The Therapist's Self Disclosure in Cross- Cultural Treatment
The argument that self-disclosure will change the
psychoanalytic process into a socio-cultural niche distorting the
therapeutic alliance and compromise therapeutic effectiveness is still
the widely held belief amongst many psychotherapists. This paper
considers the issues surrounding culture, disclosure and concealment
since they remain largely untheorized and clinically problematic. The
first part of the paper will critically examine the theory and practice
of psychoanalysis across cultures, and explore the reasons for
culturally diverse patients to conceal rather than disclose their
feelings and thoughts in the transference. This is followed by a
discussion on how immigrant analysts- anonymity is difficult to
maintain since diverse nationalities, language and accents provide
clues to the therapist-s and patient-s origins. Through personal
clinical examples of one the author-s (who is an immigrant) the paper
analyses the transference-countertransference paradigm and how it
reflects in the analyst-s self-revelation.
[1] Freud, S. (1912/1958). Recommendations to physicians practicing
psycho-analysis. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.): The Standard Edition of
the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 109-
120). London: Hogarth Press (Original work published in 1912).
[2] Moodley, R., & Palmer, S. (2006). Race, culture and other multiple
constructions: An absent presence in psychotherapy. In R. Moodley and
S. Palmer (Eds.), Race, Culture and Psychotherapy (pp. 11-26). New
York: NY, Routledge.
[3] Curtis, J. M. (1982). Principles and techniques of non-disclosure by the
therapist during psychotherapy. Psychological Reports, 51, 907-914.
[4] Watkins, C. E. (1990). The effect of counselor self-disclosure: A
research review. The Counseling Psychologist, 18, 477-500.
[5] Goldstein, E. (1994). Self-disclosure in treatment: What therapists do
and don-t talk about. Clinical Social Work Journal, 22, 417-433.
[6] Edwards, C. E. & Murdock, N. L. Charcteristics of therapist selfdisclosure
in the counseling process. Journal of Counseling &
Development, 72, 384-389.
[7] Constantine, M., & Kwan, K. (2003). Cross-cultural considerations of
therapist self- disclosure. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 581-588.
[8] Helms, J. & Cook,D. (1999).Using race and culture in counseling and
psychotherapy: Theory and process. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
[9] Sue, D. & Sue, D. (2003). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and
practice (4th Ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
[10] Leary, K. (1997). Race, self-disclosure, and "forbidden talk": Race and
ethnicity in contemporary clinical practice. Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
66:163-189.
[11] Holmes,D.(1992). Race and transference in psychoanalysis and
psychotherapy. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 73: 187-219.
Holmes, D. E. (2006). Racial transference reactions in psychoanalytic
treatment: An update. In Roy Moodley and Stephen Palmer (Eds.) Race,
Culture, and Psychotherapy. (pp. 61-73).
[12] Altman (2000). Black and White Thinking: A Psychoanalyst reconsiders
race. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 10: 589-605.
[13] Cofresi, N. (2002). The influence of Marianismo on psychoanalytic
work with Latinas:Transference and countertransference implications.
The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 57: 435-451.
[14] Dana, R. (1993). Multicultural Assessment Perspectives for Professional
Psychology. A Longwood Professional Book. Allyn & Bacon, Boston,
MA.
[15] Lijtmaer, R. (2001) Countertransference and ethnicity: The analyst-s
psychic change. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis,
29:73-84.
[16] Perez-Foster (1996). What is a multicultural perspective in
psychoanalysis? In: Reaching Across Boundaries of Culture and Class:
Widening the Scope of Psychotherapy (pp.3-20). Northvale, NJ: Jason
Aronson.
[17] Atkinson, D. R. (1983). Ethnic similarity in counseling psychology: A
review of research. Counseling Psychologist, 11: 79-92. Atkinson, D. R.
(1985). A meta-review of research on cross-cultural counseling and
psychotherapy. Joural of Multicultural Counseling and Development,
13: 138-154.
[18] Thompson, C., Worthington, R., & Atkinson, D. (1994). Counselor
content orientation, counselor race, and Black women-s cultural mistrust
and self-disclosures. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41: 155-161.
[19] Bonovitz, C. (2006) Locating culture in the psychic field: Transference
and countertransference as cultural products. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 41: 55-76.
[20] Greenberg, J. (1995). Self-disclosure: Is it psychoanalytic?
Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 31: 193-205.
[21] Meissner, W.W. (2002). The problem of self-disclosure in
psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,
50: 827-867.
[22] Renik, O. (1995). The ideal of the anonymous analyst and the problem
of self-disclosure. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 3: 466-495.
[23] Moodley, R. (2007). (Re)placing multiculturalism in counselling and
psychotherapy British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 35: 1-22
[24] Chamorro, R. (2003). From the other side: Countertransference in
Spanish-speaking dyads. Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and
Society, 8: 84-87.
[25] Akhtar, S. (2006). Technical challenges faced by the immigrant analyst.
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 75: 21-44.
[26] Lijtmaer, R. (2006 a) Black, White, Hispanic and both: Issues in Biracial
Identity and its effects in the transference-countertransference.
Chapter10. In: Moodley, R. and Palmer, S. (Eds.) Race, Culture and
Psychotherapy: Critical Perspectives in Multicultural Practice. London:
Brunner-Routledge. Lijtmaer, R. (2006 b) Paper: "The immigrant
analyst-s bilingual/bicultural self" Presented at the International
Federation for Psychoanalytic Education, Queretaro, Mexico, 2-20-06
[27] Tang, N. (1992). Some implications of Chinese philosophy and childrearing
practices. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 47: 371-389
[28] Wu, J. (1994). On therapy with Asian patients. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 30: 152-168.
[29] Gorkin, M. (1996). Countertransference in cross-cultural psychotherapy.
In: Reaching Across Boundaries of Culture and Class: Widening the
Scope of Psychotherapy (pp.159-178). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
[30] Grey, A. (2001), Uncultured psychoanalysis: On the hazards of
ethnotransferece. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 37: 683-688.
[31] Javier, R. & Rendon, M. (1995). The Ethnic Unconscious and Its Role in
Transference, Coutertransferece and Resistance. Psychoanalytic
Psychology, 12: 513-520.
[32] Hammer, F. (2006). Racism as a transference state: Episodes of racial
hostility in the psychoanalytic context. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
75: 197-214.
[33] Leary, K. (2000). Racial enactments in dynamic treatment.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 10: 639-653.
[34] Roland, A. (1995).Value issues involving Western psychoanalysts with
Asian patients. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis &
Dynamic Psychiatry. 23: 283-292.
[35] Smith, B. & Tang, N. (2006). Different differences: Revelation and
disclosure of social identity in the psychoanalytic situation.
Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 75: 295-321.
[36] Seeley, K. (2005). The listening cure: Listening for culture in
intercultural psychological treatments. The Psychoanalytic Review, 92:
431-452.
[37] Gutheil, T. G., & Gabbard, G. O. (1993). The concept of boundaries in
clinical practice: Theoretical and risk-management dimensions. The
American Journal of Psychiatry, 150: 188-196.
[38] Kaslow, F., Cooper, B. & Linsenberg, M. (1979). Family therapist
authenticity as a key factor in outcome. International Journal of Family
Therapy, 1: 194-199.
[39] Jourard, S. (1971). Self-disclosure: An experimental analysis of the
transparent self. Oxford, England: John Wiley.
[40] Geller, J. (2003). Self-disclosure in psychoanalytic-existential therapy
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 5: 541-554.
[41] Davis, J. (2002) Countertransference Temptation and the Use of Self-
Disclosure by Psychotherapists in Training. Psychoanalytic Psychology,
19: 435- 454.
[42] Miletic, M. J. (1998). Re-thinking self-disclosure: An example of the
clinical utility of the analyst-s self-disclosing activities. Psychoanalytic
Inquiry, 18: 580-600.
[43] Gediman, H. (2006). Facilitating analysis with implicit and explicit selfdisclosures.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 16: 241-262.
[44] Shill, M. A. (2004). Analytic, neutrality, anonymity, abstinence, and
elective self- disclosure. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association, 52: 151-187.
[1] Freud, S. (1912/1958). Recommendations to physicians practicing
psycho-analysis. In J. Strachey (Ed. & Trans.): The Standard Edition of
the Complete Psychological Works of Sigmund Freud (Vol. 12, pp. 109-
120). London: Hogarth Press (Original work published in 1912).
