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Chapter 1: Overview of Professional Counseling
Multiple Choice
Historically, professionals differentiated between the terms ‘counseling’ and
‘psychotherapy’ by which of the following criteria?
a. Focus of treatment and outcomes
b. Length and physical location of treatment
c. Seriousness and type of presenting issues
d. All of the above
The primary association in the United States representing professional counselors
is:
a. United Counselors Association (UCA)
b. American Counseling Association (ACA)
c. National Association of Counseling Professionals (NACP)
d. Vision for the Future of Counseling (VFC)
What is the most recent definition of a professional counselor, according to the ACA
(2010)?
a. “A professional relationship that empowers diverse individuals, families,
and groups to accomplish mental health, wellness, education, and career
goals”
b. “A professional that provides long-term treatment for serious issues”
c. “A professional that applies mental health, psychological, or human
development principles, through cognitive, affective, behavioral, or
systemic interventions, strategies that address wellness, personal growth,
or career development, as well as pathology”
d. “A professional that assesses, diagnoses, and treats challenges
experienced by the client”
What was the purpose of the Vision 20/20 task force that was developed by ACA
leaders?
a. Strengthen the profession through a clearer mission statement
b. Redefine all areas of the counseling profession
c. Revise the credentialing process
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d. Provide ethical guidelines for counselors
Which of the following conditions of growth need to be provided by the counselors,
according to Rogers (1961)?
a. Empathy
b. Congruence
c. Unconditional positive regard
d. All of the above
A counselor should examine their personal motivations, beliefs, and values because:
a. It is a way to build a relationship with a client
b. It is important to recognize and filter these when working with clients
who have different motivations, beliefs, and values
c. The counselor might need to change their entire belief system if it does
not match the client
d. It might be affecting your personality in a negative way
According to Lambert and Barley (2001), the common factors (i.e., characteristics of
the counselor, nature of the therapeutic relationship) accounted for ________% of a
client’s overall improvement in treatment.
a. 90%
b. 50%
c. 10%
d. 30%
________________________ factors refer to the client’s factors, such as wiliness to change.
a. Therapeutic relationship
b. Hope and expectancy
c. Extratherapeutic
d. Therapeutic models and technique
________________________ factors refer to the counselor’s characteristics, such as warmth,
empathy and acceptance
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a. Therapeutic relationship
b. Hope and expectancy
c. Extratherapeutic
d. Therapeutic models and technique
Sarah spends time during one of her first sessions with Mark, a new client, asking
about him about his relationships, family history, and substance use. This is an
example of what stage of the counseling process?
a. Establishing the relationship
b. Treatment planning
c. Intervention
d. Assessment
What is most true about treatment planning with a client?
a. It is important for the client to be actively involved
b. The plan needs to have a particular number of goals that need to be
achieved by a specific date
c. Treatment plans are not required if the client does not want one
d. Treatment plans are optional if the counselor does not think it would be
beneficial for the client
Why are interventions important in the counseling process?
a. Interventions helps the counselor understand what the client’s current
condition is
b. Interventions help clients accomplish set goals in counseling
c. Interventions inform the counselor if counseling is effective for the client
d. Interventions are not particularly important in the counseling process
Michael is working with his client Al on a variety of relaxation strategies (such as
deep breathing, muscle relaxation) and helping him identify his inaccurate thinking
patterns. Michael and Al are at what stage in the counseling process?
a. Intervention
b. Treatment planning
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c. Establishing the relationship
d. Termination
It was determined by both Carol, the counselor, and her client Patty that she has
met all of her treatment goals in counseling. Carol and Patty discuss all of Patty’s
progress throughout counseling, ways she can handle difficult situations in the
future, and some goals she continue working on outside of counseling. Carol and
Patty are at what stage in the counseling process?
a. Intervention
b. Treatment planning
c. Establishing the relationship
d. Termination
__________________________is defined as “a collaborative process whereby both client
and therapist agree on shared therapeutic goals; collaborate on tasks designed to
bring about successful outcomes; and establish a relationship based on trust,
acceptance, and competence” (Teyber, 2006, p. 43).
a. Counseling
b. Therapeutic alliance
c. Counseling process
d. Microskills
If a counselor rephrases the client’s primary statement or response to let him or her
know that they were listening and paying attention, they are exercising what
microskill?
a. Summarizing
b. Probing
c. Reflecting
d. Restating
As Juan talks to his counselor, she often nods her head and acknowledges what he
says by saying things such as “uh huh” or “yes”. Juan’s counselor is:
a. Attending
b. Restating
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c. Reflecting
d. Probing
Who is credited with being the father of psychodynamic therapy?
a. Rogers
b. Freud
c. Adler
d. Jung
One of _________________’s contributions to the psychodynamic approach included
invention of the concepts of extraversion and introversion.
