This is the topic of a full-length masterclass in The Refreshed Therapist Network. Learn more about this community for psychohotherapists.

For this week's video chat, Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley returns to discuss therapy questions as an intentional craft, and she covers four basic question types: single answer, open, relational, and circular.

If you are joining the conversation at this point, and you haven't seen part 1, here's a review: In part 1, Dr. Schooley and I discuss how to move from being a novice to a master therapist, as well as the joining aspects of doing therapy. Dr. Schooley cautions us to not move into intervening before joining and establishing a working, therapeutic relationship with clients. View part 1.

Here's our most recent chat, on crafting questions:

4 Basic Types of Questions

1| Single-Answer Questions

Yes/No Questions

These questions are necessary; they are "fork in the road" questions that help us determine which way to go.

Yes/no questions help you gather information that you'll need when asking more complex questions. In order to to “populate” the world of the client, you need to first understand their world. This is why yes/no questions are useful.

Closed Questions

"Closed" questions, like yes/no questions, are single answer questions that provide you with necessary information about the client.

For example, "How many sisters do you have?"

2| Open Questions

The step between a closed question and a more advanced, relational question, is the open question. Open questions are storytelling questions, because they prompt a more extensive response from the client. Open questions often start with what, where, when, and how.

It's common for people in every day conversation to use yes/no or closed questions, though most people will answer as if they were answering an open question, because they want to be helpful. (But, don’t count on this help. Ask a question that will get you the information you want!)

3| Relational Questions

With a relational question, you ask a client to "stand in the shoes of and look out the eyes of" another person. There is often a subtle shift in thinking (for the client) when a client is asked to stand in the shoes of another person.

We have to be careful how we craft these questions, so that we are asking the client to "stand in the shoes of" the person, rather than only asking for the client's point of view.

For example, if I ask you about your husband:

Ili, what do you think he . . .

vs.

If he were here, what would he tell us about . . .

The second example is a “stand in the shoes” question. It requires that the client use her intimate knowledge of her husband to answer the question. The first example is more detached; the answer required is based on her thoughts about her husband.

Additionally, relational questions can be asked when all parties relevant to the question are in the room, in order to get the other's perspective.

For example:

Relational question, to daughter: So, what’s Dad going to tell me when I ask him . . .

Open question, to Dad, once she answers: How close was she?

Relational questions allow you to gather content along with contextual information about the relationship. Content is nice, but the relationship is more important. Content changes, but relationship patterns tend to remain more consistent.

"Every question is an intervention."

4| Circular Questions

Circular questions could be called triangle questions, because they have three parts: 1) the person you’re asking commenting on the relationship of two others (2,3); for example, if you are describing the relationship between your husband and your child. The two others you are asking the client to comment on do not have to be people; for example, if you are asked to describe the relationship between your child and school.

Example: Little brother, tell me about the relationship between mom and her church?

Summary: The Well-Crafted Question

A good question is well crafted, uses client language, and incorporates what it is you're wanting. It is intentional. Remember, every question has the potential to be an intervention.

Practicing questions can help us diffuse conflict with our questions, rather than incite it. Unless, of course, the purpose is to observe conflict. The purpose of the well-crafted question can be a “loose” purpose. like in qualitative research. A loose purpose lets us find out what is, before trying to create change. In this way, we can be more informed about our therapeutic direction, and offer options to clients about what they'd like to change.

Resources

Looking for more resources to practice your craft? Dr. Schooley recommends books and articles with therapy transcripts, including case studies, so that you can see the types of questions established experts in the field are crafting. A few of Dr. Schooley's favorite resources are: The Evolution of the Circular Question (journal article), Milan Systemic Therapy: Conversations in Theory and Practice, and 1001 Solution Focused Questions.

Let's Chat

For fun, comment below with a circular question.

How to Get Back to the Business of Family Therapy, And What to consider

What helps us survive this complicated life? Systems. As humans, we thrive when part of a network of support, inclusion, and collaboration. And family is the ultimate system, making family therapy an invaluable addition to any program. Right?

Yet, when we therapists talk about working with families in therapy, our collective anxieties rise. As much as we may talk the talk, we don’t walk the walk. The truth is, families are not seen very often in therapy. Even less frequently do we bring the whole family into the room.

