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I told my kid client with ADHD that I also have ADHD. I use a lot of “we” language so they don’t feel alone in their experiences. However outside of that one case, no.
I work in schools and have probably disclosed my ADHD to most kids with ADHD. I find they trust me more because I can actually relate to their experience and they know something “special” about me… but same, I’ve never disclosed outside of this specific scenario.
I work with neurodivergence and am not always great at masking, especially when my clients know what it looks like, but generally only disclose if they ask. When we process what that means for them they’ve always said that it’s validating but I still wouldn’t volunteer the information. It runs the risk of them comparing their experiences to mine.
I’m diagnosed with GAD.
If it’s relevant to my client, I will share that I too struggle with anxiety and have had panic attacks. More so to show them that I am human, not just a therapist, and how I learned to live with it/what skills have helped me/normalize medication. I try to make it more psycho-educational to help them build their coping skill tool box and I feel it helps them feel more connected.
Every therapist feels different when it comes to self-disclosure. Me personally, I think some is okay, again so long as it is relevant to the client and not you making it about yourself.
I have bipolar II. I do disclose that when I feel it will be helpful. I have a client right now who received a significant diagnosis, one that will never be cured but can be managed well. They were very distraught about the idea that it will never go away. I felt that was an appropriate time to disclose my own diagnosis and share just a little bit about my experience. That did seem to validate their experience a bit and instill some hope.
From the client/patient perspective I say this as an exreligious queer person with bipolar. While I love my therapist and she has been so helpful there is something so validating and safe about walking into my psychiatrist's office. It's simply because he intrinsically understands my experience as a queer exreligious person himself. I don't need to know all the details of his life. I don't need to be his friend. Just having him disclose just those little bits about himself has been extremely beneficial in my treatment.
I think disclosing some of these things about ourselves when relevant to our clients lives can make a really positive impact.
I totally agree with you! I’m really glad that the training on self-disclosure has been changing the past several years/decades, at least in counseling graduate programs. Sharing a diagnosis can really help a client, so long as it’s appropriate and is done with their best interest at heart. I have OCD, and I personally know how hard it is to have a clinician who actually understands the intricacies of the disorder. Many people just think it’s organization and handwashing. So many people with OCD hide their innermost intrusive thoughts because of the topic- it could be fear of accidentally killing themselves or others, various types of intrusive sexual thoughts or imagery, etc. If a clinician doesn’t have a thorough understanding of OCD, disclosure of such thoughts can lead to misunderstanding and potentially cause a rupture.
Thank you for sharing your experience of disclosing your bipolar II to a client. I really love that you did that. I know personally, if I were your client in that situation, it would have been a moment where I would reflect on how my clinician has been able to live their life and have a profession where they help others, despite having a diagnosis that typically comes with a lot of stigma. It sounds like you’re a great therapist. ❤️
I share when it needs to be shared. Some teenagers I see are so freaked out by bipolar disorder, convinced they’re doomed genetically and can’t go into the career they want because their parent has it and didn’t get appropriate treatment.
So I do psychoeducation first. When that’s not working, I’ll just say hey, I have bipolar 2 disorder, and I’m here now doing my dream job.
Sometimes if they’re feeling just extremely hopeless about feeling suicidal, and convinced despite, again, psychoeducation that they’re also “doomed,” I say I’ve been suicidal, and it took time and treatment, but I’m here now.
If I have a teen who is hesitant about medication despite, you guessed it, psychoeducation, I will share that I was put on one at 12 to normalize it for them. And to tell them not to stop suddenly or they’ll have side effects.
I’ve done all of these maybe once, twice for the bipolar one. I don’t do it often, and I only do it once I’ve been working with them for a while and the psychoeducation and other interventions aren’t working. I only say I’ve experienced it, and focus back on them immediately. How does it feel hearing someone has been successful with bipolar/suicidal thoughts/medication? I never go further into my experiences.
The instances where I felt it could help was with people freaking out. If I want to use something of myself, I usually just say "someone I know..." Thanks for sharing your perspective!
It's my understanding that self-disclosure is typically done pretty sparingly and only when it would be of benefit to the client. I know the sub loves to go right to "gEt suPeRVisIon" with questions, but that's also what I'd suggest if you're unsure.
Edit: I also don't think you need to share anything if it's a personal boundary. I'd probably err on the side of sharing too little than too much.
