Socratic Method / Socratic Questioning / Socratic Dialogue

The Socratic Method has been defined as “a method of guided discovery in which the therapist asks a series of carefully sequenced questions to help define problems, assist in the identification of thoughts and beliefs, examine the meaning of events, or assess the ramifications of particular thoughts or behaviors” (Beck & Dozois, 2011). The Socratic method has been described as a “cornerstone” of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT: Padesky, 1993) and an essential competency of CBT therapists (Roth & Pilling, 2007). Its use in CBT has a long history: Aaron T. Beck advised the use of questioning in his original cognitive therapy training manual “use questioning rather than disputation and indoctrination … it is important to try to elicit from the patient what he is thinking rather than telling the patient what the therapist believes he is thinking” (Beck, Rush, Shaw, & Emery, 1979). A 2015 review of the Socratic method concluded that there is a “general opinion that the Socratic Method … may be fundamental to CBT” but that it has received little recognition within research and is in danger of being undermined by a CBT interventions which include few or no Socratic elements (Clark & Egan, 2015).