a. Rogers
b. Freud
c. Adler
d. Jung
________________ would most likely spend time with a client discussing the client’s
childhood experiences because of the belief that the previous experiences shape the
client’s current personality and presenting issues.
a. Beck
b. Pedersen
c. Adler
d. Freud
In what way is the humanistic-existential approach different than the
psychodynamic approach?
a. The humanistic-existential approach focuses on the relationship between
the client and counselor
b. The humanistic-existential approach focuses on the past experiences of
the client
c. The psychodynamic approach has positive views of human beings
d. The psychodynamic approach provides an environment that is conducive
to growth, including empathy and a caring, nonjudgmental attitude
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Which of the following individuals are not associated with the humanistic–
existential approach?
a. Carl Rogers
b. Victor Frankl
c. Carl Gustav Jung
d. Irvin Yalom
Which of the following is a true statement about cognitive-behavioral approaches?
a. The approach focuses on insight
b. The approach focuses on the relationship between the client and
counselor
c. The approach focuses on the client’s thoughts and beliefs
d. All of the above
What do cognitive-behavioral therapists focus on in counseling?
a. Help change a client’s thoughts and beliefs to facilitate behavioral change
b. Help change a client’s thoughts
c. Help the client build relationships with others
d. Help the client understand what cultural factors are playing a role in
counseling
What is considered a significant contribution of behavioral and cognitive-behavioral
approaches?
a. Highlighted the importance of therapeutic outcomes
b. The concept that childhood experiences play a large role in adult
functioning
c. Use of empathy, unconditional positive regard, and congruence in therapy
d. Emphasis of cognitions and beliefs in personality development
Counselors from the humanistic-existential approach take a phenomenological
perspective. What does this mean?
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a. They believe individuals strive toward positive direction, self-
actualization, and integration
b. They have an optimistic view on humans
c. They provide an accept, safe, and meaningful therapeutic experience
d. They believe the subjective experience of the client is important and
every human is unique
Which is true regarding the multicultural approach?
a. Culture is viewed as critical to the understanding of the individual
b. Culture is currently defined as race and ethnicity of the client
c. Culture only applies to the client and does not affect the counseling
relationship
d. Culture is not an important to consider in counseling
In practice, what approach is the most widely used by counselors?
a. Psychodynamic
b. Humanistic-existential
c. Behavioral and cognitive-behavioral
d. Integrative
Which of the following statements is true regarding the definition of professional
counseling?
a. The definition has remained the same over several decades
b. The definition is unlikely to change in the future
c. It is not important to understand the definition of professional
counseling, as long as the counselor is helping clients
d. The definition is most likely evolve and shift in the future
What could be possible reasons a counselor expresses anger or frustration toward
clients?
a. They could have personality issues
b. They could have negative motivations
c. They could be experiencing personal issues
d. All of the above
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True/False
The definition of professional counseling, defined by the American Counseling
Association, has remained the same over the past several decades
An ineffective counselor may improve their skills via education, training, and
supervision, to become a more effective counselor
The personhood of counselors is one of the most essential factors for facilitating
clients’ growth and development
A counselor’s own values and beliefs are not important and should be ignored in the
professional work of counseling
Assessment is not an imperative part of the counseling process
It is important that the client is actively involved in treatment planning because they
are the ones who will carry out the plan
Formative evaluation focuses on the counseling process, whereas summative
evaluation focuses on the counseling outcomes
Termination is only determined by the counselor in the counseling process.
Basic counseling skills are also called microskills
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Microskills pertain to a specific counseling theoretical approach
Adler’s theory shifted from a purely psychodynamic psychotherapy to more
humanistic psychotherapy
Humanistic-existential counselors do not try to fix their client, rather they try to
help clients make meaning out of their life
Ellis, Beck, and Glasser are contributors to the humanistic-existential approach
In the multicultural approach to counseling, culture is currently defined as race and
ethnicity.
In reality, most counselors practice an integrative approach to counseling, where
they draw their concepts and techniques from multiple theoretical approaches
Short-Answer/Essay
Describe reasons that a counselor may be ineffective with a client (for example, does
not seem to listen to the client or often expresses frustration with the client).
Describe steps that the counselor can take to remediate this.
What are the six stages in the counseling process? Describe the purpose and
importance of each stage.
Answer:
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Why is a counselor’s theoretical approach important?
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Discuss how Sigmund Freud, Carl Gustav Jung, and Alfred Adler’s contribution to the
psychodynamic approach of counseling
Describe Carl Rogers’ contributions to the humanistic-existential approach of
counseling
What are microskills? Why are they important to counseling?
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Halbur and Halbur (2011) suggested 10 strategies that can assist an individual in
selecting a theoretical orientation. List the strategies and describe how you may
carry them out.