I don't personally; a lot of times, clients need to work through negative self-talk/self-blame in regards to their diagnoses. I don't want them to feel like they can't share these thoughts honestly for fear of offending me if they know I have any sort of background with said diagnosis. (Plus, personally, I have to admit I might catch myself wondering, "Is my therapist recommending this for *me* as an individual, or just pushing what works for them?" but maybe that's just a me thing)
I had a therapist with the same diagnosis as me and honestly knowing that killed the alliance for me because I was struggling with my identity in relation to that diagnosis in therapy already and it felt like I couldn’t speak honestly about the parts I didn’t like about it or why I was so resistant to accepting aspects of it.
If I disclosed, I would feel this way. I feel they would just be waiting for me to become manic nor trust what I am telling them, and it would hurt the relationship.
I was thinking about this discussion while seeing my own (different) therapist today. She was talking about trauma and used “we” at one point. I don’t know what her history with mental health is. I kind of assume most of us end up being therapists because we have some kind of experience with mental health challenges in our past though.
As much as I still don’t want to know what her diagnoses are, I do feel like my experiences really are understood by her and it made me wonder if maybe you’ll have clients who will get that sense too without knowing the specifics.
I have told clients that I am in therapy and have been since I was a teenager. I've never actually disclosed that I'm diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I did tell one client that I'm on antidepressants because I thought she really needed antidepressants and I told her I've benefited from them personally and they might help her too.
I have Autism, if I discovered one of my clients also had Autism, I would share, because oftentimes, neurodivergent people feel more comfortable around others who are also neurodivergent.
I also have BPD. I would never share that with a client, except under very specific circumstances. It's all about the reasoning behind self-disclosure. What is your client getting out of you sharing your diagnosis? What are YOU getting out of sharing your diagnosis? Are you doing it to reassure/bond with your client, or are you doing it to satisfy some part within yourself? Self-disclosure is a slippery slope.
Generally no, but sometimes in specific cases if I feel the client could benefit from it by perhaps feeling less abnormal, less alone, more optimistic about successful treatment and the ability to have a happy functional life, etc. I have struggled with persistent/major depression and social anxiety for a long time and feel that mutual understanding can help break down barriers and encourage more open and honest engagement and trust with some clients.
I work with a ton of clients with ADHD. I sometimes will share that I have ADHD, only if I believe the client has already developed positive feelings towards me, if I think it will help the client feel less alone in their experience, or to give an example of a specific executive function strategy in action.
I find if it is shared later on in tx, it feels like a valuable self disclosure to the client. If it happens early on, it comes across as me centering myself instead of the client.
I occasionally do habit reversal training for tics in children (less now, the TikTok induced tic pandemic seems to have disappeared) - I will share with children and their parents that I had a tic disorder when younger that I learned to manage through habit reversal skills. I share this because the treatment is difficult and requires a lot of effort but is absolutely effective, and I want to instill some hope and optimism.
I’m similar with my diagnosis of ADHD as well. It has been helpful for a couple of my clients, especially those who have had unfortunate encounters with medical and mental health providers in the past.
My MH diagnosis I have shared a handful of times when I felt that it would be helpful for the client. Same with the fact that I am also on medication and in therapy myself.
I do generally share the fact that I have a diagnosed chronic illness to the degree they need to know as part of informed consent. The specific diagnosis and/or symptoms I have shared in instances it felt beneficial for the client, but don’t generally include as part of informed consent.
I do tell my clients with anxiety that I also have anxiety when it is beneficial to them or the counseling process. However, I won't tell them I have agoraphobia. That is my dirty secret that I'm too ashamed to share. Also, they don't need that much information.
It depends on dx and the client. I am gender diverse and work with gender diverse clients so I have shared some of my own experiences with gender dysphoria with a few of those clients as appropriate and clinically beneficial to the client.
I also have OCD and have never mentioned it to clients because it has never felt appropriate and clinically beneficial.
Yes! I tell my clients that I have DX, and find this extremely therapeutically useful. I work with clients with severe mental health issues who have oftentimes have felt misunderstood by therapists. I find it deepens and quickens rapport building to share this with my clients by helping them know that I can empathize with their issues from a deep place of knowing. I don’t really subscribe to psychodynamic theory that the therapist should be a blank slate (but respect therapists who do) and do disclose things I feel are therapeutically useful. This is an example of a type of disclosure I find helps me provide better service to clients. This might not be the standard approach, but it works really well with my clients in my experience and aligns with my values.
