Secrets in Psychotherapy: A Longitudinal Study of Client Concealment and Disclosure

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dc.contributor.advisorHill, Clara E.en_US
dc.contributor.authorMarks, Ellen Christinaen_US
dc.contributor.departmentPsychologyen_US
dc.contributor.publisherDigital Repository at the University of Marylanden_US
dc.contributor.publisherUniversity of Maryland (College Park, Md.)en_US
dc.date.accessioned2017-09-14T05:30:43Z
dc.date.available2017-09-14T05:30:43Z
dc.date.issued2017en_US
dc.description.abstractThis 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.en_US
dc.identifierhttps://doi.org/10.13016/M2W950P0P
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/19847
dc.language.isoenen_US
dc.subject.pqcontrolledCounseling psychologyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledConcealmenten_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledDisclosureen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledPsychotherapyen_US
dc.subject.pquncontrolledSecretsen_US
dc.titleSecrets in Psychotherapy: A Longitudinal Study of Client Concealment and Disclosureen_US
dc.typeDissertationen_US

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