Questionnaire for an Autobiographical Portrait of a
Practicing Therapist and Researcher
by
Ronald J. Chenail *
The Qualitative Report, Volume 2, Number 4, December,
1996
(http://www.nova.edu/ssss/QR/QR2-4/autobio.html)
The following questions serve as a "character development" exercise for
therapists. This self-examination is intended as an on-going process
through which you can come into greater awareness of who you are,
especially when you act as a therapist or researcher. In both practices,
who you are is a very important matter. In therapy, the self of the
clinician is a central notion in a number of clinical
arts--psychoanalysis, narrative therapies, co-constructionist therapies,
and language systems approaches. Likewise, in research genres such as
qualitative inquiry, action research, and feminist research, the self of
the researcher is an important ingredient of the formula for effective and
ethical practice.
The idea for this exercise, as well as some of the questions, has been
adapted from The Writing Habit by David Huddle (1991). In his book, Huddle
presented an exercise for helping writers to create well-rounded
characters for their novels and short stories. I felt the notion of asking
questions as a way to create an other would be an interesting experience
for therapists to learn more about themselves as they were about to
undertake the process of becoming researchers.
I have always been taught in my literature classes that a
well-developed character can be "removed" from his or her own native story
and be "re-settled" in a new literary surrounding. In this migration, we
should be able to have some ideas as to how this well-formed character
would act, think, and feel in his or her new narrative home.
To me, the migration from the land of therapy to the domain of research
can be a rather de-familiarizing experience for the neophyte researcher
nee therapist. This can be even more the case if the trip is one marked by
a degree of to and fro-ness, that is, as the researcher researches his or
her own clinical work in an on-going attempt to refine his or her own
counseling practice.
This potentially dizzying effect of wearing one hat and then another
can be mitigated if therapists take stock of themselves so as to become
their own well-developed character. To know thyself is an old bit of
advice, and I think it still is a useful one to heed. To researcher and
therapist alike--all good inquiry starts with a good and thorough
self-examination. Be it in the cause of avoiding counter-transference in
therapy (or research for that matter) or developing the
self-as-an-instrument in research (or ditto for therapy), getting to
oneself is a rather useful enterprise. Good luck with this exercise.
Self-referential curiosity can be rather awkward at first, but it is well
worth the work (and play) in the long run for one to become a more
self-aware researcher and therapist.
The Autobiography Questionnaire
- 1.
- Describe yourself physically. What are your most pleasing
physical attributes? What do you find most displeasing of your physical
attributes?
- 2.
- Describe yourself in terms of your race,
ethnicity, gender, and spirituality. Which of these characteristics do you
find most dominant in your life and which do find least dominant?
- 3.
- Satchel Page once asked, "How old would you be if you
didn't know how old you was?" Try answering that question for
yourself.
- 4.
- What are you professional practice habits? What patterns
are there in your life as a practitioner?
- 5.
- Describe your place of practice. Give details of its
interior and exterior. Include sensory impressions of your workplace.
Describe how you live and work in this setting.
- 6.
- Describe your behavior when you are not working at your
profession. What are the differences and similarities between when you
are at work and when you are at play?
- 7.
- What are your tastes in movies, books, food, furniture,
painting, sports, beverages, magazines, music, politics, and houses? What
things are you passionate about?
- 8.
- Describe the places in which you grew up and spent the
most of your time. Be particular about geography, buildings, and settings.
What, if any, are the ways in which these living environments have shaped
you as a practitioner?
- 9.
- Describe your parents. How did they influence you in your
professional choices and practices? Relate three important conversations
you had with them.
- 10.
- Describe your siblings. How did they influence you in
your professional choices and practices? Relate three important
conversations you had with them.
- 11.
- Describe your grandparents. How did they influence you
in your professional choices and practices? Relate three important
conversations you had with them.
- 12.
- Describe the places in which you trained and educated to
be a practitioner. What did you "take" from these places in your process
of becoming a practitioner?
- 13.
- Describe the people who taught and trained you to be a
practitioner. Describe the people who made up the populations with whom
you worked during you training and educational experiences.
- 14.
