Applies the principles of conversation analysis to AIDS counselling situations.Conversations between AIDS counsellors and their clients bring delicate and potentially threatening issues into play. In this study Anssi Peräkylä applies the principles of conversation analysis to his exploration of AIDS counselling, using data from video-recorded counselling sessions in a London teaching hospital, and analyses the design and placement of questions in these situations. His conclusions provide a timely and illuminating insight into the management of a sensitive topic through various techniques of indirectness.Conversations between AIDS counsellors and their clients bring delicate and potentially threatening issues into play. In this study Anssi Peräkylä applies the principles of conversation analysis to his exploration of AIDS counselling, using data from video-recorded counselling sessions in a London teaching hospital, and analyses the design and placement of questions in these situations. His conclusions provide a timely and illuminating insight into the management of a sensitive topic through various techniques of indirectness.Conversations between AIDS counselors and their clients bring delicate and potentially threatening issues into play. In this study Anssi Peräkylä applies the principles of conversation analysis to his exploration of AIDS counseling, using data from video-recorded counseling sessions in a London teaching hospital, and analyzes the design and placement of questions in these situations. His conclusions provide a timely and illuminating insight into the management of a sensitive topic through various techniques of indirectness.Preface; 1. Introduction; 2. The quasi-conversational turn-taking; 3. The client as owner of experience; 4. The management of co-counsellors' questions; 5. Some interactional uses of co-counsellors' questions; 6. Addressing 'dreaded issues'; 7. The interactional power of hylƒ7