Socrates looms large in psychotherapy. His style of questioning has persisted for a couple millennia. I will ask Socratic questions, but I won’t drink hemlock. All questions are not equal. Socratic questions are an essential part of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy. Some typical Socratic questions, according to Christine Padesky are 1. Have you ever been in similar circumstances before? 2. What did you do? 3. How did that turn out? 4. What do you know now that you didn’t know then? 5. What would you advise a friend who told you something similar?
Engaging in Socratic questioning is guided discovery. Socratic questioning involves gathering data, looking at the data in different ways with the client, and inviting the client to devise his or her own plans for what to do with the information examined.
Socratic questions according to Padesky (1993) are based on the premise that the client has the knowledge to answer the question. I will draw “the client’s attention to the information which is relevant to the issue being discussed but which may be outside of the client’s focus.” Move from the concrete to the abstract. The client will apply the new information to either “reevaluate a previous conclusion or construct a new idea.”
Padesky’s Four Stages of Socratic Questioning and Guided Discovery
- Stage One: Asking Informational Questions
The client knows the answers. Make the client’s concerns concrete. - Stage Two: Listening
I will not only ask questions but actively listen to the answers. - Stage Three: Summarize.
I will summarize what is being said during the session in order to let the clients know that they were not only heard but that I understood what they said and that we are on the same page. - Stage Four: Synthesizing or Analytical Questions
We will apply the new information to the original problem.
Padesky, C.A. (1993, September) Socratic questioning: Changing minds or guiding discovery. Retrieved from http://www.padesky.com/clinical corner/