Directives: Questions and Action Skills

Indirect (Implied) Questions

A type of question that are explicitly questions but often lead to the same response as a question. These are used when interviewers are curious about what clients are thinking or feeling but don't want to pressure clients to respond. Ex: "I wonder how you're feeling...", "I wonder what your plans are...", "I wonder if you've given any thought...", "You must have some thoughts or feelings...", "It must be hard for you to...."

Swing Question

A type of question that can be answered with a yes or no, but are designed to produce a more elaborate discussion of feelings, thoughts, or issues Ex: "Can you tell me more about that?", "Could you talk about how...", "Would you describe...", "Will you tell me what happened..."

Projective Questions

A type of question that helps clients identify, articulate, explore, and clarify unconscious or unclear conflicts, values, thoughts, and feelings. These are questions that are typically speculative. Ex: "What would you do if...", "If you had...", "If you needed help or... what would you do?", "What if you could go back... what would you do differently?"

Open Question

A type of question that requires more than a single-word response. Ex. "When did you...", "Where were you...". "How are you handling...", "What happened...", etc

Closed Question

A type of question that restricts verbalization and leads clients toward more specific responses such as yes or no. Ex. "Are you feeling okay...". "Did you feel...", "Was it gratifying...", "Do you feel angry", etc

Approval

An interviewer's sanction of client thoughts, feelings, or behavior.

Question Guidelines

1. Prepare your clients for questions 2. Do not use questions as the predominant listening or action response 3. Make the questions relevant to client concerns and goals 4. Use questions to elicit concrete behavioral examples and positive visions of the future. 5. Approach sensitive areas cautiously

Psychoeducation

A descriptive statement used to make something plain or understandable. Includes the following components: 1. Process of counseling 2. The meaning or implications of a particular symptom 3. Instructions for how to implement a specific piece of advice or therapeutic strategy

Pre-Treatment Change Question

A specific question asked to assess whether the client has had any changes between the time they call for an appointment and when they meet with their interviewer during the first session. Ex: "What changes have you noticed that have happened or started to happen since you called to make the appointment for this session?"

Unique Outcomes (Redescription Questions)

A specific question that are designed to direct clients toward describing the unique ways in which they have accomplished some specific positive task. Ex: "How did you beat the fear and go out shopping?", "How did you manage to stay calm?", "How did you accomplish that?"

Percentage Question

A specific question that directs the client to think about and define how an improvement would look, sound, and feel. Ex: "How would your life be different if you were 1 percent less depressed?"

Exception Question

A specific question that focuses on times that a client does not experience symptoms, and highlights those moments. Ex: "Who is present when the exception occurs?", "What is happening before the exception occurs?", "Where is the exception occurring?", "What time of day does the exception occur?", "How are you making this exception happen?"

Miracle Question

A specific question that helps clients initiate and maintain a positive vision for the future and to analyze exactly what factors might contribute to that positive factor. Ex: "Suppose you were to go home tonight, and while you were asleep, a miracle happened and this problem was solved. How will you know the miracle happened? What will be different?"

Presuppositional Questions

A specific question that presuppose a positive change has already occurred and ask for specific descriptions of those changes. These orient clients toward clear visions of success and goal attainment. Ex: "Who will be most surprised in your family when...", "What do you imagine will have changed when you..."

Scaling Question

A specific question that represents a strategy for helping clients envision their potential improvement more precisely. Ex: "On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the very worst and 10 being the very best, how would you rate how well you've been handling your anger?"... "What exactly would be different in you, if you came in next week and were able to tell me that you are handling your anger at a level of 5?"

Externalizing Question

A specific series of questions designed to identify and clarify the presence or absence of specific psychiatric symptoms within the client. This involves placing the cause of psychiatric symptoms outside of the self. Ex: "How might you tell the depression thank you and goodbye", "How might you fight back against that black cloud...", "What exactly are you doing when you're free from that fog of depression"

Directive Action Responses

Directive responses that are used to encourage clients to change the way they think, feel, or act. They are essentially persuasion techniques, pushing clients toward specific change.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)

Focuses on solutions versus problems based on what the student is already doing that works, nurturing internal assets, and involving important others. What has worked in the past?

Urging

Technique of pressuring or pleading with a client to engage in specific actions or to consider specific issues. May produce the desired change or may backfire and stimulate resistance. It can also be considered offensive.

Role Induction

Informing or educating clients about what to expect in therapy, especially regarding the respective roles of therapist and client.

Interviewer Curiosity

Questions that may arise simply due to the therapist wanting to satisfy one's own personal impulse rather than to supply a therapeutic benefit. Ex: "Where did you go to high school", "Have you ever been to the bakery?"

Agreement

This occurs when an interviewer makes a statement indicating harmony with the client's opinion.

Disagreement

This occurs when an interviewer makes a statement that contradicts the opinion and viewpoint of the client.

Suggest

To bring before a person's mind indirectly or without plain expression.

Advise

To give counsel to or offer an opinion or suggestion worth following