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Studieboek - Socratic methods

39 important questions on Studieboek - Socratic methods

What was Socrates' method of asking questions?

To ask questions in order to help students reach a conclusion without directly instructing them

What is the intention of a socratic question in CBT?

To encourage the other person to query their view, develop new outlooks and to direct their attention to possibilities that had not yet been considered

What other Socratic methods are used to direct attention? (4)

1. Reflecting on dilemmas
2. Summarizing
3. Offering information
4. Behavioral experiments

When is a Socratic question succesful? (2)

1. The client can engage and work out an answer to the question or carry out the assignment
2. The experience reveals new, relevant perspectives

What are the advantages of Socratic methods? (3)

1. Effective in encouraging a personal review of a situation and, where relevant, a shift in attitude, feeling, and behavior that feels authentic
2. Enhance learning so that new perspectives are better retained
3. Self-generated conclusions often have more credibility than advice from a therapist

How are Socratic methods used in motivational interviewing? (6)

1. Motivation to change is elicited from the client
2. Direct persuasion is not an effective method for resolving ambivalence
3. It is the client's task to articulate and resolve their ambivalence
4. The counselor is directive in helping the client to examine and resolve ambivalence
5 Readiness to change is seen as a fluctuating product of interpersonal interaction, not as a trait
6. The therapeutic relationship is seen as a partnership or companionship

What are other reasons to make use of Socratic methods? (3)

1. Can minimize the therapist's subjective bias, personal beliefs, or theoretical learnings
2. Personalises the process of exploration and conclusion
3. Promotes a self-help strategy, which is the end goal in CBT

How do Socratic methods promote a self-help strategy?

Clients learn strategies or skills via deeper cognitive processing rather than through instruction. This requires more neurological activity, whereby deeper learning occurs

For what purposes are Socratic methods used in CBT? (3)

1. Helping clients discover things for themselves
2. Getting a better understanding of their problems
3. Help them devise new ways of dealing with difficulties

When do we use Socratic inquiry? (6)

1. Assessment and formulation
2. Education
3. Reviewing unhelpful cognitions
4. Problem-solving and working out solutions
5. Devising behavioral tests
6. In supervision

What does it implicate that Socratic questions form a part of a Socratic process of inquiry?

That not all questions asked will be Socratic, and that sometimes informational questions will be most appropriate to test a hypothesis

How are Socratic methods used in assessment and formulation?

They can be used the identify the cognitions, affects, behaviors, and sensations pertinent to a client's difficulties. They can elaborate on something that may have not been fully acknowledged (how do you feel/what went through your mind)

How can Socratic methods be used to teach clients the model and skills of CBT?

By (at some points) combining these with didactic methods in order to close the gap in knowledge or have clients learn this experientially

How can Socratic methods be used to review unhelpful cognitions in clients?

The idea is to prompt people to consider a range of possibilities outside of their current perspective (questions about evidence for/against), which can support the problem cognition and help build up a balanced view of the situation. By doing this in a Socratic manner, the conclusions will have credibility for the client

How can Socratic methods be specifically used in problem-solving and working out solutions

Clients are guided through the stages of defining the problem, generating as many solutions as possible, planning to put a solution into action, and to devise contingency plans.

How are behavioral tests devised in a Socratic manner?

Newly generated perspectives can be tested in an experiment to check validity. Afterwards, clients are encouraged to analyse what happened, highlight problems and doubts, an then prompt them to reconstruct new conceptualisations and further experiments

In what way are Socratic methods powerful training techniques in supervision? (3)

1. Enhances learning
2. Fosters collaboration
3. Tests hypotheses

How can Socratic methods be used effectively? (3)

1. Questioning style
2. Aided by metaphor and analogy
3. Downward arrowing/vertical arrow restructuring

What are the benefits of using a questioning style in Socratic methods? (2)

1. Fosters respectful and genuine inquiry: guide the discovery and reveal new possibilities instead of revealing illogical thoughts
2. Curiosity and humility help to avoid the falling into the 'changing minds' trap (open mind and trying to build the bigger picture communicates empathy

In what way is the use of metaphors and analogies helpful?

It shifts the client's thoughts from to original view to temper the strong emotion of the personal situation and allow for a more productive insight

What is the aim of the downward arrowing technique?

