title: Disclosure and the development of trust in the therapeutic setting.
abstract: ABSTRACT This essay describes my personal path towards becoming an openly lesbian therapist, the internalized homophobia that interfered with this evolution, and the impact of this process on my patients. I then explore the interplay between when and how the therapist and/or the patient disclose in therapy, the link between homophobia and shame to the fear of disclosure, and the subsequent development of a more trusting therapeutic relationship that results from disclosure.
authors.affiliation: a Ground Zero , New York , NY , USA.
authors.forename: Darla
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Bjork
keywords: Lesbian; countertransference; disclosure; psychoanalysis; therapist