The Socratic method in cognitive therapy: Defi nition, description and instructions for use
Manuel Fedrighi
The socratic method is a basic technique in psychotherapy. It was imported in cognitive therapy by
one of its founding fathers, Aaron Beck, who had already referred to this in his very early writings.
Unfortunately, Beck never published anything to clearly illustrate the steps the method involved and
in order to make it easier for the clinician to understand the theory and the correct application of
the technique. Hence, despite it being widely cited and generally considered to be important the
present day situation is that the technique is not currently adequately fully described to the same
extent. Therefore, the main aim that I intended to achieve in this paper is, fi rstly, to try to eliminate
the confusion that currently exists concerning the general understanding and the practical implications
of some of the key theoretical concepts in the theory of contemporary cognitive treatment, and
endeavouring to do this in a clinically relevant way. As will be seen in greater detail in the article
below, an initial distinction will be made for this purpose, between the concepts of Socratic dialogue
and those associated with it relating to guided discovery and collaborative empiricism. Then an
attempt will be made to describe how the method is applied in the various phases of the therapeutic
process. This aspect is of crucial importance, in view of the dearth of publications on the subject. We
will see how the Socratic dialogue is used with the general aim of helping the patient to «broaden
the perspective» during the phases which involve collecting personal data, socialisation and in the
attempt to «involve» the patient in the therapy. Moreover, short clinical vignettes will be presented
which will illustrate the method during the verbal discussion and when preparing a behavioural
experiment. To conclude, some short guidelines will be specifi ed in the last paragraph which will help
the clinician to implement the technique advantageously.
Keywords
Socratic dialogue; socratic questioning; guided discovery; collaborative
empiricism.