To help clients elaborate on their experience and perhaps identify the more fundamental meaning underlying an unwanted reaction

What is important in the use of the downward arrowing technique? (5)

1. Clients should never feel interrogated, but feel that you are taking a genuine interest
2. It should be used thoughtfully as the topic can be an emotionally charged challenge (sensitive pace, acceptance of silence, making it easier when possible, and stopping if too distressed)
3. Can also reveal positive underlying beliefs that can enhance the process
4. Often reveals elements of the cognitive triad
5. Core beliefs do not have to be revealed

What are the advantages to reveal the patient's core beliefs (even though this is sometimes not necessary or possible)? (2)

1. Aids the clients in understanding their persistent vulnerabilities
2. Paves the way for schema-focused work (if necessary)

What are the stages in Socratic methods? (4)

1. Concrete questioning (structured, information-gathering questions, which begin to inform your hypotheses)
2. Empathic listening (careful, non-judgmental attention to (non)verbal expressions)
3. Summarizing (feeding back to check hypotheses, clarify information, or reiterate a point)
4. Synthesizing or analyzing questions (encouraging the development and expansion of an idea or theme (synthesizing), or refining key information (analyzing))

What can you focus on in order to cautiously and compassionately use Socratic inquiry? (3)

1. Not having too much focus on getting to the bottom of the problem: can be anti-therapeutic
2. Empathic pacing is key to not making yourself seem insensitive to the client: strains the alliances and results in missed opportunities within the therapy
3. The tone should be gentle, and inquisitive, and can be prefaced

How can thought records be used as a Socratic method?

This is a record of key events that guide the user through the stages of identifying key emotions/cognitions, exploring the validity of the cognitions, and then synthesizing a new perspective

What are important factors to focus on in order to increase the effectiveness? (4)

1. Curious: prepared to learn from the client
2. Cautious
3. Compassionate: good stance and modelling for the patient
4. Confident: intuitive scientist

When might direct or didactic questions be more suitable? (4)

1. Mind the gap
2. Risk (assessment)
3. Information gathering
4. When Socratic methods risk colluding with avoidance, or encourages rumination, or reflects reassurance-giving

What are problems that can be encountered while using Socratic methods?

1. The client cannot access the key thoughts or images
2. The client invalidates distressing cognitions
3. The client is avoidant of distressing cognitions
4. Key cognitions are fleeting in nature
5. Crucial meaning are held in a non-verbal form
6. The client invalidates new perspectives
7. The therapist questions without direction, or in an unfruitful direction
8. The therapist lectures
9. The therapist explores but does not synthesise and draw conclusions
10. The therapist asks questions only to validate a hypothesis
11. The therapist limits Socratic inquiry to verbal guided discovery?

How can the problem of the client not being able to access the key thoughts or images be tackled? (4)

1. Encourage clients to record relevant cognitions at or near the time of the problem occurring
2. Evoke the emotional state related to key cognitions by using imagery or role play
3. Look out for clear changes in emotions within the session
4. Encourage exploration of affect and/or sensation

How can the problem of the client invalidating distressing cognitions be tackled?

Ask the client if the thought or the image felt true at the time and stress the importance of that

How can the problem of the client being avoidant of distressing cognitions be tackled? (4)

1. Discover what your client needs to feel safe
2. Take things slowly and explain the rationale for unpacking potentially upsetting cognitions
3. Recognize patterns of invalidating distressing cognitions, acknowledge this, and try to uncover the client's fears about staying in an emotionally laden thought or image
4. Behavioral experiments can help the client test out negative predictions underlying the avoidance

How can the problem of the key cognitions being fleeting in nature be tackled? (3)

1. Encourage clients to keep a thought log to better catch cognitions as they rise
2. Attend mood shifts in a session
3. Try to evoke a recent experience to make cognitions accessible

How can the problem of the client holding crucial meanings in a non-verbal form? (3)

1. Try exploring sensations to provoke descriptions
2. Accept that some non-verbal meanings are going to be metaphorical rather than literal
3. Incorporate this information into a formulation and work towards developing alternative meanings

How can the problem of the client invalidating new perspectives be tackled? (3)

1. Check if you might have slipped into giving advice before
2. Client might need to substantiate the new perspective by engaging in behavioral change
3. Could indicate a robust undermining belief system, which can be revealed through further inquiry

How can the problem of the therapist asking questions without or in an unfruitful direction be tackled?

By referring back to a working formulation

How can the problem of a therapist giving lectures be tackled?

By recording session through which you can identify if you lose collaboration, curiosity, and humilty

How can the problem of the therapist not synthesizing and drawing conclusions be tackled? (2)

1. Devise a reminder to summarize regularly, or ask a client to synthesize new conclusions
2. Ensure that a copy of the working formulation is accessible for reference/structure during the sessions to guide you and the client

How can the problem of the therapist only asking questions to validate the hypothesis be tackled?

Ask questions to the client that might prove your hypothesis wrong

The question on the page originate from the summary of the following study material:

Positive Clinical Psychology

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