"Where have you been in this world?" a qualitative study of clients' curiosity about their psychotherapists.

Curiosity is widely seen as a basic human drive, important to the development of relationships as well as to the process of change in psychotherapy. Less attention, however, has been directed toward examining curiosity in the client-therapist relationship. In particular, we lack a comprehensive understanding of what occurs for clients when they become curious about their therapists. As a result, we aimed to explore clients' experiences of curiosity about their therapists. Using a consensual qualitative research approach, we analyzed data from ten current and former adult psychotherapy clients. Results were organized in six domains that captured different facets of participants' experiences of curiosity about their therapists: the content of the curiosity, motivation(s) for the curiosity, triggers of the curiosity, expressions of curiosity, influences on the curiosity, and consequences of the curiosity. More specifically, results revealed participants experienced curiosity that (a) concerned the therapist's professional and personal life, (b) was motivated by concerns over the therapist's ability to understand or relate, and (c) was triggered by therapist behavior (e.g., disclosures). For some participants, having a positive therapeutic relationship led to greater curiosity; by the same token, participants' desire for professional boundaries at times quelled this curiosity. Moreover, although some participants described positive relational outcomes, others disclosed feelings of shame or discomfort resulting from their curiosity. Several cultural factors were also found to influence participants' curiosity. Implications for research and practice are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).

Secrets in psychotherapy: For better or worse?

We investigated how concealment and disclosure of secrets, two related but distinct processes, unfolded over the course of open-ended therapy for 39 clients and 9 therapists, using hierarchical linear modeling to identify longitudinal patterns and investigate relationships with working alliance and session quality. Results indicated that over the course of therapy, 85% of clients disclosed at least one secret and 41% concealed at least one secret, with 18% of sessions including a disclosure and 4% of sessions including concealment. Over time, clients were less likely to disclose secrets, and the secrets they chose to conceal were rated as less significant. Clients rated the working alliance lower after sessions when they disclosed secrets versus when they did not disclose, although the working alliance was not rated as poorly when the disclosed secrets were viewed as significant. Clients rated session quality higher after sessions when they disclosed secrets versus when they did not disclose, particularly when they disclosed preoccupying secrets. Clients tended to feel neutral or positive about their disclosures. Implications for practice and research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).