College of Behavioral & Social Sciences
Permanent URI for this communityhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/8
The collections in this community comprise faculty research works, as well as graduate theses and dissertations..
Browse
3 results
Search Results
Item Secrets in Psychotherapy: A Longitudinal Study of Client Concealment and Disclosure(2017) Marks, Ellen Christina; Hill, Clara E.; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated how secrets unfold over the course of therapy in a naturalistic setting, including identifying longitudinal patterns and investigating relationships with other session-level variables. Participants were 39 client and graduate student therapist dyads in open-ended therapy at a community psychotherapy clinic. Data on concealment, disclosure, working alliance, real relationship, and session evaluation were collected after each session. Data were analyzed using Hierarchical Linear Modeling (HLM). Results demonstrated that disclosure and concealment of secrets are relatively infrequent occurrences, with disclosure occurring more often than concealment. Over time, clients became less likely to disclose a secret and less likely to conceal a significant secret. Clients rated the working alliance as lower for sessions where secrets were disclosed, but this relationship was less pronounced when the disclosed secret was viewed as significant. Clients rated session quality as higher for sessions in which they both concealed and disclosed secrets, as well as for sessions in which a preoccupying secret was shared. Clients tended to feel neutral or positive about their disclosures and believe that the disclosure had no change on how they were viewed by their therapist. Implications for practice and research are discussed.Item Pathways to assistance for victims of intimate partner violence(2015) Stabile, Rebecca Michelle; Dugan, Laura; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Efforts to understand disclosure of abuse for victims of intimate partner violence have largely focused on characteristics of disclosure rather than the consequences of disclosure. Past research has found that disclosure of abuse to formal and informal sources of support is common among victims of intimate partner violence (Fanslow & Robinson, 2010), however little research exists that attempts to explain the effect that disclosure has on a victim’s ability to survive abuse. This thesis draws upon arguments from Edward Gondolf’s survivor theory (Edwards & Gondolf, 1988) and contends that the act of disclosing is an important step in seeking help from public services in order to escape or reduce abuse. It posits that the effect of disclosure of abuse varies across a number of characteristics. Using National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey data, this thesis finds that the effect of disclosure on the likelihood that a victim receives needed services varies across type of support to whom the victim discloses, type of service needed, and seriousness of violence.Item Client Concealment and Disclosure of Secrets in Outpatient Psychotherapy(2014) Baumann, Ellen Christina; Hill, Clara E; Psychology; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study investigated client motivations for concealing versus disclosing secrets in therapy as well as how this negotiation process relates to therapeutic process and outcome. About half of the participants had both revealed a secret and were concealing a secret in therapy. Disclosed secrets were most likely to be related to relationships and were disclosed because the clients felt they could trust their therapists and because they thought they could benefit from sharing the secret. Concealed secrets were most likely to be sexual in nature and to be concealed due to shame or embarrassment. Clients initially experienced comparable levels of negative and positive emotions when they first disclosed their secret. However, over time, their feelings about the disclosure became more positive and less negative. Concealment was negatively related to the real relationship.