Raising the Topic of Physical Fighting

“I am the cat that walks alone.”

William Burroughs
Beat writer, heroin addict

Raising the Topic of Physical Fighting

TISA Description of the Problem: It can be difficult, in an initial interview, to raise potentially shame or guilt producing topics such as physical fighting in a gentle and nonconfrontative fashion. Mustafa Soomro, M.D., has a nice method of smoothly raising such topics.

Tip: I find that if I want to approach the topic of physical fighting unobtrusively, I sometimes start by raising the topic in such a way that it does not necessarily imply that the client was involved in the altercation. Once raised, I can sensitively investigate what role the client himself or herself played in the violence. In this regard the following question is quite useful:

“Have you ever been in situations where fights occurred and you
were affected?”

Using this approach I can then proceed to flesh out the role of the client in provoking the violence, escalating it, or perhaps merely being a victim of it.

TISA Follow-up: The above tip is a shrewd and effective one. I find it is very non-threatening, and it can allow one to uncover all sorts of violence from street fighting to domestic violence.

Tip provided by:

Mustafa Soomro, M.D.