At the mourning dawn of Mr. Innocent, a leading actor in Malayalam Cinema; I happened to watch one of his interviews. In which, he was mentioning about some of the non-innocent questions that he had to face from his guests after he was survived of the cancer. Though the original intentions of such visits were to empathize with the sick, such questions left negative impacts on him. Similarly, during a group therapy session among a group of victims who has undergone a recent traumatic experience many participants shared their agony while they had to face some questions from the general public, which might be seen as simple at a different context. The context matters while framing a question within any social interaction.
It is important learning to outline the questions that are more innocent in its nature. Studies teach about the use of open-ended questions within a therapeutic context. Open-ended questions usually start with ‘why’, ‘how’ and so on which prompt people to respond with a longer conversation. Whereas closed-ended questions make the client to respond with single word answers like ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Open-ended make the clients to feel more relaxed. The client experiences an acceptance from the therapist, without finding oneself as being cornered or being trapped. Since such questions are empathetic in nature, they make clients’ mind open and less threatening. People can learn lessons from the therapeutic context to their social interactions. Questions are not always neutral.
Some questions are judgemental in nature. At times, the question itself determines the nature of the answer. Some queries arise from the curiosity of the people and may cross the limits of the privacy of the other. Some others occur out of the prejudice of the people and they become accusing in nature.
Safeguarding literature which addresses various abuses among children and vulnerable adults, reminds every personnel involved in the investigation in order to be cautious about their question so that to avoid any possible ‘revictimization’. The questions of the investigator have to be carefully framed with respect and empathy; so that the victim should be safe from any possible repeated exposure to the mental agony of the abusive event.
In a social context it is hard to recognize the mental status of each individual. Society is so complex in its nature and the quality of internal peace of all has to be taken care while one asks a question. Respect and empathy need to be core values and guiding principles while one formulates a question. One has to be sensitive to the context before raising a question.