The Importance of Disclosure
When I was training to become a psychologist, self-disclosure was talked about as a therapeutic tool. Unless there was a clinical justification, self-disclosure about ourselves as a person was largely discouraged. I completely understood.
I learned ways of turning the common question, “How old are you?” into an exploration about why my age mattered to the client. I learned how to redirect rather than answer, how to challenge instead of disclose.
Over time, I found that being more forthcoming helped a little. Yes, I knew what it was like to grow up with certain expectations as the oldest Latina daughter. Yes, I also love cats. No, I also don’t like how Animal Crossing operates in real time. But seriously, a little self-disclosure here and there allowed clients to see me as human, rather than a purely blank slate that asks them how things make them feel.
That being said, for the longest time my political viewpoints were off-limits. I’ve worked with people across the political spectrum. While I would live and practice in a way I hope exemplified my viewpoints, I never disclosed them outright when asked. I would rely on the tried and true, “What does it mean to you if I were to have voted for/against X?”. And almost always, it came down to whether the client would be judged by me if they tell me they voted for or against something opposite of what I did. Like I hope most clinicians know, self-disclosure is not generally needed to create a judgment free space where your client can say anything and everything they feel freely. So I would do that, encourage my client to share after redemonstrating my Rogerian approach to unconditional positive regard and genuineness.
But things have changed. Politics have changed. They’re not about policies anymore, not about how to use the budget to run the country. Politics are about rights. A policy is about how immigrants can safely and legally enter the country. A policy is not chasing people out of their work places and homes, their schools and their legal appointments, to cart them to detainment camps or send them to a country they don’t actually hail from. A policy is how to we use the budget to ensure people’s healthcare is covered. A policy is not trading gender-affirming or reproductive care for marketplace subsidy extensions.
As a country, we’ve gone back to a time where every election comes with the human rights of a specific demographic being back on the table. To be voted on the way policies are voted on. Rights that were previously granted and upheld by the Supreme Court but never codified into law have been reversed, and we’re seeing the impact every day. For many of my clients, one or more of their intersecting identities are currently under legal attack, and this is creating feelings of fear and lack of psychological safety.
Therapy is already an incredibly vulnerable experience, especially for individuals from marginalized communities. The power differential between a therapist and their client is only exacerbated depending on the intersectional identities of the client and the therapist. The circumstances have changed, and so the rules need to change as well. Now, when asked, I do disclose my political viewpoints. I believe in human rights, and I vote in a way that supports that belief. I use safe, inclusive language in my documenting, so that my notes cannot be used to harm a client. I will not report a client’s choice in their private medical decisions, because it is their private business. Placing an LGBTQIA flag is not enough anymore. We need to be vocal and direct.