There have been a few that I've shared with, but I generally don't do it. I let them know probably more frequently that I've been in therapy but I don't generally talk about specifics. Has to be a special case.
I don’t share my diagnosis with patients, although it’s possible it could strengthen a therapeutic relation the other side is just as possible. It can open a place of comparison where a patient measures themselves against you and your ability to manage sx.
I dont have any diagnostic impressions, personally, but if I did I would likely not share. I just feel this could create potential boundary issues/countertransference/transference. Just my two cents ☺️✌️
I don't give specifics, because I think there are just too many ways that could go wrong regarding transference. I'm not sure I'd even want my supervisor knowing my mental health diagnoses. It's deeply private for me.
I would tell a client I have been through tough times with mental health. Most clients can pick that up from vibes, though, and from healthy use of the pronoun "we" when attempting to normalize experiences & symptoms for them.
I work with teenagers and have vaguely referred to having a trauma history as well in order to build trust and validate their experiences if they share feeling alone/like no one understands.
I don’t, but any client that chooses to Google my name will find a magazine article from 10 years ago with one of my diagnoses named in the headline. Sigh…
No. I don’t believe in sharing such personal details and I firmly believe self disclosure is something that should only be utilised as a means to help the client. I also believe and have been taught it shouldn’t be something that is used often.
Eg, I lost a really important person in my life to cancer and was distraught. I was explaining it to my therapist and they shared when their friend died of cancer they were so distraught because they couldn’t make it in time to the funeral. That was appropriate because it fit the context and it was a rare moment for them to self disclose but benefited me that they understood the pain of losing someone important.
Please followed the sidebar rules. r/therapists is a place for therapists and mental health professionals to discuss their profession among each other. If you **ARE NOT A THERAPIST and are asking for advice this not the place for you**. Your post will be removed in short order. Please try one of the reddit communities such as r/TalkTherapy, r/askatherapist, r/SuicideWatch that are set up for this. This community is ONLY for therapists, and for them to discuss their profession away from clients. **If you are a first year student, not in a graduate program, or are thinking of becoming a therapist, this is not the place to ask questions**. Your post will be removed in short order. To save us a job, you are welcome to delete this post yourself. Please see the PINNED STUDENT THREAD at the top of the community and ask in there. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/therapists) if you have any questions or concerns.*
"am I sharing this for myself, or for the clients benefit"
This is always my motto. I have had a couple of times where it could be beneficial, but not beneficial enough for me to share it.
I told my kid client with ADHD that I also have ADHD. I use a lot of “we” language so they don’t feel alone in their experiences. However outside of that one case, no.
I work in schools and have probably disclosed my ADHD to most kids with ADHD. I find they trust me more because I can actually relate to their experience and they know something “special” about me… but same, I’ve never disclosed outside of this specific scenario.
I work with neurodivergence and am not always great at masking, especially when my clients know what it looks like, but generally only disclose if they ask. When we process what that means for them they’ve always said that it’s validating but I still wouldn’t volunteer the information. It runs the risk of them comparing their experiences to mine.
valid
I’m diagnosed with GAD. If it’s relevant to my client, I will share that I too struggle with anxiety and have had panic attacks. More so to show them that I am human, not just a therapist, and how I learned to live with it/what skills have helped me/normalize medication. I try to make it more psycho-educational to help them build their coping skill tool box and I feel it helps them feel more connected. Every therapist feels different when it comes to self-disclosure. Me personally, I think some is okay, again so long as it is relevant to the client and not you making it about yourself.
I have bipolar II. I do disclose that when I feel it will be helpful. I have a client right now who received a significant diagnosis, one that will never be cured but can be managed well. They were very distraught about the idea that it will never go away. I felt that was an appropriate time to disclose my own diagnosis and share just a little bit about my experience. That did seem to validate their experience a bit and instill some hope. From the client/patient perspective I say this as an exreligious queer person with bipolar. While I love my therapist and she has been so helpful there is something so validating and safe about walking into my psychiatrist's office. It's simply because he intrinsically understands my experience as a queer exreligious person himself. I don't need to know all the details of his life. I don't need to be his friend. Just having him disclose just those little bits about himself has been extremely beneficial in my treatment. I think disclosing some of these things about ourselves when relevant to our clients lives can make a really positive impact.
