Analyst Subjectivity, Analyst Disclosure, and the Aims of Psychoanalysis

Abstract

It is preferable to think of what we directly disclose to our patients as “analyst disclosure” rather than as the commonly used “self-disclosure.” The author suggests this change because, to some extent, we have equated the analyst's subjectivity with the self-concept in ways that fail to distinguish how disclosure both overlaps and is distinct from other forms of interpretation. What distinguishes the analyst's subjectivity in disclosure is her or his deliberate attempt to reveal a construction of the self to the patient so that something new can be explored. This paper elaborates these issues by examining some of the therapeutic aims of analyst disclosure.