In modern psychological science, the method of "Open and closed questions" has gained great popularity. The essence of this practice is to create the most harmonious environment for contact with the client. Understanding and the highest degree of empathic listening in this situation will be facilitated by the wisdom of the counseling psychologist, his benevolent attitude towards the patient, and the intention to help him. When a client sees a friendly attitude towards him, it becomes much easier for him to talk about painful and share bitter experiences. Open questions, examples of which are numerous, can be found in this article.
Counseling Application
It is no secret that the situation of psychological counseling often becomes stressful for the client. When preparing to visit a psychologist’s office for the first time, a person is often nervous because he still does not know how the conversation will go, he tries to build at least an approximate plan in his head.
The consultant understands that the client needs to be relaxed, to direct the conversation in the right direction. This is where open-ended questions come in handy. Examples: a person comes for a consultation, he wants to talk about his problem, but feels an inner isolation, constraint. In order for the conversation to take place and be productive, the psychologist must ask him several questions, such as: “What do you think about our meetings two to three times a week? Would you like to continue our classes? ” etc.
Detailed response
The open question is noteworthy in that it always implies the presence of reasoning, and encourages the client to analyze the situation. The task of the consultant psychologist is precisely to correctly ask a question and direct the patient to the right topic, in the right direction. For example, a psychologist may ask him: “What do you think is the connection between yesterday’s event and your current state?” With this approach, the client is forced to somehow open up, talk about himself. Unambiguous answers like “yes”, “no” are not suitable.
In this way, a person has a peculiar adjustment in consciousness, which allows him to come out on a painful topic without much tension. Open-ended questions are a kind of preparation, especially necessary when solving important and difficult situations that led the patient to frustration and depression.
Conversation direction
A competent specialist during the counseling process will surely make sure that the client feels comfortable. Where necessary, he will prevent the occurrence of conflict, if necessary, will help to understand what the cause of mental pain is, he will find a place in which it is localized. The tone of the conversation, its dynamics, flow - all this is set by the psychologist with his remarks and comments. In this sense, open and closed questions are a real find. It is they who give a meaningful movement to the conversation, adjust to the desired mood. It’s easier for a psychologist to work, and for a client to tell about their problems.
Types of open questions are very different. There are clarifying, stimulating, guiding, calming. If the psychologist asks the patient how many years he has worked in one place, then this is a clarifying question. It would seem that he does not lead to the disclosure of the problem, but leads to a topic from which difficulty follows. After that, the one who came for help becomes much easier to continue the story.
Receiving the information
Open-ended questions, examples of which can be found in this article, are an important feature. This process allows you to accelerate the moment of awareness of the problems and difficulties that prevent a person from building his life in accordance with his desires and needs. When information passes through consciousness, it becomes much easier to work with it. The person already has the opportunity to make a choice about what to do: whether to continue to cherish his pain or to begin to get rid of it.
Understanding the reasons
Perhaps this is the main task facing both sides of the process. Analysis of the situation always begins with an understanding of the causes, the basis of the problem. After all, difficulties do not form from scratch, they arise as a result of incorrect actions or doubts. The purpose of psychological counseling is to detect a personal conflict hidden in the subconscious. Until he is found, the problem will not be solved, and everything will remain at the same level, which the personality no longer suits. The fact is that we outgrow the situations in which we are, the circumstances that surround us. All you need to do is constantly move forward, grow personally. At some point, the realization will come that yesterday’s problems no longer have such power, so you won.
This is what open-ended questions are. Examples illustrating the effectiveness of this method in modern psychological science can be seen in real life.