We all have a lot of questions in our heads that we would like to find solutions to. And finding an answer to them is the least complex. We often look to others for the solution, even though what we really need is to find our own answer.

As far as major philosophical issues such as ethics or morality are concerned, or even at the level of therapy, a method whose origins date back to Ancient Greece is useful. Specifically, the figure of Socrates. This is the Socratic method , which we will talk about throughout this article.

The Socratic method: what is it?

We understand by Socratic method a methodology through which the human being is able to mature and mobilize his resources and reflect on the problems that torment him. The aim of the Socratic method or Socratic dialogue is not to give an answer to the questions of others, but to encourage this person to be capable of deepening his own psyche and reflection so that he can develop his own knowledge by himself.

In itself, the Socratic method consists more of a dialogue between two or more people than one guides the other, through a series of questions and using resources such as irony, towards the resolution of their doubts and conflicts . This guide is merely assistance, being in the end the subject who finds the solution by himself. In fact, technically it is not even necessary to give an answer, it being also valid to admit ignorance regarding a specific fact or aspect.

Generally, the questions that arise from the subject are answered by another preventive question from the one who is applying the method, in such a way that the thought of the subject to whom it is applied is guided in a concrete direction without modifying his ways of thinking in a direct way.

Thus, the main thing in this method is the use of inductive type questions , making use of own resources in the desired direction. As for the type of questions in question, they tend to be relatively simple, based on three main particles: What, How and What for.

The basic operation is first to choose a specific topic or statement that is considered true and examine it little by little in such a way that it is falsified and refuted , and then to generate new knowledge regarding the topic in question.

The origin: the majeutic

The origin of the Socratic method is found in the figure of the one who takes the name: Socrates, the Greek philosopher This author elaborated a dialectical method with the purpose of helping to find one’s own individual truth, or even to defend minority positions.

The process was relatively simple to explain, although it is more complicated than it appears: First of all, irony was used to get the student or person with whom the dialogue was held to ask a series of questions about the meaning of a previously chosen premise, so that he or she would gradually begin to doubt it and even end up admitting ignorance about the subject and may even reduce it to absurdity.

After that, the mayeutics was used, or the Socratic method itself: the interrogator guided the thought process of the interlocutor through the dialogue , and the realization of relatively simple questions, proposing and using the resources of the subject to generate a new truth or opinion more proper of the individual with respect to the premise in question, a new knowledge of what is really known.

Application of the Socratic method in psychotherapy

The Socratic method, although of ancient origin, is still in use today, in different forms. The world of education is one of the areas in which it can be applied, another being the field of health. Within the latter, we should highlight its use within clinical and health psychology .

The application of the Socratic method is common in psychotherapy, regardless of the theoretical model, since it is proposed as a way of mobilizing and taking advantage of the patient’s own resources to achieve improvement.

One of the psychological currents that most uses it is the cognitive-behavioral one, being the most easily identifiable example of the use of the Socratic method the questioning of disadaptive beliefs : the subject exposes a thought or strongly rooted belief that generates suffering or discomfort to him (or alters his behavior generating it to others), as for example the idea of being useless.

The therapist can investigate what it means to be useless, in which situations this idea appears, what consequences it would have or the fears that may be behind it, until reaching a point where the subject could not make a deeper introspection (to a large extent, techniques such as the descending arrow are used in which one seeks to go deeper and deeper into what is behind a particular thought or belief). After this, the session could be redirected by asking if there could be alternative interpretations and then the patient would be asked to reconstruct his/her vision of reality in a more adaptive way with his/her own resources. This is a process linked to cognitive restructuring.

Likewise, another type of therapy that uses the Socratic method is logotherapy, within the phenomenological-existentialist models. In this case, the Socratic method is used as one of the main techniques employed to reactivate the patient’s resources and manage to give meaning to his life. In this sense, it contributes to the subject’s self-discovery, the generation of alternatives, the responsibility of his own choices and the attempt to transcend. Values and perceptions are worked on, among many other concepts.

These are just two examples of therapies that employ the Socratic method. However, its use is very common in practically all types of therapies within clinical psychology.

Bibliographic references:

  • Eliécer, J. (2005). The Socratic method in higher education. National Pedagogical University.
  • Martinez, E. (n.d.). Socratic dialogue in sense-centred psychotherapy. Society for the Advancement of Meaning-Centered Psychotherapy. Available at: http://www.saps-col.org/saps/new/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/El-dialogo-socr%C3%A1tico-en-la-psicoterapia-centrada-en-el-sentido.pdf.
  • Partarrieu, A. (2011). Socratic dialogue in cognitive psychotherapy. Third International Congress on Research and Professional Practice in Psychology. XVIII Jornadas de Investigación (18th Research Conference). Seventh Meeting of Researchers in Psychology of MERCOSUR. Faculty of Psychology. University of Buenos Aires. Buenos Aires.
  • Segura, C. (2017). The Socratic method today. For a dialogical teaching and practice of philosophy. Madrid: Escolar y Mayo.