There are certain words that the "therapy" ear is just trained to pick up on. They are words in which:

a: the therapist had a pretty good idea of what the underlying meaning is, but wants to the patient to be able to reach that insight his/herself.

b. the therapist really has no idea what the word refers to and needs more information. EX: when doing group therapy today, one of my patients said, "I'm afraid to go back home because that's where I flipped out." Immediately, I picked up on that term. I ask him, "Flipped out?" I need more information. Very often, patients will use quite extreme terms and the therapist is trained to pick up on these cues to get more information.

I don't mean to make it sound like a special list of words or anything. It's just that as you do therapy, there are just those cue words that you know you should ask about. It's funny, too, because in my own therapy... I will use a word, then realize it, and then literally be able to countdown... 3...2...1.. to when my T is going to repeat the word in a question form because I know he has picked it up as a "cue" word.