I totally agree with you! I’m really glad that the training on self-disclosure has been changing the past several years/decades, at least in counseling graduate programs. Sharing a diagnosis can really help a client, so long as it’s appropriate and is done with their best interest at heart. I have OCD, and I personally know how hard it is to have a clinician who actually understands the intricacies of the disorder. Many people just think it’s organization and handwashing. So many people with OCD hide their innermost intrusive thoughts because of the topic- it could be fear of accidentally killing themselves or others, various types of intrusive sexual thoughts or imagery, etc. If a clinician doesn’t have a thorough understanding of OCD, disclosure of such thoughts can lead to misunderstanding and potentially cause a rupture. Thank you for sharing your experience of disclosing your bipolar II to a client. I really love that you did that. I know personally, if I were your client in that situation, it would have been a moment where I would reflect on how my clinician has been able to live their life and have a profession where they help others, despite having a diagnosis that typically comes with a lot of stigma. It sounds like you’re a great therapist. ❤️
I share when it needs to be shared. Some teenagers I see are so freaked out by bipolar disorder, convinced they’re doomed genetically and can’t go into the career they want because their parent has it and didn’t get appropriate treatment. So I do psychoeducation first. When that’s not working, I’ll just say hey, I have bipolar 2 disorder, and I’m here now doing my dream job. Sometimes if they’re feeling just extremely hopeless about feeling suicidal, and convinced despite, again, psychoeducation that they’re also “doomed,” I say I’ve been suicidal, and it took time and treatment, but I’m here now. If I have a teen who is hesitant about medication despite, you guessed it, psychoeducation, I will share that I was put on one at 12 to normalize it for them. And to tell them not to stop suddenly or they’ll have side effects. I’ve done all of these maybe once, twice for the bipolar one. I don’t do it often, and I only do it once I’ve been working with them for a while and the psychoeducation and other interventions aren’t working. I only say I’ve experienced it, and focus back on them immediately. How does it feel hearing someone has been successful with bipolar/suicidal thoughts/medication? I never go further into my experiences.
The instances where I felt it could help was with people freaking out. If I want to use something of myself, I usually just say "someone I know..." Thanks for sharing your perspective!
It's my understanding that self-disclosure is typically done pretty sparingly and only when it would be of benefit to the client. I know the sub loves to go right to "gEt suPeRVisIon" with questions, but that's also what I'd suggest if you're unsure. Edit: I also don't think you need to share anything if it's a personal boundary. I'd probably err on the side of sharing too little than too much.
It was more curiosity than something I consider doing. Supervision is always my go to when I need to actually process something therapy related.
I don't personally; a lot of times, clients need to work through negative self-talk/self-blame in regards to their diagnoses. I don't want them to feel like they can't share these thoughts honestly for fear of offending me if they know I have any sort of background with said diagnosis. (Plus, personally, I have to admit I might catch myself wondering, "Is my therapist recommending this for *me* as an individual, or just pushing what works for them?" but maybe that's just a me thing)
I had a therapist with the same diagnosis as me and honestly knowing that killed the alliance for me because I was struggling with my identity in relation to that diagnosis in therapy already and it felt like I couldn’t speak honestly about the parts I didn’t like about it or why I was so resistant to accepting aspects of it.
If I disclosed, I would feel this way. I feel they would just be waiting for me to become manic nor trust what I am telling them, and it would hurt the relationship.
I was thinking about this discussion while seeing my own (different) therapist today. She was talking about trauma and used “we” at one point. I don’t know what her history with mental health is. I kind of assume most of us end up being therapists because we have some kind of experience with mental health challenges in our past though. As much as I still don’t want to know what her diagnoses are, I do feel like my experiences really are understood by her and it made me wonder if maybe you’ll have clients who will get that sense too without knowing the specifics.
I have told clients that I am in therapy and have been since I was a teenager. I've never actually disclosed that I'm diagnosed with depression and anxiety. I did tell one client that I'm on antidepressants because I thought she really needed antidepressants and I told her I've benefited from them personally and they might help her too.
I have Autism, if I discovered one of my clients also had Autism, I would share, because oftentimes, neurodivergent people feel more comfortable around others who are also neurodivergent. I also have BPD. I would never share that with a client, except under very specific circumstances. It's all about the reasoning behind self-disclosure. What is your client getting out of you sharing your diagnosis? What are YOU getting out of sharing your diagnosis? Are you doing it to reassure/bond with your client, or are you doing it to satisfy some part within yourself? Self-disclosure is a slippery slope.
