Treatment FAQ

at what point is socratic questioning useful in treatment

by Howell Mante Published 2 years ago Updated 2 years ago

Socratic questioning

Socratic questioning

Socratic questioning (or Socratic maieutics) was named after Socrates, who is thought to have lived c. 470 BCE–c. 399 BCE. Socrates utilized an educational method that focused on discovering answers by asking questions from his students. According to Plato, Socrates believed that "the disciplined practice of thoughtful questioning enables the scholar/student to examine ideas and be ab…

is especially helpful when examining complex ideas and challenging assumptions. In psychotherapy, clinicians use Socratic questioning to help their clients examine the evidence and logic behind their beliefs. This examination encourages clients to identify and challenge thoughts that are irrational or harmful.

For clients stuck in a singular way of thinking, Socratic questioning might be the best approach in helping them explore other points of view and achieve a larger understanding of their situation.Feb 22, 2021

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How did Socrates answer questions?

Socrates discovers questions that real people are asking on Google to help you write a thorough research-based article, answer every possible question about your product, brainstorm ideas, and gain deeper insight on almost any topic.

What are some examples of the Socratic method?

Tomorrow's Teaching and Learning

  1. Set down conversational guidelines: * Learn student names and have the students learn each other's names. ...
  2. Ask questions and be comfortable with silence. Silence is productive. ...
  3. Find ways to produce "productive discomfort." Cold-calling works, but temper it with small group work so students can talk to their neighbor.

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What are Socratic questions CBT?

Why Socratic Questioning in CBT (Cognitive Behaviour Therapy) Works

  • Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT)
  • Socratic questioning
  • Combining CBT and Socratic questioning
  • The downward arrow technique
  • Mark Manson’s self-awareness onion

What was Socrates methodology?

Socrates (470-399 BC) was a Greek philosopher who sought to get to the foundations of his students' and colleagues' views by asking continual questions until a contradiction was exposed, thus proving the fallacy of the initial assumption. This became known as the Socratic Method, and may be Socrates' most enduring contribution to philosophy.

How is Socratic questioning used in therapy?

Socratic questioning is one technique to encourage this process. Therapists use Socratic questioning verbally by asking probing questions about their clients' irrational thoughts. As clients improve their awareness of irrational thoughts, they can begin to consciously question their own thoughts.

Why do we use Socratic questioning?

Socratic questioning helps students to think critically by focusing explicitly on the process of thinking. During disciplined, carefully structured questioning, students must slow down and examine their own thinking processes (i.e., reflective thinking).

What are the four 4 Reason purpose that you may use Socratic questioning in teaching?

Socratic questioning is a form of disciplined questioning that can be used to pursue thought in many directions and for many purposes, including: to explore complex ideas, to get to the truth of things, to open up issues and problems, to uncover assumptions, to analyze concepts, to distinguish what we know from what we ...

Is the Socratic method effective?

The Socratic teaching method relies on asking questions to help students learn. It has been proven to be more effective than telling student the correct answer [1].

What does Socrates stand for in medicine?

SOCRATES – MNEMONIC FOR PAIN ASSESSMENT Site. Onset (time of onset. sudden/gradual, etc) Character of pain.

What are the advantages of Socratic method?

Advantages of the Socratic method include: Gaining active learning and listening skills. Promotion of critical thinking skills. Learning how to be challenged and what to do when challenged.

What is the aim of the Socratic method?

1. The Socratic method uses questions to examine the values, principles, and beliefs of students. Through questioning, the participants strive first to identify and then to defend their moral intuitions about the world which undergird their ways of life.

How does Socratic Questioning contribute to critical thinking?

The Socratic Method is often used to promote critical thinking. It focuses on providing more questions than answers to students and fosters inquiring into subjects. Ideally, the answers to questions are not a stopping point for thought but are instead a beginning to further analysis and research.

What Are Some Examples

An example of these questions is listed in the book Motivational Interviewing: Helping People Change by W.R. Miller and S. Rollnick. Open-ended questions that can help people realize their internal motivation include:

What Does Socratic Questioning Do?

Socratic questioning doesn’t just apply to change talk. It also applies to better understanding the origin and effects of emotion. You can determine the issue and the evidence that the client’s thoughts about it are rooted in truth. Then, you can consider alternatives. You can evaluate the efficacy of those alternatives.

The legacy of Socratic questioning in psychology

The Socratic method involves a dialogue between teachers and students. Teachers do not merely lecture students – they are actively engaged in their learning process.

How the Socratic method looks in therapy

To successfully utilise Socratic dialogue throughout a session, therapists function as a discovery guide, posing questions to their clients that challenge assumptions and values. For CBT to meet the expectations of both client and therapist, the session must facilitate emotional and behavioural change.

Using the Socratic method with clients

While applying the Socratic method in your therapy sessions, keep in mind that it works well adapted to a remote form of therapy. So no matter if you’re meeting with clients via telehealth, Socratic questioning is the perfect way to engage with them.

Types of Socratic questions

A therapist can use many types of questions with a client to probe some of their deepest held beliefs or even help challenge their line of reasoning. Some of the most helpful of these categories include:

Socratic questioning and CBT

Without the wisdom of Socrates, much of CBT and the method of questioning currently utilized in therapy today wouldn’t exist. The legacy of Socratic questioning lives on in psychology, benefiting mental health professionals everywhere.

What is Socratic questioning?

Socratic questioning can serve as a powerful corrective to this kind of depressive reasoning (which often lies unexamined beneath a general feeling of hopelessness). Socratic questioning can serve as a powerful corrective to depressive reasoning Click To Tweet.

Why is Socratic questioning antidepressive?

