All of the following are true about a therapist’s countertransference reactions except:
a. they should be avoided.
b. they have the potential to interfere with effective treatment.
c. they can provide rich understanding of the client’s experience.
d. they should be carefully monitored by the therapist.
Who was the first person of the modern era to do family therapy?
a. Adler
b. Minuchin
c. Bowen
d. Satir
e. Haley
Philosophically, the existentialists would agree that:
a. the final decisions and choices rest with the client.
b. people redefine themselves by their choices.
c. a person can go beyond early conditioning.
d. making choices can create anxiety.
e. all of these.
In Erikson’s view, the major developmental task in adolescence is:
a. intimacy vs. isolation.
b. integrity vs. despair.
c. identity vs. role confusion.
d. initiative vs. guilt.
e. identity vs. shame and doubt.
Which therapy approach holds that the stories people live by grow out of conversations
in a social and cultural context?
a. person-centered therapy
b. existential therapy
c. Adlerian therapy
d. solution-focused therapy
e. narrative therapy
Which of the following therapeutic approaches most places emphasis on an individual’s
competencies, avoiding defining a client by a problem, establishing a collaborative
relationship where the client is the senior partner, and focusing on a client’s strengths
and resources?
a. cognitive behavior therapy
b. postmodern approaches
c. reality therapy
d. behavior therapy
e. psychoanalytic therapy
After establishing and maintaining a good working relationship between Ruth and the
therapist, what would be the next goal using the Adlerian approach?
a. assist her in developing alternative ways of thinking, feeling and behaving by
encouraging her to translate her insights into action
b. provide a therapeutic climate in which she can come to understand her basic beliefs
and feelings about herself and discover how she acquired these faulty beliefs
c. help her achieve a balance between her “Parent”, her “Child” and her “Adult”
d. help her reach insight into her mistaken goals and self-defeating behaviors through a
process of confrontation and interpretation
A critical difference between early Gestalt therapy and relational Gestalt therapy is:
a. the emphasis on contact.
b. the approach to confrontation.
c. the use of techniques.
d. the focus on the figure formation process.
The premise of Adlerian group work is that:
a. clients’ problems are usually of a social nature.
b. early childhood disturbances are at the root of the client’s current problems.
c. individuals are encouraged to become fully independent.
d. insight, not action is needed for change.
The first phase in the practice of reality therapy is:
a. conducting a comprehensive assessment that leads to a diagnosis.
b. formulating a plan for specific ways the client can change his or her life.
c. getting involved with the client and connecting.
d. urging the client to live in reality and abandon faulty goals.
Behavior therapy is based on:
a. applying the experimental method to the therapeutic process.
b. a systematic set of concepts.
c. a well-developed theory of personality.
d. the principle of self-actualization.
Which of the following is not an existential key concept?
a. capacity for self-awareness
b. exploring the client’s quality world
c. freedom and responsibility
d. search for meaning
e. authenticity
The central issue in existential therapy is:
a. freedom and responsibility.
b. resistance.
c. transference.
d. examining irrational beliefs.
Which of the following is not one of the seven major areas of personality functioning
described by the acronym “BASIC ID”?
a. behavior
b. cognition
c. interpersonal relationships
d. aspirations
e. sensation
A limitation of rational emotive behavior therapy is:
a. it is not a confrontational approach.
b. the danger of it being an overly intellectual approach that could explain away
feelings.
c. the extreme focus on experiencing feelings to the exclusion of recognizing cognitive
factors.
d. it does not consider exploring transference as worthwhile.
e. both (b) and (d)
Within this approach, therapy is viewed as:
a. a form of operant conditioning.
b. a shared journey between therapist and client.
c. a process of exploring unconscious dynamics.
d. a process of exploring the system one lives in.
e. an intellectual and emotional debate aimed at changing one’s irrational beliefs.
Person-centered therapists are:
a. less invested in effecting client movement directly than in enabling their clients to
make changes that they have chosen freely based on their desire to live in a more
effective and satisfying manner.
b. no longer convinced that the therapeutic relationship is of paramount importance in
their work with clients.
c. likely to adopt techniques from the cognitive behavioral approaches when working
with deeply troubled individuals.
d. in high demand at agencies that value brief therapy.
e. all of the above.
Existential therapy is unlike many other therapies in that:
a. it does not have a well-defined set of techniques.
b. it stresses the I/Thou encounter in the therapy process.
c. it focuses on the use of the therapist’s self as the core of therapy.
d. it allows for incorporation of techniques from many other approaches.
e. all of these.
One item in the series of five does not fit with the other four items. Identify the word or
phrase that does not fit with the rest of the series.
