The spatial and temporal dimensions of reflective questions in genetic counselling

This chapter, written by Srikant Sarangi, examines reflective questions in genetic counseling sessions. According to Sarangi, such sessions are characterized by an “ethos of nondirectiveness” designed to facilitate “reflection‐based decision making” on the part of clients. Sarangi shows how reflective questions, including hypothetical questions, function to create hypothetical scenarios for clients who are deciding whether they wish to be tested for genetically transmitted diseases, such as Huntington's disease. These hypothetical scenarios extend the clinical setting both temporally and spatially; that is, clients orient not only to the multiple participants present in the here and now of clinic sessions but also to the multiple participants present in the past and future scenarios evoked by the counselor's reflective and hypothetical questions. Sarangi thus demonstrates the value of looking at both past and hypothetical future interactions for what they reveal about what is going on in a present exchange