Socratic questioning is so antidepressive because it requires the kind of thinking that people who are resistant to depression use naturally.

When did Socrates say that knowledge was already inside people?

Nearly 2,500 years ago , Socrates observed that some types of knowledge were already inside people. Rather than putting knowledge into them, you could draw it out so they could, themselves see it and use it. And there’s a wonderful thing. But the story doesn’t end there.

Who said the wise man doesn't give the right answers?

Socrates would guide pupils to the answer, rather than answering it himself. “The wise man doesn’t give the right answers, he poses the right questions.”. – Claude Levi-Strauss. Samantha stared at the wall. “I’ll never be free of him! He follows me everywhere.”. Distractedly she waved at her head.

What is depressive thinking?

Depressive thinking – actually, any emotionally-driven thinking – narrows context. It has us looking for and seeing only those possibilities that fit the narrow spectrum of the prevailing emotional bias. The wisdom of Socrates can help us out here too. 3.

What is Socratic questioning?

Socratic questioning in counseling, also known as Socratic Dialogue, is a form of open questioning between therapist and client. This method of inquiry has been used by professionals in many different settings to focus on communication and the gathering of data. In counseling, this style of questioning enables a provider to better understand their ...

What is the purpose of Socratic questioning in counseling?

The purpose of Socratic questioning in counseling as it applies to Cognitive Behavioral Therapy is not to influence or change a client, but to guide them into greater understanding. The purpose is to partner with them through discovery . Providers should ask questions that their clients already know the answer to.

What is the practice of repeating back to the client what you believe you heard them convey and asking clarifying questions to

Summarizing is the practice of repeating back to the client what you believe you heard them convey and asking clarifying questions to broaden your understanding of their responses. This part of Socratic Questioning in counseling is key to making sure the client and therapist are on the same page before moving forward.

What is summarizing in Socratic Questioning?

Summarizing is an essential component of Socratic Questioning in counseling. As humans, it is easy to make inferences regarding what someone is telling us.

Is Socratic Questioning a debate?

Debate. One thing that is astonishingly significant for therapists to remember during Socratic Questioning in counseling is never to debate. A client’s opinions, emotions, and answers are never up for debate. It is your job as the therapist to take the answer the client has given you and guide them to the natural next step in their understanding.

How does Socratic questioning help us?

Its most notable use in psychology is for self-analysis and problem-solving. Socratic questioning can indisputably help us in self-analysis. By applying pointed questions to our issues or insecurities, we can begin to change our minds and our thinking about certain issues.

What is Socrates' method of questioning?

His method, also known as Socratic questioning, follows the form of disciplined questioning so that we are able to pursue a thought in many directions to determine its validity. Socrates may not have meant his methods to have profound input into psychology or self-care. Still, his method has been put to use time and time again in all areas ...

Why does my boss criticize me?

If your boss criticised you, it may be because they, themselves, are having a bad day. If you didn’t complete a project on time or to the standard you hold yourself to, it may have been a project you weren’t used to, or you didn’t have sufficient time or help.

What is Socratic questioning?

Socratic questioning (also called Socratic dialogue) is a way to engage in collaborative empiricism with your clients. The use of Socratic processes is thought to lead to a deeper level of learning and change (Beck, 2011). Though, empirically, there has been little research done on Socratic questioning (Padesky, 2019).

How to apply Socratic strategies?

The first step in applying Socratic strategies is to identify the targets for these strategies. In a practical sense, we simply do not have time to address every thought that we think might be distorted. We want to target the thoughts that are central to their problems and related to their core difficulties and underlying beliefs. Often some delving and sifting are required to find the optimal cognition to focus on. This skill requires patience and conceptual skills on the part of the therapist.

What is provided discovery in Socratic therapy?

A common pitfall to Socratic questioning is something called provided discovery (as opposed to guided discovery); this is where a therapist tries to tell the client the conclusions they should be reaching.

Why do therapists pick purely positive thoughts?

The trouble with purely positive thoughts or thoughts that are only based on the disconfirming evidence is that they can be brittle if they do not fit the reality of the client’s life.

What is the trap of a therapist?

Additionally, many therapists fall into the trap of trying to convince the client to see things from their point of view or to guide them to what they think is the right answer. This often results in noncollaborative encounters with therapists telling clients how things “really are.”.

Is Socratic questioning a psychotherapy process?

While Socratic questioning is a transtheoretical psychotherapeutic process, there is some evidence that learning to artfully and competently use Socratic strategies in session is among the hardest skills for a psychotherapist to learn (Waltman et al., 2017). A common pitfall to Socratic questioning is something called provided discovery ...

Identify A Thought to Target

  • During therapy, many different distressing or maladaptive thoughts may come to the surface. To use Socratic questioning effectively, it’s important to focus on one thought at a time, rather than trying to address several thoughts at once. To identify an important thought, look for changes in affect, or ask your client what thought is most important...
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Explore The Evidence For The Thought

  • Before attempting to challenge a thought, it’s important to understand your client’s point of view. How strongly held is their thought? What experiences do they view as evidence? During exploration, you will focus on showing empathy and listening with an open mind. After exploring the evidence for a maladaptive thought, the next step is to challenge it.
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Challenge The Thought

  • Using Socratic questions, you will encourage your client to view their thought objectively. This is achieved by examining the evidence for a belief, considering alternate explanations, and identifying unfounded assumptions. As a clinician, your goal continues to be understanding. However, you may begin asking questions that encourage your client to examine their evidence …
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Adopt A New Thought

  • As old evidence is examined and challenged, a new thought will begin to form. The goal during this stage is to make sure the new thought is adaptive and rational. This is achieved by reviewing the valid evidence and synthesizing it into a few sentences.
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