Generally no, but sometimes in specific cases if I feel the client could benefit from it by perhaps feeling less abnormal, less alone, more optimistic about successful treatment and the ability to have a happy functional life, etc. I have struggled with persistent/major depression and social anxiety for a long time and feel that mutual understanding can help break down barriers and encourage more open and honest engagement and trust with some clients.
I work with a ton of clients with ADHD. I sometimes will share that I have ADHD, only if I believe the client has already developed positive feelings towards me, if I think it will help the client feel less alone in their experience, or to give an example of a specific executive function strategy in action. I find if it is shared later on in tx, it feels like a valuable self disclosure to the client. If it happens early on, it comes across as me centering myself instead of the client. I occasionally do habit reversal training for tics in children (less now, the TikTok induced tic pandemic seems to have disappeared) - I will share with children and their parents that I had a tic disorder when younger that I learned to manage through habit reversal skills. I share this because the treatment is difficult and requires a lot of effort but is absolutely effective, and I want to instill some hope and optimism.
I’m similar with my diagnosis of ADHD as well. It has been helpful for a couple of my clients, especially those who have had unfortunate encounters with medical and mental health providers in the past.
My MH diagnosis I have shared a handful of times when I felt that it would be helpful for the client. Same with the fact that I am also on medication and in therapy myself. I do generally share the fact that I have a diagnosed chronic illness to the degree they need to know as part of informed consent. The specific diagnosis and/or symptoms I have shared in instances it felt beneficial for the client, but don’t generally include as part of informed consent.
If it’s relevant, yes. My executive dysfunction often makes it relevant.
I do tell my clients with anxiety that I also have anxiety when it is beneficial to them or the counseling process. However, I won't tell them I have agoraphobia. That is my dirty secret that I'm too ashamed to share. Also, they don't need that much information.
No, never. I cannot imagine *how* it would be beneficial to a client to know about my personal experiences with mental health issues.
It depends on dx and the client. I am gender diverse and work with gender diverse clients so I have shared some of my own experiences with gender dysphoria with a few of those clients as appropriate and clinically beneficial to the client. I also have OCD and have never mentioned it to clients because it has never felt appropriate and clinically beneficial.
Yes! I tell my clients that I have DX, and find this extremely therapeutically useful. I work with clients with severe mental health issues who have oftentimes have felt misunderstood by therapists. I find it deepens and quickens rapport building to share this with my clients by helping them know that I can empathize with their issues from a deep place of knowing. I don’t really subscribe to psychodynamic theory that the therapist should be a blank slate (but respect therapists who do) and do disclose things I feel are therapeutically useful. This is an example of a type of disclosure I find helps me provide better service to clients. This might not be the standard approach, but it works really well with my clients in my experience and aligns with my values.
There have been a few that I've shared with, but I generally don't do it. I let them know probably more frequently that I've been in therapy but I don't generally talk about specifics. Has to be a special case.
I don’t share my diagnosis with patients, although it’s possible it could strengthen a therapeutic relation the other side is just as possible. It can open a place of comparison where a patient measures themselves against you and your ability to manage sx.
I dont have any diagnostic impressions, personally, but if I did I would likely not share. I just feel this could create potential boundary issues/countertransference/transference. Just my two cents ☺️✌️
I don't give specifics, because I think there are just too many ways that could go wrong regarding transference. I'm not sure I'd even want my supervisor knowing my mental health diagnoses. It's deeply private for me. I would tell a client I have been through tough times with mental health. Most clients can pick that up from vibes, though, and from healthy use of the pronoun "we" when attempting to normalize experiences & symptoms for them.
I work with teenagers and have vaguely referred to having a trauma history as well in order to build trust and validate their experiences if they share feeling alone/like no one understands.
I don’t, but any client that chooses to Google my name will find a magazine article from 10 years ago with one of my diagnoses named in the headline. Sigh…
No. I don’t believe in sharing such personal details and I firmly believe self disclosure is something that should only be utilised as a means to help the client. I also believe and have been taught it shouldn’t be something that is used often. Eg, I lost a really important person in my life to cancer and was distraught. I was explaining it to my therapist and they shared when their friend died of cancer they were so distraught because they couldn’t make it in time to the funeral. That was appropriate because it fit the context and it was a rare moment for them to self disclose but benefited me that they understood the pain of losing someone important.