The second most commonly reported lie-similar to the first, though somewhat more focused-was minimizing the severity of their symptoms, reported by 39 percent of the sample.
This minimizing was nearly twice as common as all other forms of dishonesty, the authors report. More than half of the respondents (54 percent) in the first study reported minimizing their psychological distress when in therapy, pretending to feel happier and healthier than they really were. "The most commonly lied-about topics were often very subtle," observes co-author Blanchard, a clinical psychologist at New York University. Patients tend to lie or not be entirely truthful to their therapists on a wide range of topics, but the researchers were surprised at some of the most common areas of misinformation. "It seems therapists aren’t particularly good at detecting lies," Farber says. In Farber’s study, 73 percent of respondents reported that "the truth about their lies had never been acknowledged in therapy." Only 3.5 percent of patients owned up to the lies voluntarily, and in another 9 percent of cases the therapists uncovered the untruth, notes Farber, who reports on this and related research in a new book, "Secrets and Lies in Psychotherapy," with co-authors Matt Blanchard, PhD, and Melanie Love, MS. In a second survey, 84 percent said this dishonesty continued on a regular basis.Īnd while therapists might suspect that they can tell when patients are being less than truthful, research shows this is not the case. In a survey of 547 psychotherapy clients, 93 percent said they consciously lied at least once to their therapist ( Counselling Psychology Quarterly, Vol. And it seems time spent in a therapist’s office isn’t an exception.įarber isn’t just speculating-he’s studied this topic for decades. "We are always deciding what we are going to say and what we may conceal from others," says Farber. "Lying is inevitable in psychotherapy," he says.Įveryone shades the truth sometimes, whether it’s telling a friend that color really does look good on her or making up an excuse as to why you were late for dinner at your in-laws. "It’s not just common, it’s ubiquitous," notes Barry Farber, PhD, a professor in the clinical psychology program at Columbia University’s Teachers College and the editor of the Journal of Clinical Psychology: In Session. Yet a surprisingly high percentage of patients-if not nearly all-admit that they have either lied to or not been completely truthful with their therapists. Practicing psychologists typically believe that their offices are safe spaces, places where patients can feel comfortable sharing their deepest, most intimate thoughts and feelings without judgment, and work toward resolution and healing.
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