Leading people into a stupor — a question that even Freud feared.

Asking a simple question about psychological trauma can lead a person into a stupor, forcing them to dig very deep and break down their entire framework. News.LIVE delves into this in more detail.

A question that reveals the truth about psychological trauma

What do you gain from your problem?

This question may be simple but is at the same time very dangerous. It forces a person to reveal their true inner beliefs. Instead of the usual 'why do I feel bad', a person has to confront what their psyche may actually want to do — remain with the pain inside.

Famous psychologist Sigmund Freud believed that some traumas could not be healed through words. To recover, one needed to uncover the benefits that a person derives from their symptoms. For example, some may not want to come out of depression because they feel comfortable being inactive, or cling to resentment out of a sense of emptiness without it.

In the world of psychology, there is a view that revealing true motives leaves a person with a choice — to change or to stay in a comfortable but harmful zone of comfort.