The disclosure processes model: Understanding disclosure decision making and postdisclosure outcomes among people living with a concealable stigmatized identity

A general model of when telling people helps: it depends on why you tell them, and it works through relief, support and changed information.

Chaudoir, S. R. & Fisher, J. D. (2010). The disclosure processes model: Understanding disclosure decision making and postdisclosure outcomes among people living with a concealable stigmatized identity. Psychological Bulletin, 136(2), 236–256.

Type

Journal article

Find it

doi.org/10.1037/a0018193

Checked

Against the abstract, 15 September 2026

Why it is on the list

Chaudoir and Fisher’s model covers any identity that can be kept hidden. The discloser’s goals, whether approaching something or avoiding something, change what disclosure does, and its effects run through relief from concealment, social support and changes in what others know. Week 10 builds partial disclosure on the third route: you choose which information changes.