How to Use The Systemic Therapy MicroSkills: The Joining Skills, with Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley

This post is the first of several articles in which I discuss the systemic therapy microskills, with Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley.

Dr. Schooley and her co-author, fellow professor and family therapist, Jim Hibel, are writing a book on the small systemic skills that therapists can intentionally practice in order to increase their effectiveness.

7 Approaches to Getting Unstuck with Therapy Clients

“Stuckness” is part of our work as therapists. It can be frustrating and confusing to suddenly reach this experience when previously, the client was showing progress. In this post, I’ll cover several approaches to helping therapists, and clients, get “unstuck.”

The Art and Science of Therapy as Craft, Part 2: Crafting Questions

For this week's video chat, Dr. AnnaLynn Schooley returns to discuss therapy questions as an intentional craft, and she covers four basic question types: single answer, open, closed, relational, and circular.

The Art and Science of Therapy as Craft

Dr. Anna Lynn Schooley, professor and family therapist, joined me recently for a conversation about therapy as a craft. AnnaLynn is a professor, clinical supervisor, licensed therapist in mental health and marriage and family therapy. She identifies as a family therapist; as a result, our chat leans toward a systemic view of therapy and clients.

Recently, I have been hearing more and more that master therapists view therapy as a conversational craft. Bill Doherty mentioned it in a talk he gave in November of 2016, and Elliott Connie also emphasizes this point. I invited AnnaLynn to discuss this topic, because she is a master therapist and teacher.

7 Questions for Opening Your Therapy Sessions

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It's easy to get stuck in a rut with specific elements of therapy structure.

I have a professor that sees every interaction with a client as part of the therapeutic relationship, and therefore, he interacts intentionally with his clients always, choosing his language and messages carefully based on their therapeutic value.

We don't all view our relationships with our clients in the same way, which means this type of scrutiny may not seem necessary to all of us; however, there is merit in evaluating the details of our sessions in order to become aware of habits that may not be yielding the results we desire.

For example, it’s common for opening questions to become casual greetings rather than relationally impactful interactions between therapist and client. Purposeful opening questions are the topic of this post.

Making Sense of a "Failed" Therapy Session

We all have them--sessions that are a struggle all the way through and that leave us feeling defeated. Even as a seasoned therapist, I’ve been caught off-guard by the unexpected failed session. The truth is, no matter our level of experience, we will have these sessions here and there, and I suppose my point in writing this post is to remind you (and myself) that we shouldn’t be surprised by them. After all, we are fallible.

That's the reason the word failed is in quotation marks throughout this post. There are no failed sessions, if we learn from them.

When we take lessons from these sessions

Two Simple Questions That Will Transform Your Therapy Work

As therapists, we often work with clients that are connected to a variety of systems, and those systems also become our extended working environments (or additional “customers”). The consideration of these extended environments set systemic practice apart from individually-oriented practice. It also contributes to the possibility of therapists losing track of what’s most important for clients, due to external systems representing varied, and sometimes competing, interests. Furthermore, all the information (a.k.a. “content”) that comes with working from an inclusive, systemic lens can obscure a clear clinical focus.

5 Essential Skills for Beginning Marriage and Family Therapists

When you’re starting your work as a therapist, whether during graduate training or as a brand-new master’s-level therapist, it’s natural to feel anxious and unprepared at times (or all the time!). You’ve spent several years learning a ton of information, and now you, naturally, want it to all make sense, so that you can do effective therapy.

Well, there’s good news: You've learned and assimilated a lot more than you think, and it will "show up" when you need it.

There are a few simple verbal skills that can guide your initial work as a beginning therapist; mastering these is a much better use of your time than worrying about using a theory perfectly or finding the right intervention.

5 Step Plan for De-escalating an In-Session couple Argument

Most of us, therapists, have been there: A simple disagreement turns into an all-out screaming match in the middle of a therapy session. This is, thankfully, not a common scenario for most therapists, but it’s also not rare--especially for therapists who specialize in couple therapy.

In this post, I cover steps for disrupting an argument occurring in a couple therapy session. Intervention on the part of the therapist is necessary during some conflicts, because the arguments can cause further damage in the couple relationship. And, if therapists allow arguments to continue for too long, they can affect the couple’s sense of safety when in therapy.

