The extent to which psychiatrists disclose personal information about their feelings, their pasts, and themselves to their patients has always been an important ethical and clinical question. In the past, psychiatrists tended to believe they should not self disclose personal information to their patients, mainly to help patients by exploring their transference. More recent work has suggested that self disclosing by the psychiatrist may benefit some patients and cause harm to other patients. This article presents the author's present understanding of some of the core pros and cons of self disclosing by the psychiatrist, as well as some specific contexts in which self disclosure is indicated or should be avoided.
Keywords: Ethics; Marsha Linehan; being “real,”; gay patients; gay psychiatrists; harm; hope; intrusive; minority groups; normalization; patient trust; psychiatrists; psychiatrists and divorce; psychiatrists and pregnancy; psychiatrists who are ill; psychiatrists’ feelings; self disclosure; shame; the internet; transference.