Silence

Domain XIII · Contemplative & religious disciplines

What it is

Silence is not one technique but a discipline shared across traditions, and each frames it differently. In the Goenka courses it is a total, retreat-wide rule of silence "of body, speech, and mind", so that each student works as if in isolation. In Benedictine reading, guarding the tongue is a way…

Format

• The traditions give retreat forms, not therapy phases. The phases below are a clinical organising the therapist's work. No source gives a session count for this work, and none is given here. No length of silent practice or retreat is offered as a target: how much silence, how long and in what form…
• Phase A: Meaning and consent. Goal: understand what silence means in the client's tradition and life, and whether the client wants it in therapy at all. Format: ordinary sessions; spiritual history; the DSM-5-TR Cultural Formulation Interview with its supplementary module on spirituality, religion…

Questions to explore with your client

• What drew you to it, and what are you hoping it will change?
• Does it involve any substance, plant preparation, remedy or supplement? Has your doctor or prescriber been told, especially about any medication you take?
• Does it involve intense or unusual breathing? Have you been told about the medical conditions for which that is not advised?
• Does it involve fasting, a special diet or 'detox'? Have you discussed this with your doctor?
• Is it a group, retreat or community? How do they respond if someone wants to leave or raises a concern?
• Who runs it, and what training or registration do they hold?
• What actually happens in a session or meeting, and how often?
• What does it cost, and is there pressure to commit to more?
• How do you feel afterwards, in the hours and days that follow?
• Does it fit with, or clash with, the work we do here?

What practitioners of it watch for

• referral to programmes with heavy silent components for clients currently unstable (see 4.6).
• answers that suggest community pressure to continue practice despite distress; differences between the client's view and the teacher's view.
• signs of coercive control (restricted contact, punishment for questions, secrecy about harm); in children's settings, safeguarding duties apply.
• conflicting advice (teacher urges more practice, clinician urges less): bring the conflict to the client openly; any sign of coercion or misconduct by a teacher (4.14).
• a client who feels the vow of silence forbids asking for help (address with the tradition's own rules, which allow teacher and management contact); solitary plans with no one checking in.

When to involve someone else

• New or worsening physical symptoms, or advice to stop or change prescribed medication: involve the client's doctor or prescriber.
• Signs of coercion, isolation from family and friends, escalating costs or secrecy: discuss openly and consider safeguarding.
• A crisis or thoughts of suicide: follow your crisis protocol. In the US, call or text 988; in the UK and Ireland, Samaritans on 116 123.

Drawn automatically from the guide's own sections. Stay curious: neither endorse nor dismiss what the client values, and check anything that matters against the full guide and its sources. Not medical advice.