And that music of which you speak is a vital part of any case. I trained in venues where at times we were able to observe therapy sessions from behind a one way mirror. Although this still one step removed from being in the room, it was the closest thing to be there and allowed observation and resonance with the affect of patient and therapist. That is a far cry from reading about a case or having someone present it. The Silvan S. Tomkins Institute has the mission to teach whoever we can that awareness of affect has been seriously limited by the absence of a proper theory of affect which has caused affect to remain mostly invisible much of the time. In spite of the incredible value of this forum, it is limited by the inability to transmit the affect(s) experienced by patient and therapist through cyberspace. (Maybe you need a disclaimer statement) (-:
Certainly you are right that Socratic method could work in a fashion that does not elicit shame. I do indeed need to learn from Henry about his use of the technique to determine whether he does avoid shame. It has been my experience that those (and this certainly refers primarily to blank screen technique users) who are not informed about shame affect and its triggering mechanism, consider withholding of the emotional self as a valid therapeutic technique without being aware that it does cause shame and then shame defense. Much of what has been called resistance is actually shame defense, very often triggered by the technique or interactive style of the therapist.
Did Socrates withhold his emotional self as he used his technique? If he did, then he triggered shame in the other, which may or may not have been his intent.
Personality is an important concept in affect theory. But it is not perceived as a singular phenomenon, rather it is a complex interweaving of scripts formed throughout a person's lifetime; scripts that in an interdependent relationship with memory and cognition manage the affects experienced by the person. Thus, one could have a particular script that is causing symptoms and needs to be changed. Successful alteration of such a script would reduce symptomatology such that the person would no longer feel the need for therapy. Would one then say this is a change in the "core personality" of the person? Yes and no; yes because the changing of one script can be a significant change with very positive consequences for a person's quality of life, but no because one script does not a personality make. In other words, the concept of core personality is terribly complex and probably something that is more in the eye of the beholder than something that can be defined in a universally agreed upon way.