[2] Moodley, R., & Palmer, S. (2006). Race, culture and other multiple
constructions: An absent presence in psychotherapy. In R. Moodley and
S. Palmer (Eds.), Race, Culture and Psychotherapy (pp. 11-26). New
York: NY, Routledge.
[3] Curtis, J. M. (1982). Principles and techniques of non-disclosure by the
therapist during psychotherapy. Psychological Reports, 51, 907-914.
[4] Watkins, C. E. (1990). The effect of counselor self-disclosure: A
research review. The Counseling Psychologist, 18, 477-500.
[5] Goldstein, E. (1994). Self-disclosure in treatment: What therapists do
and don-t talk about. Clinical Social Work Journal, 22, 417-433.
[6] Edwards, C. E. & Murdock, N. L. Charcteristics of therapist selfdisclosure
in the counseling process. Journal of Counseling &
Development, 72, 384-389.
[7] Constantine, M., & Kwan, K. (2003). Cross-cultural considerations of
therapist self- disclosure. Journal of Clinical Psychology, 59, 581-588.
[8] Helms, J. & Cook,D. (1999).Using race and culture in counseling and
psychotherapy: Theory and process. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
[9] Sue, D. & Sue, D. (2003). Counseling the culturally diverse: Theory and
practice (4th Ed.). New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.
[10] Leary, K. (1997). Race, self-disclosure, and "forbidden talk": Race and
ethnicity in contemporary clinical practice. Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
66:163-189.
[11] Holmes,D.(1992). Race and transference in psychoanalysis and
psychotherapy. International Journal of Psychoanalysis, 73: 187-219.
Holmes, D. E. (2006). Racial transference reactions in psychoanalytic
treatment: An update. In Roy Moodley and Stephen Palmer (Eds.) Race,
Culture, and Psychotherapy. (pp. 61-73).
[12] Altman (2000). Black and White Thinking: A Psychoanalyst reconsiders
race. Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 10: 589-605.
[13] Cofresi, N. (2002). The influence of Marianismo on psychoanalytic
work with Latinas:Transference and countertransference implications.
The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 57: 435-451.
[14] Dana, R. (1993). Multicultural Assessment Perspectives for Professional
Psychology. A Longwood Professional Book. Allyn & Bacon, Boston,
MA.
[15] Lijtmaer, R. (2001) Countertransference and ethnicity: The analyst-s
psychic change. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis,
29:73-84.
[16] Perez-Foster (1996). What is a multicultural perspective in
psychoanalysis? In: Reaching Across Boundaries of Culture and Class:
Widening the Scope of Psychotherapy (pp.3-20). Northvale, NJ: Jason
Aronson.
[17] Atkinson, D. R. (1983). Ethnic similarity in counseling psychology: A
review of research. Counseling Psychologist, 11: 79-92. Atkinson, D. R.
(1985). A meta-review of research on cross-cultural counseling and
psychotherapy. Joural of Multicultural Counseling and Development,
13: 138-154.
[18] Thompson, C., Worthington, R., & Atkinson, D. (1994). Counselor
content orientation, counselor race, and Black women-s cultural mistrust
and self-disclosures. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 41: 155-161.
[19] Bonovitz, C. (2006) Locating culture in the psychic field: Transference
and countertransference as cultural products. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 41: 55-76.
[20] Greenberg, J. (1995). Self-disclosure: Is it psychoanalytic?
Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 31: 193-205.
[21] Meissner, W.W. (2002). The problem of self-disclosure in
psychoanalysis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association,
50: 827-867.
[22] Renik, O. (1995). The ideal of the anonymous analyst and the problem
of self-disclosure. Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 3: 466-495.
[23] Moodley, R. (2007). (Re)placing multiculturalism in counselling and
psychotherapy British Journal of Guidance & Counselling, 35: 1-22
[24] Chamorro, R. (2003). From the other side: Countertransference in
Spanish-speaking dyads. Journal for the Psychoanalysis of Culture and
Society, 8: 84-87.
[25] Akhtar, S. (2006). Technical challenges faced by the immigrant analyst.
The Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 75: 21-44.
[26] Lijtmaer, R. (2006 a) Black, White, Hispanic and both: Issues in Biracial
Identity and its effects in the transference-countertransference.
