Doctor self-disclosure in the consultation
Brett Mann1 Ilam Medical Centre, 106 Memorial Avenue, Christchurch, New Zealand
Correspondence to: Brett Mann, Ilam Medical Centre, 106 Memorial Avenue, Christchurch 8053, New Zealand. Email: bmann@netaccess.co.nz
Journal of Primary Health Care 10(2) 106-109 https://doi.org/10.1071/HC17010
Published: 9 May 2018
Journal Compilation © Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners 2018.
This is an open access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Abstract
Doctors’ self-disclosures to patients are an important dynamic in consultations. These can be categorised as unavoidable, inadvertent or deliberate. It is important in facilitating therapeutic outcomes to reflect on the types of messages unavoidably communicated by the doctor’s appearance, speech and practice and consulting room environments, and to recognise self-disclosures caused by disruptive doctor transferences, so these transferences can be processed and minimised. Deliberate choices by doctors to disclose personal information and experiences are common. Without awareness and understanding, this can be unhelpful. Guidelines are provided to facilitate self-disclosures that build the doctor–patient relationship and improve therapeutic outcomes.
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