Infidelity recovery / INF-A05-3
Questions with a Clinical Container — Clinician dialogue
Guide a collaborative conversation about questions with a clinical container while checking fit and participant choice.
15 minutes · Clinician script · Mental health professionals
Fictional example: Lee wants clarity about ongoing contact but does not want explicit imagery.
Use within your training and assessment of readiness. Questions can be paced to reduce avoidable harm and preserve informed choice.
Invite and obtain permission
Offer: "Would it be useful to explore questions with a clinical container using an ordinary or fictional example? We can adapt it, observe, or stop." Ask what the person wants from the conversation.
Elicit before teaching
Ask: "How does this show up, if at all, in your own words?" Offer this idea tentatively: Questions can be paced to reduce avoidable harm and preserve informed choice. Ask what fits and what does not.
Guide the task
With a qualified clinician, sort questions into practical information, relationship meaning, and potentially distressing detail; no graphic disclosure is required. Ask for permission before giving an example. Use this fictional illustration if useful: Lee wants clarity about ongoing contact but does not want explicit imagery.
Reflect and check accuracy
Reflect only what was offered: "I heard you describe ___. What did I miss?" Ask: What information supports decisions, and what might add distress without helping? Avoid assigning motives or interpreting silence as agreement.
Respond to a mismatch
If the person rejects the frame, say: "Thank you for correcting it. What would be more useful?" Return to their language or choose a different approach.
Close with agency
Ask which observation, question, or support request the person wants to keep. Confirm a manageable ending and appropriate follow-up; do not turn a tentative possibility into a homework obligation.
Prompts for this resource
- Readiness, permission, cultural context, and access needs to check:
- What information supports decisions, and what might add distress without helping?
- What would tell me to adapt, stop, or seek supervision?
Conceptual background
Integrative Model of Affair Recovery — American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy
Background on the approach only. Original exercises and wording are by More Than Therapy with AI assistance; the source does not validate or endorse these materials.