ABSTRACT
Customarily, psychotherapeutic responses are classified by the intent of the therapist. Reflection of feeling, probing, and interpretation are all labels describing what the therapist desires to do. Sometimes the therapist encourages the patient to give information that illuminates the thought processes underlying certain activities and suggests the meanings of covert cues. Prior psychological testing also creates preconditions and expectations. Some therapists seek diagnostic information because they feel it will help them understand the patient. The therapist determines the direction of the discussion and implies that the answer will advance therapy. All therapists need some manifest information to understand the covert cues the patient is giving. Dynamic information thus can be an important source of knowledge about the operations the patient goes through to perpetuate problems. Delay responses often advance the relationship and may prevent the therapist from committing serious errors.
