Nah, the author was just under the impression that councellors are for anything other than terminally crazy people. There's a difference between my friend asking me "are you hurt" and the doctor asking me "are you hurt". Your friend doesn't need to know that on every third step your knee hurts, but that's exactly what you're going to the doctor for, so it would be really silly saying it doesn't hurt when it does, even if the pain is not yet severe. Similarly "are you absolutely sure you will not hurt yourself today?" -- you and I know that means "are you going to take a knife and slice your wrists or put your face in the flames to see how they taste or something", but it can also mean "are you going to kick a table by mistake?". A person not familiar with the severe psychological issues councellors see each day can very easily not even think that "are you absolutely sure you're not going to hurt yourself today?" refers in to them stabbing themselves voluntarily with a sharp object to make the voices go away.