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Web End = Cogn Ther Res (2015) 39:863879
DOI 10.1007/s10608-015-9707-3
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Web End = The Socratic Method in Cognitive Behavioural Therapy: A Narrative Review
Gavin I. Clark1 Sarah J. Egan2
Published online: 25 July 2015 Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Abstract The Socratic Method has been described as an important component of CBT interventions yet an empirical case for its use has not been made. The objective of this paper is to review the role of the Socratic Method in CBT in four stages. First, a review of the literature describes how the Socratic Method is applied and dened within CBT, with assumptions regarding its proposed benets identied. Second, a review of empirical literature demonstrates that multiple challenges to the evaluation of the Socratic Method exist and that no direct evidence supports the premise that it is benecial in CBT. Evidence is examined which may suggest why the Socratic Method could be benecial in therapy. Finally, the hypothesised function of the Socratic Method within therapy is discussed in reference to the Interacting Cognitive Subsystems framework. A number of avenues for future research are proposed in order to determine whether this potentially valuable therapeutic component contributes to the efcacy of CBT.
Keywords Cognitive therapy/CBT Socratic dialogue
Socratic Method Socratic questioning Guided discovery
Introduction
The Socratic Method is considered to be an important component of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) interventions (e.g. Ehlers et al. 2005). The approach has been described as a cornerstone (Padesky 1993) of CBT and as an essential core competency of CBT therapists (Roth and Pilling 2007). Yet despite the purported significance of the Socratic Method, it has been subject to relatively little description or empirical investigation (Overholser 2011). The Socratic Method has been dened as a method of guided discovery in which the therapist asks a series of carefully sequenced questions to help dene problems, assist in the identication of thoughts and beliefs, examine the meaning of events, or assess the ramications of particular thoughts or behaviours (Beck and Dozois 2011, p. 401).
Through employing the Socratic...