IMPORTANT NOTICE:
SECURE TEST BANK
Mastering Competencies in Family Therapy
Chapter 13: Case Conceptualization
1. The author of the text suggests that the first step in therapy is for the therapist to map the
territory. To develop a good map, therapists need to master the art of __________, which
in a talking profession like therapy refers to knowing where to focus your attention while
listening.
a. painting
b. viewing
c. watching
d. asking
2. Case conceptualization starts by identifying the most salient demographic features that
relate to treatment as well as which of the following?
a. Who the client is
b. What the client had for dinner
c. Where the client lives
d. How the client lives
3. When eliciting descriptions of the presenting concern/problem in couples or family
therapy, it is important to get a description from whom?
a. Each client in the room
b. Extended family
c. Broader systems
d. All systems /parties involved in therapy
4. Which of the following is NOT recommended that the family therapist include when
obtaining a description of the presenting problem?
a. The reason each client states he or she or seeking therapy
b. Information from the referring agent and his or her description of the problem
c. A brief history of the problem and the family
d. Descriptions of the failures the family has had when trying to solve the problem
on their own
5. The collaborative language systems approach maintains that each person who is talking
about the problem is part of the ________________; therefore, each person’s description
of a situation should be considered when conceptualizing the problem.
a. somatic-generating system
b. solution-generating system
c. problem-generating system
d. behavior-generating system
6. Obtaining background information about the problem is an important part of case
conceptualization. Which of the following would NOT be considered background
information or the necessary facts of the case?
a. History of trauma and abuse
b. Substance use and abuse
c. Precipitating events
d. Nine generation family history
7. The author of the text recommends client strengths and resources be assessed in which
stage of therapy?
a. First thing in the assessment
b. Mid-way through treatment
c. When therapy is about to terminate
d. At no stage because client strengths and resources are not relevant to treatment
8. To conceptualize client strengths and resources, therapists can think of strengths at
several levels, including all of the following EXCEPT?
a. Personal/individual
b. Relational/social
c. Therapeutic
d. Spiritual
9. What are the two general categories of personal/individual strengths?
a. Abilities/self acceptance
b. Abilities/personal qualities
c. Personal qualities/traits
d. Personal qualities/self-acceptance
10. For what purpose should a family therapist assess a client’s spiritual resources?
a. To enforce spirituality and religion as a part of the solution to the client’s
problems
b. To access beliefs that may transform how the client feels, thinks, and responds to
difficult situations
c. To promote spiritual and religious tolerance among therapists
d. All of the above
11. Assessment of family structure often begins by indentifying the client or family’s stage in
the __________.
a. family circus
b. family room
c. family life cycle
d. family plan
12. Most commonly associated with structural family therapy, boundaries are the rules for
negotiating interpersonal __________ and __________.
a. closeness; intimacy
b. relationships; distance
c. relationships; intimacy
d. closeness; distance
13. When a couple begins to over-value togetherness at the expense of respecting the
individuality of each other, their boundaries become _________ and the relationship
becomes ______________.
a. diffuse; enmeshed
b. disengaged; diffused
c. rigid; disengaged
d. None of the above
14. Each of these terms refers to a similar process in relationships: tension between two
people resolved by drawing in a third person or thing to stabilize the original dyad.
Which of the following terms do NOT fit this description?
a. Subsystem
b. Triangle
c. Covert coalition
d. Cross-generational coalition
15. When assessing the parental hierarchy in parent and child relationships, what is the
healthy or appropriate hierarchical structure?
a. Excessive
b. Insufficient
c. Permissive
d. Effective
16. Which of the following is NOT considered a survival stance in Satir’s communication
stances?
a. Placating
b. Ironic
c. Blaming
d. Superreasonable
17. John Gottman’s Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are considered key variables for
assessment in couple functioning. Which of the following is considered one of the
Horsemen?
a. Criticism
b. Daringness
c. Courage
d. Sky falling
18. One of the hallmarks of family therapy is the ability to assess the family’s __________
related to the presenting problem.
a. structural patterns
b. behavior modification
c. interaction patterns
d. interpersonal relationships
19. A therapist says, “A child’s symptom of school failure forces the couple, the child’s
parents, to work together and distracts the couple from their distressful marital
relationship.” The therapist has developed what about this family?
a. A systemic hypothesis
b. An interaction pattern
c. An intergenerational map
d. A communication configuration
20. Assessing for intergenerational patterns is easiest when a therapist uses which of the
following?
a. A guide
b. A model
c. A survey
d. A genogram
21. Monica is a family therapist completing an assessment with a family. She says to the
family, “What have you done on your own to try and solve this problem of Jesse’s school
failure? What have you tried that was not as successful as you had hoped?” What is
Monica looking for?
a. Solutions that did work
b. Solutions that did not work
c. Solutions that she can try in therapy
d. Unique outcomes
22. Which of the following would be considered common dominant discourses that inform a
client’s life?
a. Culture, race, ethnicity, and immigration
b. Gender, sexual orientation, and sexual preferences
c. Stories of divorce, death, and loss of significant relationships
d. All of the above
23. When a clinical case conceptualization is complete, it is appropriate and helpful for the
therapist to do which of the following?
a. Hand the entire case conceptualization over to the client(s).
b. Discuss key findings with the client(s).
c. Shield the client(s) from the content of the case conceptualization.
d. Discount the client(s) perspective when conceptualizing treatment.
24. Therapists CANNOT rely simply on __________ descriptions of behavior in assessment.
They must consider the broader culture norms, which may include more than one set of
ethnic norms as well as local neighborhood cultures, school contexts, sexual orientation
subcultures, religious communities, and so forth.
a. objective
b. absolute
c. pre-defined
d. All of the above