Self-disclosure - Seeking connection and protection

Analysts use self-disclosure as a way to feel connected to patients without feeling overly revealed. Using her personal experience of closing her longtime practice and relocating, the author examines what she told to patients about her reason for leaving and what she knowingly or unknowingly kept to herself. Although she was very aware of her need for connection during this difficult time, she was less conscious of her need for privacy. As a result, she did not consider what she omitted from her disclosure or why, and ended telling her patients only partial truths. Analysts need to remain aware of their need for both connection and protection in their self-disclosures and, more generally, in their theoretical orientations and their day-to-day functioning as analysts.