Disclosure in forensic settings

Joel Harvey and Luke Endersby

Self-disclosure (SD) is the process whereby individuals verbalise personal thoughts, feelings, behaviours and autobiographical details. The importance of SD in psychotherapy, for physical and psychological well-being, is well understood. Within forensic psychology, SD has only been examined to a limited extent, and has principally investigated offender-related factors that are associated with SD in an effort to increase SD for the purposes of risk management. Expectations are placed on offenders to disclose to authority figures over long periods of time as a measure of engagement. In this paper we argue that closer attention should be paid to the subjective experience associated with the process of SD. We argue that the act of disclosure in itself is significant, especially given how difficult such a level of SD would be for anyone, let alone individuals with histories of offending, trauma and other severe mental health difficulties, and where the consequences of disclosure could result in further deprivation of liberty. Such complexities surrounding SD may help explain the tendency for offenders to engage ‘superficially’, making minimal SD and ‘playing the game’. We argue for positioning the process, alongside the content of SD, at the centre of forensic practice, in order to yield benefits for the individual and risk management.