- What were the three most important events of your
training and educational experience? Give details of these moments and
tell how they helped to shape you as a practitioner.
- 15.
- Who were the three most important clients, patients, or
students with whom you worked during these training and educational days?
Describe these people and relate the details of your encounters with them.
How did they help to make you the practitioner you are today?
- 16.
- What was the last event which helped to change the way
you practice in your profession? Describe it and tell what about you was
different after having this experience.
- 17.
- Describe the three clients, patients, and/or students
you will never forget. Delate the details of your unforgettable encounters
with them.
- 18.
- What are three things about you as a person which have
not changed over the years? What are three things about you as a
professional which have also not changed over the years?
- 19.
- What has been your most embarrassing moment as a
practitioner? The funniest? The most dramatic? The most tragic? The most
discouraging?
- 20.
- What has been the toughest ethical choice you have had
to make as a practitioner? What were the details of the situation?
Describe how you came to make the decision which you made.
- 21.
- What troubles you most about your profession and your
fellow professionals?
- 22.
- Describe the most mundane aspects of your day as a
practitioner. Describe the most interesting aspects of your day as a
practitioner. Describe the most challenging aspects of your day as a
practitioner.
- 23.
- Describe your significant other. What do you enjoy the
most from this relationship? How does this person influence you in your
practice? What, if any, are the difficulties which arise from balancing a
work life with a home life?
- 24.
- How have your relationships with your parents and
siblings changed over the last five years? What you think they would say
is different about you now from when you were ten years younger?
- 25.
- If you have children, describe them. How are they
similar to you? How are they different from you? What have been your
three biggest joys of being parent?
- 26.
- What are the toughest problems you face as a
practitioner? What do you do when faced with one of these
challenges?
- 27.
- What will your life as a professional be like in five
years? In ten years? In fifteen years?
- 28.
- If you weren't doing what you are doing now as a
practitioner, what would you be doing professionally?
- 29.
- What have been the five professional books or papers
which have had the most influence on you as a practitioner? When did you
first read these works and what about them has been important to you?
- 30.
- What would you say that your clients would say about you
as a therapist? As a person?
- 31.
- What would you say that your supervisors would say about
you as a therapist? As a person?
- 32.
- What would you say that your colleagues would say about
you as a therapist? As a person?
- 33.
- What would you say were your strengths as a therapist
when it comes to being a researcher?
- 34.
- What would you say were your strengths as a person when
it comes to being a researcher?
- 35.
- Did you identify different strengths in answering
Questions 31 and 32?
- 36.
- What would you say would be things you would need to do
in order to improve these strengths?
- 37.
- What would you say were your weaknesses when it comes to
being a researcher?
- 38.
- What would you say would be things you would need to do
in order to overcome these weaknesses?
- 39.
- What things are there about being a therapist which can
hinder you becoming a researcher?
- 40.
- What things are there about being a researcher which can
hinder your being a therapist?
- 41.
- Name three ways in which therapy and research seem alike
to you.
- 42.
- Name three ways in which therapy and research seem
different to you.
- 43.
- Do you think research can be therapeutic process? If
your answer is "No," then explain why not? If your answer is "Yes," then
explain how?
- 44.
- Do you think therapy can be reflective process? If your
answer is "No," then explain why not? If your answer is "Yes," then
explain how?
- 45.
- Do you think research methodology can be used to
practice therapy? If your answer is "No," then explain why not? If your
answer is "Yes," then explain how?
- 46.
- Do you think therapy models can be used to conduct
research? If your answer is "No," then explain why not? If your answer is
"Yes," then explain how?
- 47.
- What sorts of things do say with any regularity in your
therapy sessions? From where did the words, phrases, and sentences
come?
- 48.
- What would be the most remarkable thing you ever said in
a therapy session?
- 49.
- What would be the most remarkable thing you ever heard
in a therapy session?
- 50.
- Have you ever been in therapy as a client? If yes,
describe what that experience was like for you. If no, explain why you
have never been.
If you would like to add any questions of your own to the list, please
e-mail them to me, ron@nsu.acast.nova.edu, and I
will update this questionaire with your contribution duly noted.