Similar to the few prior studies on TCIT (Counselman, 1997;Rhue, 2001;Waldman, 1995), content analysis of the present sample's most recent TCIT episode session content determined that grief was the most common session topic in which TCIT occurred, followed by trauma and termination. However, the session topics that accompanied TCIT varied greatly (15% did not fit in any specific content category).…”

Section: Discussion Typical Tcit Clinical Contextsupporting

confidence: 73%

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Examining Our Tears: Therapists’ Accounts of Crying in Therapy

Blume-Marcovici

Stolberg

Khademi

2015

APT

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Section: Discussion Typical Tcit Clinical Contextsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…A more in-depth search turns up three case studies on the topic of TCIT (Counselman, 1997;Owens, 2005;Rhue, 2001). Based on the case studies, along with Waldman's dissertation (1995), several basic themes regarding TCIT can be discerned.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Examining Our Tears: Therapists’ Accounts of Crying in Therapy

Blume-Marcovici

Stolberg

Khademi

2015

APT

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“…their connection stronger and reinforces the humanity of each (Blume-Marcovici et al, 2013;Counselman, 1997;Nelson, 2008;Pope et al, 1987;Rhue, 2001;Van Heukelem, 1979). Although the crying was discussed in supervision, therapists wished they had talked about it more with their clients, perhaps noting an opportunity for immediacy (Hill et al, 2014;Hill & Knox, 2009), both of which are new findings.…”

Section: Participants Crying As Therapistsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Anecdotal Literature About Therapist Crying Counselman (1997) described her work with a couple, in which the wife became ill with terminal cancer. When Counselman heard of the wife's cancer, she was "shocked and speechless; [she] felt tears come to [her] eyes" (p. 235).…”

Section: Theory About Therapist Cryingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Crying in psychotherapy: The perspective of therapists and clients.

et al. 2017

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Eighteen U.S.-based doctoral students in counseling or clinical psychology were interviewed by phone regarding experiences of crying in therapy. Specifically, they described crying as therapists with their clients, as clients with their therapists, and experiences when their therapists cried in the participants' therapy. Data were analyzed using consensual qualitative research. When crying with their clients, therapists expressed concern about the appropriateness/impact of crying, cried only briefly and because they felt an empathic connection with their clients, thought that the crying strengthened the relationship, discussed the event with their supervisor, and wished they had discussed the event more fully with clients. Crying as clients was triggered by discussing distressing personal events, was accompanied by a mixture of emotions regarding the tears, consisted of substantial crying to express pain or sadness, and led to multiple benefits (enhanced therapy relationship, deeper therapy, and insight). When their therapists cried, the crying was brief, was triggered by discussions of termination, arose from therapists' empathic connection with participants, and strengthened the therapy relationship. Implications for research, training, and practice are presented. (PsycINFO Database Record

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“…Ladany (2004) reported on typical supervisee non-disclosures, which included non-disclosure of countertransference reactions and clinical mistakes, as well as non-disclosure of positive supervisee reactions to their clients, particularly in terms of feeling close to the client. TCIT can represent each of these categories, with psychologists at times perceiving their TCIT to be a form of countertransference (Blume-Marcovici, 2012;Counselman, 1997;Owens, 2005;Waldman, 1995), at times worrying that their TCIT was a therapeutic blunder (Blume-Marcovici et al, 2015;Owens, 2005;Rhue, 2001;Waldman, 1995), and at other times feeling that their TCIT represented a moment of real connection and closeness TCIT: SUPERVISION AND TRAINING 6 with their client (Blume-Marcovici, 2012;Counselman, 1997;Owens, 2005;Waldman, 1995). In this way, TCIT may be a likely candidate for non-disclosure in the supervision process.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

When Therapists Cry: Implications for Supervision and Training

Blume-Marcovici

Stolberg

Khademi

et al. 2015

The Clinical Supervisor

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The majority of psychologists cry in their role as therapists but no research has explored training or supervision in relation to this topic. Psychologists and trainees (N = 686) filled out a survey on therapist crying in therapy. Almost all (96.5%) reported that psychologists should be trained on how to handle their emotions, but only 36.4% reported receiving training on therapist crying. Half of all respondents reported having discussed crying with a supervisor; one third had never discussed their most recent tears with anyone. Suggestions are offered for supervisors in order to manage discussion of TCIT in psychotherapists' training. Keywords: therapist crying, tears, emotional expressions, supervision, training, consultationTCIT: SUPERVISION AND TRAINING 3 When Therapists Cry: Implications for Supervision and TrainingPsychologists cry in therapy. In 1987, Pope, Tabachnick, and Keith-Spiegel published results of a survey on which 57% of their 456 psychotherapist respondents reported that they had cried in the presence of a client. More recently, Blume-Marcovici, Stolberg and Khademi (2013) reported that 72% of psychologists and psychology trainees had cried at least once during a therapy session with a client. Findings from these studies indicate that the majority of psychologists and psychology trainees will experience therapist crying in therapy (hereafter, TCIT) at some point in their career. Indeed, research reports that those therapists who cry in therapy cry in approximately 7% of therapy sessions (Blume-Marcovici et al., 2013). Compared to prior research that has found clients to cry in approximately 21% of therapy sessions (Trezza, Hastrup, & Kim, 1988), these numbers allow us to estimate that therapists cry in therapy approximately one third as often as their clients, though this percentage does not account for intensity or duration of tears.Researchers have found that therapists are most likely to cry when session content focuses on grief, trauma, and termination of therapy (Blume-Marcovici, Stolberg, & Khademi, 2015), and that the most commonly reported emotions the therapist felt when crying in therapy are sadness, emotionally "touched," warmth, and loss (Blume-Marcovici et al., 2015). Although most of the time therapists reported that their tears were focused on the client, in 16% of cases therapists reported that their tears were related to their own (i.e., the therapist's) personal circumstance (Blume-Marcovici et al., 2015). And, although 82% of therapists reported that they believed TCIT helped the client feel that his/her therapist genuinely cared, 69% expressed concern that TCIT would cause the client to feel that the therapist would not be able to handle the client's emotion (Blume-Marcovici et al., 2013). Despite the fact that the majority of TCIT: SUPERVISION AND TRAINING 4 therapists believe TCIT can impact the therapy -in both positive and negative ways -no research exists regarding training, supervision, or consultation on TCIT.Given that the number of behaviors on which a s...

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Self-disclosure, tears, and the dying client.

Cited by 9 publications

References 10 publications

Examining Our Tears: Therapists’ Accounts of Crying in Therapy

Examining Our Tears: Therapists’ Accounts of Crying in Therapy

Crying in psychotherapy: The perspective of therapists and clients.

When Therapists Cry: Implications for Supervision and Training

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