ABSTRACT
Use of enquiry is probably every therapist's third tool, after listening and empathy. The backdrop of therapeutic enquiry is a genuine interest in the client and their process and is done respectfully and sensitively. The intention behind the enquiry process is to deepen awareness, both for the client and the therapist. Sensitive, and carefully attended to, enquiry will often enable the client to see their own meanings and generate solutions to their problems with the minimum of therapist intervention. Erskine et al. offer a ‘menu’ of areas for enquiry, including: physical sensations and reactions; emotions; memories; thoughts; conclusions and ‘as if’ script decisions; the meaning the client makes of experiences; hopes and fantasies. Another way enquiry can be used is to activate specific memories or experiential processes for a particular therapeutic intervention. Some examples include: by prompting a client to identify similarities between a current event and past events to generate insight.