(a) differentiation of self, (b) triangulation, (c) enmeshment, (d) early recollections, (e)
family life cycle
In becoming an ethical practitioner, a crucial task is to:
a. learn how to arrive at clear-cut answers for difficult situations.
b. identify a specific ethical code as the source of answers to ethical dilemmas.
c. learn how to interpret and apply ethical codes to an ethical dilemma.
d. avoid making any mistakes in counseling practice.
e. discover the correct solution for every ethical dilemma that might arise.
Unconscious motivation for client resistance is a central focus of this approach.
a. behavior therapy
b. psychoanalytic therapy
c. Adlerian therapy
d. feminist therapy
e. reality therapy
Lazarus argues in favor of:
a. technical eclecticism.
b. positive punishment.
c. zen-based techniques.
d. strict adherence to treatment manuals to ensure standardization.
e. theoretical integration
Which statement(s) is (are) true of the person-centered approach?
a. Therapists should give advice when clients need it.
b. The techniques a therapist uses are less important than his or her attitudes.
c. Therapists should function largely as teachers.
d. Therapy is primarily the therapist’s responsibility.
A Gestalt technique that is most useful when a person attempts to deny an aspect of his
or her personality (such as tenderness) is:
a. making the rounds.
b. the reversal exercise.
c. the rehearsal exercise.
d. the empty chair technique.
One item in the series of five does not fit with the other four items. Identify the word or
phrase that does not fit with the rest of the series.
(a) pre-therapy change, (b) exception questions, (c) the miracle question,
(d) scaling questions, (e) problem-saturated stories
The Gestalt approach to helping Stan resolve issues from his past would involve:
a. asking him to bring these significant people to future therapy sessions.
b. talking in detail about past experiences.
c. interpreting his dreams by using universal symbolism.
d. reliving and reexperiencing painful scenes.
e. examining Stan’s stages of development for fixations.
Which of the following is not a key concept of the person-centered approach?
a. The focus is on experiencing the immediate moment.
b. The person has the capacity to resolve his or her own problems in a climate of safety.
c. The client is primarily responsible for the direction of therapy.
d. The focus is on exploration of a client’s past.
Which is not true of dialectical behavior therapy (DBT)?
a. The approach was formulated for treating borderline personality disorders.
b. DBT emphasizes the importance of the client/therapist relationship.
c. DBT incorporates mindfulness training and Zen practices.
d. DBT is a blend of Adlerian concepts and behavioral techniques.
e. DBT relies on empirical data to support its effectiveness.
Presenting one model to which all trainees subscribe
a. is what the counseling profession endorses at present.
b. is likely to be a reality by the year 2020 when the CACREP standards are revisited.
c. is dangerous in that it can limit their effectiveness in working with a diverse range of
future clients.
d. is illegal in the Northeastern region of the U.S., but not in other parts of the country.
If a person becomes fixated in the oral stage of development, later personality problems
may include:
a. rejecting others’ love.
b. fear of intimate relationships.
c. mistrust of others.
d. all of these.
e. none of these.
Which approach would be most interested in the appropriateness of hierarchical
structure in the family?
a. Bowenian family therapy
b. human validation process model
c. structural family therapy
d. social constructionism
A major contribution of Bowen’s theory is the notion of:
a. birth order as a determinant of personality.
b. differentiation of the self.
c. family rules and communication patterns.
d. spontaneity, creativity, and play as therapeutic factors in family therapy.
Much of effective therapy is the product of artistry.
Clients in analytic therapy typically free associate to various symbols in their dreams.
An andocentric theory uses female-oriented constructs to draw conclusions about
human nature.
Reality therapy is often used in treating drug and alcohol abusers.
Reality therapy is basically active, directive, practical, didactic, cognitive, and
behavioral.
Family systems therapy represents a paradigm shift that is sometimes called “the fourth
force.”
Both family therapy and feminist therapy are based on the premise that to understand
the individual it is essential to take into consideration the interpersonal dimensions and
the sociocultural context rather than focusing primarily on the intrapsychic domain.
Fritz Perls’ wife Laura stated, “Without the constant support from his friends, and from
me, without the constant encouragement and collaboration, Fritz would never have
written a line, nor founded anything.”
Gestalt therapy focuses on the cognitive aspects of therapy.
Therapists who demonstrate little acceptance of their clients can anticipate that their
therapeutic attempts will falter.
Contemporary therapy approaches are grounded on a core set of values, which are
neither value-neutral nor applicable to all cultures.
The major developmental task of the anal stage is acquiring a sense of trust.
There is a trend in the field of family therapy toward rejecting an integrative model of
practice.
Feminist theorists consider depression a somewhat normative experience for women
due to socio-political factors.
Gestalt therapy makes use of a wide variety of techniques that are designed to increase
the client’s awareness of his or her present experiencing.
Evidence-based procedures are a part of both behavior therapy and cognitive behavior
therapy.