ABSTRACT
We have already indicated that the use of questions is central to family therapy practice. Indeed family therapists have given to psychotherapeutic practice a greater appreciation of the value of a well crafted question than any other gift (O'Brian and Bruggen 1982; Penn 1982; Brown 1997). Before describing the use of questions in family therapy however, we should establish the driving purpose of those questions. This is because a family interview should not consist of question after question in an endless, unconnected stream. Such a process would surely alienate even the most conscientious family. Rather, the questions that the therapist asks are directed by two concerns. The ®rst is that they follow a `theme', e.g. an issue that has relevance to the concern that has brought the family. Traditionally, questions are formulated around the hypotheses created by the therapist, team and family, but as therapy proceeds relevant family themes will emerge that may have only a tangential relationship to the original hypotheses. However the theme emerges, it should be held in mind by the therapist who gradually and purposefully uses questions to widen the scope and relational patterns connected to it. This requires a degree of persistence by the therapist: Essentially if the theme is useful then more questions are better to help achieve a difference of view. Secondly, sometimes the therapist will hear a phrase or a `symbolic' behaviour, which again should be held in mind and returned to with a series of questions. Examples of such `symbols' might be repeated patterns of behaviour, certain important family rituals and sometimes just repeated phrases.
