Creative Question-Framing: 12 Ideas for Counselors-in-Training

McCarthy, John; Shannon, Emma; Bruno, Michelle

doi:10.1080/15401383.2020.1800543

Journal of Creativity in Mental Health

2020

DOI: 10.1080/15401383.2020.1800543

|View full text |Cite

Creative Question-Framing: 12 Ideas for Counselors-in-Training

John McCarthy

Emma Shannon

Michelle Bruno

Help me understand this report

Search citation statements

Order By: Relevance

Paper Sections

Select...

Citation Types

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Year Published

2023

Publication Types

Select...

Article2

Relationship

Self Cite0

Independent2

Authors

Journals

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Indeed, questions (particularly well-crafted questions) are foundational to psychotherapy (Hill, 2020; McCarthy et al, 2020). Some have even suggested that it is “inconceivable” not to have questions in therapy (L.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Unfortunately, there is surprisingly little empirical research on questions given their foundational nature to the field. Indeed, researchers have noted that the research on questions is “scant” (Renger, 2021), “limited” (McCarthy et al, 2020), and “scarce” (Neipp et al, 2021). Thus, this article will review the available research and explore how questions might be used in treatment and in training.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The use of questions in psychotherapy: A review of research on immediate outcomes.

Williams¹

2023

Psychotherapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article defines and illustrates therapist questions in individual psychotherapy and then reviews the naturalistic, empirical research on their effectiveness. The research on immediate impacts of questions in psychotherapy has been mixed. The available research indicates that positive impacts, particularly of open questions, include increased client emotional expressiveness and affective exploration. However, negative impacts have also been found, suggesting that questions may be related to negative client perspectives of the therapist's empathy and helpfulness and session smoothness. The article focuses on definitions and clinical examples as well as research findings and limitations. The article concludes with training implications and therapeutic practice recommendations based on the empirical research. Clinical Impact StatementQuestion: Arguably, psychotherapists often rely on the use of questions in psychotherapy (such as to better understand their clients' perspectives), but it is unclear how effective questions really are. Findings: This article presents research that examines the immediate impact of asking questions in individual psychotherapy. Meaning: The research is mixed, suggesting that there are both positive impacts (such as client's increased exploration and expressiveness) and negative impacts (such as client concerns about therapists' empathy and their experience of the session). Next Steps: More targeted research is needed to help better guide the effective use of questions in psychotherapy.

show abstract

mentioning

confidence: 99%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The use of questions in psychotherapy: A review of research on immediate outcomes.

Williams¹

2023

Psychotherapy

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“… 1 For an extended theoretical discussion of the forms of questions in therapy, see Hill ( 2020 ) and McCarthy et al ( 2021 ). …”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Strategic use of observer-perspective questions in couples therapy

Muntigl,

Horvath

2023

Front. Psychol.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Questions are one of the most frequently used strategies in therapy. There is a body of theoretical work on the kinds of questions that are preferred in specific treatment approaches. However, research on the use of questions in general, how they are formed and what specific therapeutic work they do, is relatively scarce in the literature. In this study, we use the conceptual framework and methods of conversation analysis (CA) to examine how systemic questions soliciting clients' perspective on the partners' thoughts and intents (Observer-Perspective Questions; OPQs) are realized interactively in actual clinical practice and the range of therapeutic work they perform in couples therapy. We identified 78 OPQs from archival data of videotaped time-limited couples therapies, a clinical population working with a professional therapist. From this set of 78 OPQs, five excerpts representing diverse use of OPQs were selected. These excerpts were transcribed in detail capturing not only the textual content but also the prosodic, gestural, and non-verbal aspects of these episodes. Using CA methodology, we identified four specific kinds of changes these questions can promote: progress toward relational optimism, support of positive aspects of the couple's relationship, promoting the concept that the couples' experiences and emotions are interlinked, and introducing new creative relational options. Detailed CA analyses of these clinical excerpts allowed us to identify how the OPQ sequences were built to realize these therapeutically useful moves using various conversational resources progressively and interactively. The conversational analysis of these sequences facilitated the exploration of relationships between the ways the questions are formed, timed, and delivered and the specific functions they perform to move the therapy forward. In conclusion, we make the general argument that examining important therapy events through a CA perspective provides a significant complementary vector to quantitative research on the therapy process.

show abstract

scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.

Contact Info

customersupport@researchsolutions.com

10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614

Henderson, NV 89052, USA

Blog Terms and Conditions API Terms Privacy Policy Contact Cookie Preferences Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information

Made with 💙 for researchers

Part of the Research Solutions Family.

Creative Question-Framing: 12 Ideas for Counselors-in-Training

Cited by 2 publications

References 27 publications

The use of questions in psychotherapy: A review of research on immediate outcomes.

The use of questions in psychotherapy: A review of research on immediate outcomes.

Strategic use of observer-perspective questions in couples therapy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About