4 reasons why clients do not share with their therapists

Clients sometimes do not share information with their therapists because of four main reasons:

• Fear of not being understood or believed. Clients were not believed in the past and they are fearful to not be believed again, which could hurt them further.
  • C: If you break a leg, everyone sees it, but when you have something invisible no one believes you and you can't say this to anyone.
• The client is concerned or scared about what could happen if a thought or a feeling is verbalised.
  • C: I think what people could think of me? I fear being sick in front of someone, what could they think of me? Is it paranoia?
  • C: ‘I could go crazy’
  • C: ‘I could be sectioned’

• The client perceives the therapist as incapable of handling an emotion or experience.
  • C: ‘My problem was so big that even the therapist couldn't deal with it’.

• Thoughts or feelings are unavailable.
  • C: Do you remember when you asked me if I could remember any painful emotional experience and I said no, well actually I don’t know how it is possible but I couldn’t remember something very important.