This paper will give a brief overview of the art of Socratic "style" questioning, as used by Alfred Adler, Alexander Mueller, and Sophia de Vries. Its purpose is to reawaken a clinical interest in Adler's original, creative therapeutic approach.

The author demonstrates the technique of questioning and how to make guesses about a client's psychological movement and life style.  A specific case example is provided to illustrate the process of guessing the client's private logic, psychological movement, scheme of apperception and life style.  The conclusion summarizes some of Adler's theoretical constructs used during treatment.

The following demonstrations by Sophie de Vries (1901 - 1999) include process commentary by Henry Stein in order to clarify the strategies and logic behind each of the therapist's responses to a client's statements. The "clients" are volunteers dealing with a single issue in a workshop demonstration.