Chapter10. In: Moodley, R. and Palmer, S. (Eds.) Race, Culture and
Psychotherapy: Critical Perspectives in Multicultural Practice. London:
Brunner-Routledge. Lijtmaer, R. (2006 b) Paper: "The immigrant
analyst-s bilingual/bicultural self" Presented at the International
Federation for Psychoanalytic Education, Queretaro, Mexico, 2-20-06
[27] Tang, N. (1992). Some implications of Chinese philosophy and childrearing
practices. Psychoanalytic Study of the Child, 47: 371-389
[28] Wu, J. (1994). On therapy with Asian patients. Contemporary
Psychoanalysis, 30: 152-168.
[29] Gorkin, M. (1996). Countertransference in cross-cultural psychotherapy.
In: Reaching Across Boundaries of Culture and Class: Widening the
Scope of Psychotherapy (pp.159-178). Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson.
[30] Grey, A. (2001), Uncultured psychoanalysis: On the hazards of
ethnotransferece. Contemporary Psychoanalysis, 37: 683-688.
[31] Javier, R. & Rendon, M. (1995). The Ethnic Unconscious and Its Role in
Transference, Coutertransferece and Resistance. Psychoanalytic
Psychology, 12: 513-520.
[32] Hammer, F. (2006). Racism as a transference state: Episodes of racial
hostility in the psychoanalytic context. The Psychoanalytic Quarterly,
75: 197-214.
[33] Leary, K. (2000). Racial enactments in dynamic treatment.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 10: 639-653.
[34] Roland, A. (1995).Value issues involving Western psychoanalysts with
Asian patients. Journal of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis &
Dynamic Psychiatry. 23: 283-292.
[35] Smith, B. & Tang, N. (2006). Different differences: Revelation and
disclosure of social identity in the psychoanalytic situation.
Psychoanalytic Quarterly, 75: 295-321.
[36] Seeley, K. (2005). The listening cure: Listening for culture in
intercultural psychological treatments. The Psychoanalytic Review, 92:
431-452.
[37] Gutheil, T. G., & Gabbard, G. O. (1993). The concept of boundaries in
clinical practice: Theoretical and risk-management dimensions. The
American Journal of Psychiatry, 150: 188-196.
[38] Kaslow, F., Cooper, B. & Linsenberg, M. (1979). Family therapist
authenticity as a key factor in outcome. International Journal of Family
Therapy, 1: 194-199.
[39] Jourard, S. (1971). Self-disclosure: An experimental analysis of the
transparent self. Oxford, England: John Wiley.
[40] Geller, J. (2003). Self-disclosure in psychoanalytic-existential therapy
Journal of Clinical Psychology, 5: 541-554.
[41] Davis, J. (2002) Countertransference Temptation and the Use of Self-
Disclosure by Psychotherapists in Training. Psychoanalytic Psychology,
19: 435- 454.
[42] Miletic, M. J. (1998). Re-thinking self-disclosure: An example of the
clinical utility of the analyst-s self-disclosing activities. Psychoanalytic
Inquiry, 18: 580-600.
[43] Gediman, H. (2006). Facilitating analysis with implicit and explicit selfdisclosures.
Psychoanalytic Dialogues, 16: 241-262.
[44] Shill, M. A. (2004). Analytic, neutrality, anonymity, abstinence, and
elective self- disclosure. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic
Association, 52: 151-187.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:63187", author = "Ruth Lijtmaer and Roy Moodley and Shafik Sunderani", title = "The Therapist's Self Disclosure in Cross- Cultural Treatment", abstract = "The argument that self-disclosure will change the
psychoanalytic process into a socio-cultural niche distorting the
therapeutic alliance and compromise therapeutic effectiveness is still
the widely held belief amongst many psychotherapists. This paper
considers the issues surrounding culture, disclosure and concealment
since they remain largely untheorized and clinically problematic. The
first part of the paper will critically examine the theory and practice
of psychoanalysis across cultures, and explore the reasons for
culturally diverse patients to conceal rather than disclose their
feelings and thoughts in the transference. This is followed by a
discussion on how immigrant analysts- anonymity is difficult to
maintain since diverse nationalities, language and accents provide
clues to the therapist-s and patient-s origins. Through personal
clinical examples of one the author-s (who is an immigrant) the paper
analyses the transference-countertransference paradigm and how it
reflects in the analyst-s self-revelation.", keywords = "Self-disclosure, cross-cultural, transferencecountertransference,
immigrant therapist.", volume = "7", number = "3", pages = "798-5", }
