Advantages and disadvantages of self-disclosure
| ADVANTAGES |
| Improves patient support |
| Creates a greater sense of closeness |
| Helps patients reveal distress they would not otherwise express |
| Reinforces patients’ motivation by providing them with a model |
| Creates a special bond between patient and physician |
| Develops a mutually trusting relationship |
| DISADVANTAGES |
| Expands the professional relationship into a personal and potentially intimate one |
| Creates risk of having to deal with demands not directly related to the consultation |
| Fosters strong emotions that will require management |
| Opens the door to undesirable behaviour (patient’s personal questions, seduction, etc) |
| Provokes too much curiosity about physicians’ personal lives (which can be embarrassing or disrupt their practices) |
| Creates risk of psychological dependency by patients |