Socratic Method: what it is and how it is applied in psychology

This method based on Socrates' maieutic method has inspired some approaches in psychotherapy.

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

When it comes to major philosophical issues such as ethics or morality, or even at the level of therapy, a method whose origins go back to Ancient Greece is useful. Specifically, to the figure of Socrates. This is the Socratic methodof which we are going to speak throughout this article.

The Socratic method: what is it?

By Socratic method we understand a methodology through which it is proposed that the human being is able to mature and mobilize his resources and reflect on the problems that torment him. The objective of the Socratic method or Socratic dialogue is not to give an answer to the questions of others, but rather to that of encouraging this person to be able to deepen his or her own psyche and reflection, so that this in order that he may develop his own knowledge for himself.

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

Generally, the questions that arise from the subject are answered by means of 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 led 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 questionsThe main thing in this method is the use of inductive questions, making use of one's 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 For what.

The basic operation is to first choose a specific topic or statement that is considered true and to gradually examine it in such a way as to gradually examine it in such a way that it is falsified and refuted.and subsequently generate new knowledge about the topic in question.

The origin: the maieutic

The origin of the Socratic method is to be found in the figure after whom it is named: 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 its realization is more complicated than it appears: First of all, irony was used in order to get the student or person with whom he was dialoguing, asking him a series of questions regarding the meaning of a previously chosen premise so that he would gradually begin to doubt it and even end up admitting ignorance regarding the subject and being able to even reduce it to absurdity.

After that, mayeutics, or the Socratic method proper, was employed: the questioner would go on to guide the interlocutor's thought process through dialogue, and by asking relatively simple questions, proposing and using the subject's resources to generate a new truth or opinion more appropriate to the subject.and by asking relatively simple questions, proposing and using the subject's resources to generate a new truth or opinion more proper to 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 it has an ancient origin, is still valid today, under different forms. The world of education is one of the fields in which it can be applied, another being the health field. Within the latter, we must highlight its use in 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 uses it the most is cognitive-behavioral, the most easily identifiable example of the use of the Socratic method being the questioning of maladaptive beliefsThe most easily identifiable example of the use of the Socratic method is the questioning of maladaptive beliefs: the subject exposes a strongly rooted thought or belief that generates suffering or discomfort (or alters his behavior by generating it to others), such as the idea of being useless.

The therapist can inquire into what it means to be useless, in what situations this idea appears, what consequences it would have to be so 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 delve deeper and deeper into what is behind a particular thought or belief). After this, the session could be redirected by asking whether there might be alternative interpretations and then the patient would be asked to reconstruct his or her view of reality in a more adaptive way with his or her own resources. This is a process linked to cognitive restructuring.

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 give meaning to his life. In this sense, it contributes to the subject's self-discovery, to generate alternatives, to be responsible for his own choices and to try 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.

Bibliographical references:

• Eliécer, J. (2005). The Socratic method in higher education. Universidad Pedagógica Nacional.
• Martínez, E. (n.d.). Socratic dialogue in meaning-centered 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 Research Conference. Seventh Meeting of Researchers in Psychology of MERCOSUR. School 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.