Circular Questioning in Couple and Family Therapy

Name of the Strategy or Intervention

Circular questioning

Introduction

Circular questioning is a systemic method of clinical inquiry initially developed by the Milan Associates (Palazzoli Selvini et al. 1980) and later adapted widely within the field of couple and family therapy (Fleuridas et al. 1986). The innovative work of the Milan Associates applied systems theory and cybernetic epistemology to clinical work with family systems which, in part, resulted in an approach to therapy which directed questions toward a relational system rather than an individual (Palazzoli Selvini et al. 1980). Circular questioning is a practical methodology that makes the clinical shift from individual and linear to relational and circular (Fleuridas et al. 1986).

Theoretical Framework

Circular questioning emerged amidst the rise of the systemic revolution in mental health treatment in the twentieth century. The emerging systemic theories of Bateson (1972) and Watzlawick et al. (Watzlawick et al. 1967)...