Objective:To explore the counselor verbal response modes of psychic hot-line counseling and its characteristics.Methods:Through a qualitative study with category analysis method,8 pieces of audio recordings were collected,in each of which the entire duration was between 30 minutes to 50 minutes.And all of these record-ings were transcribed word by word.Meaningful 1202 pieces were deeply analyzed.Results:There were 5 core counselor verbal response types in hot-line counseling,greeting response,set-up response,listening response,follow-up response,and affecting response,all of which had 24 concept categories.All of the online counselors used the 5 types of verbal response.The listening response and follow-up response were the highest frequent types.Greeting response and set-up response were used mostly in the initial stage of counseling.Listening response,and follow-up response were used mostly in the stage of describing problem.Affecting response was sharply increased in the stage of analyzing problem.Greeting response and set-up response were used mostly in last stage of counseling.Conclu-sion:It suggests that there are 5 core counselor verbal response types and 24 concept categories in hot-line counse-ling.The listening response and follow-up response are the highest frequent types.Different types of verbal re-sponse modes used by counselor in different stages due to different intention.