The main goals of intervention in this case are to:

5 Quick + Easy Ways to Build Your Therapy Skills

Building therapy skills is an ever-present need that requires ongoing effort, for most therapists. The problem is, there is an unlimited amount of things to learn and a very limited amount of time. This means that you must be proactive and specific about building your therapy skills, in order to get the most from your investment..

Below, I review five quick and easy ways to build your therapy skills without having to buy products, attend trainings, or spend a ton of time or money.

10 Therapist (and Child)-Approved Activities to Support Kids with Anxiety

If you’re a mental health professional working with children, you will probably agree that many of the calls you receive from parents have something to do with anxiety or stress. Child therapists have the amazingly important yet challenging task of educating and supporting kids in a therapeutic setting that is both productive and fun. When working with children as young as preschool age, it can be a very daunting task to keep things fresh and exciting week after week! So, how do we help children develop the coping skills they need while keeping them engaged (and not glancing at their watch)? Here are ten therapist (and child!)-approved, fun activities that address anxiety-based disorders and promote relaxation and stress reduction in children:

Therapist Self-Disclosure Simplified

Self-disclosure is a touchy subject among therapists. Some therapists never self-disclose, while others feel stifled by having a rigid boundary around self-disclosure. As I consider self-disclosure in therapy, I ask myself, “When is self-disclosure appropriate?” “How does self-disclosure deepen the therapist-client connection?"

Solution Focused Brief Couples Therapy Tips, with Elliott Connie

Elliott Connie is a Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) practitioner, author, and speaker. He developed an approach to couples work that distills the essence of SFBT into guiding principles for working with couples.

As a therapist who loves working with couples, I am always interested in ways to enhance my couples therapy skills. For this reason, I invited Elliott to explain the reasons why SFBT is his choice for working with clients, as well as how it creates a contrasting experience for couples that have a history in therapy.

Family of Origin Exploration for the Therapist: How to Create Your Genogram

In article three of the Family of Origin for the Therapist series, you learned 3 simple steps for how to begin family of origin (FOO) exploration: 1) read Bowen’s chapter, 2) observe your FOO experience, and 3) reflect on what you learned. Hopefully, your curiosity has led to significant understanding.

Understanding is the foundation of Bowen Family Systems Theory (BFST). Bowen (1985) believed that if clients could understand themselves as members of their FOOs and as created by their histories, they could begin and continue significant change.

In today’s post, I offer the next step in developing understanding: Creating your genogram. I explain how to create a basic genogram that you can expand as you continue your exploration.

5 Tips for Keeping Up with Therapy Paperwork

In my interaction with therapists as a mentor and supervisor, I’ve learned that one of the main struggles therapists face is having too much work and not enough time. Many therapists find themselves overwhelmed by documentation responsibilities, in particular; this includes completing client notes, referrals, billing, treatment plans, etc.

In today’s post, I offer several strategies for keeping up with paperwork, so that you can stay on track and avoid the stress of falling behind.

Solution-Focused Brief Therapy Client Types, and Their Relevance To Every Session

In her 1989 article, Of Visitors, Complainants, and Customers, Insoo Kim Berg details three types of “client-therapist relationships” (p. 21). Her wording is significant, because she is not labeling clients; she is describing them in terms of their relationship to the therapist, the process of therapy, and the problem. These three relationships have undergirded Solution-Focused Brief Therapy theory and interventions over the years, although they are not consistently discussed in newer works. The client relationship types are widely applicable to therapy, regardless of theoretical orientation, making them one of the most useful concepts in marriage and family therapy.

In this post, I present a review of these client types, and I explain their relevance to and usefulness for all therapeutic sessions.

How to Ethically Offer Coaching as a Licensed Therapist: A Step-By-Step Guide

One of the most common professional goals for my clients is expanding their private practice to include life coaching services. As professionals with a depth of knowledge in personal development and goal achievement strategies, therapists are ideal candidates for the coaching profession. Despite this near perfect fit, there are some important ethical consideration for therapists when offering coaching services alongside therapy, or when choosing to become professional coaches. In this post, I focus on offering solutions for these complications, in an effort to help you ethically practice coaching.