Case Study
Patient Demographic: Client Age: 25 Sex: Male Gender: Male Sexuality: Bisexual Ethnicity: Caucasian Relationship Status: Single Counseling Setting: Telehealth Type of Counseling: Individual counseling Presenting Problem: The client is experiencing difficulty focusing on work due to a childhood diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and thinks that if he cannot keep up with work, he is going to get fired. Diagnosis: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), predominantly inattentive presentation (F90.0)
Mental Status Exam: Mental Status Exam: The client is oriented to person, place, time and situation. The client is engaged and participates fully in the intake session. The client does not appear anxious. The client has a flat af
Presenting Problem: You are a licensed counselor working in your own private practice and providing telehealth sessions to clients. The client states that he is having trouble keeping up with tasks at work. The client reports that he wakes up and does not want to go to work because he knows he will not get much done. The client is often late to work, and although he is typically the only one in the office, his employer comes to work every now and then, and he worries that he will get caught arriving late. He says that he procrastinates on tasks but, often near the end of the day, finds motivation to complete the tasks and stays late to do so. In addition to his trouble at work, the client says he thinks that he does not do much that makes him happy. He expresses the desire to write stories and play guitar more because these activities used to make him happy, but he has trouble finding motivation to engage in them at the present.
Other Contexts:    fect. Family History: The client reports a strained relationship with his parents, but he says that he does not want to talk about them because they are not the reason that he is in therapy. The client says that he has a younger sister (age 23) and that they are not close. The client reports that he currently has a girlfriend.  You have been diagnosed with ADHD and experience similar struggles that you want to share with the client

Question: You have been diagnosed with ADHD and experience similar struggles that you want to share with the client. Which one of the following is the most helpful description of effective self-disclosure?
(A): Sharing personal experiences can enrich the counseling relationship.
(B): You use self-disclosure when it is beneficial for displaying your empathetic understanding and when it benefits the counseling relationship.
(C): You use self-disclosure in order to develop rapport with your client.
(D): No level of self-disclosure is appropriate because you are counseling the client and do not want to risk them having to support your emotional needs.

Correct Answer: You use self-disclosure when it is beneficial for displaying your empathetic understanding and when it benefits the counseling relationship.
Explanation: The use of self-disclosure is a helpful therapeutic tool in demonstrating empathy and can benefit the counseling relationship when used appropriately. Self-disclosure should only occur when it would be beneficial to the therapeutic process; it should be used discriminately. Completely refraining from using self-disclosure prevents the counselor from access to a potentially helpful tool. Therefore, the correct answer is (D)
Competency: counseling skills and interventions