Date of Award
2026
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy in Clinical Psychology
Department
Psychology
Committee Chair and Members
Lisa Samstag, Chair
Nicholas Papouchis
Joan Duncan
Keywords
Alliance-focused training, Cultural mistrust, Real relationship, Therapist self-disclosure, Working alliance
Abstract
This analogue study examined how two different types of therapist self-disclosure (TSD) influenced the assessment of the working alliance and real relationship by observer participants, and how these variables were impacted by a participant’s race and experience of cultural mistrust. A sample of N = 339 Black and White adults watched one of two mock therapy videos, depicting either a non-immediate TSD or an Alliance- Focused Training (AFT)-consistent immediate TSD in response to the patient’s rupture markers. Based on the video, each with the same White therapist and bi-racial patient, participants rated the observed working alliance and real relationship. Participants also completed measures of their own cultural mistrust and groupbased medical mistrust. Unexpectedly, across both TSD conditions, Black participants rated the working alliance and real relationship as significantly more positive than White participants. Additionally, contrary to our hypothesis, participants overall rated the therapeutic relationship as more positive when the therapist used non-immediate TSD compared to AFT-consistent immediate TSDs. However, as was hypothesized, AFT-consistent TSDs moderated the negative impact of cultural mistrust on the working alliance. Exploratory questions related to the working alliance subscales and group-based medical mistrust measure were also examined. This study highlights the dearth of existing research on racial differences within the psychotherapy process literature and the inadequacy of current normative data to accurately capture the unique experiences of Black individuals. Further, the findings provided validation of AFT as a potentially effective way to address alliance ruptures in the context of cultural mistrust with a White therapist.
Recommended Citation
McNamee, Sarah Mitty, "Examining connections between therapist self-disclosure, the therapeutic relationship, and cultural mistrust in a sample of black and white emerging adults" (2026). Selected Full-Text Dissertations 2020-. 74.
https://digitalcommons.liu.edu/brooklyn_fulltext_dis/74