'Good morning, Sir!'Axe handle.' Talking at cross-purposes in family therapy

This paper will examine how therapists can make sense of and use some of the incongruous and apparently absurd replies which clients sometimes make to their therapists' questions. It will be argued that the convention of relying on therapist questions can create its own problems, not least because clients often feel at a disadvantage. Careful attention to the question_answer process in therapy can play an essential part in the therapeutic alliance and can give us clues as to what may be some of the often unstated preoccupations of our clients.