In practice we may use a combination, with due sensitivity to the inclination of the client. At one extreme I remember one client who gave me the story of her life for six hours, spread over four sessions, as smoothly as if it were a written autobiography. At the other extreme there are individuals whose minds are so confused that it is necessary to ask some specific questions in order to tease out any semblance of order. As a matter of technique I am going to propose a number of questions. They can be thought of as hooks with which to catch the essential information, or as hooks on which to place the information gathered by a trawling technique.
Some people prefer to talk about the problem in their own words.
In other cases it is easier if I ask questions. The nature of the problem The only reason clients come is because there is something bothering them. But it is very important to avoid jumping to conclusions. I have lost count of the number of times I have talked with a prospective client on the phone, and after five minutes been quite confident that I understood what the problem was, only to find at the first session that I had got it quite wrong. One reason why this happens is that clients will not open up about very personal matters until they have achieved confidence in the therapist.