Question 1

When clients are given agency, they are given the ability to:

Accepted Answer

In the end, we are responsible for our own words and actions and nowhere is that more clearly explained than in narrative therapy's sense of agency. By taking responsibility for our words and actions, we can feel liberated and empowered to participate in our own treatment. You could also repeal any of your therapist's changes, though only after considering their efficacy, but the definition is not quite the same.

Question 2

A client is especially insightful about the changes that her family needs to make in order to survive in the current economic climate. Still, she wishes things were different. For this particular client, it may be helpful to ask:

Accepted Answer

For someone with a good deal of insight about her issues, many interventions will be available with regard to resolving them. Perhaps least helpful would be (C), though it may restore some sense of stability via weekly cost-saving. Still, others like the miracle question.

Question 3

Teddy is a seven year-old who struggles with some regular bouts of anxiety around going to school, like making friends and being appreciated. By asking Teddy's parents to read psychoeducational material, you are encouraging them to:

Accepted Answer

While it could be helpful for all of the situations, you are not especially asking them to increase their observation. They did bring Teddy to therapy, after all. But if they're able to understand the treatment, it is more likely to reduce their own anxiety and help them to be agents of change within the family without placing the expectation on the child.

Question 4

Scott tells you that his parents can often be heard fighting in the next room. Sometimes he reports that he feels like one parent might run away and take him along. Scott doesn't think his parents would hurt him, but he's clearly upset. A safety plan for Scott might include:

Accepted Answer

For Scott, the important thing is to have a safe place to go and to be when his parents would need to locate him. Still, he would need adults to be present and reassuring, so you may need to enlist a parent's help to find the appropriate neighbors which could be tricky, given confidentiality.

Question 5

Heather has a history of using verbally abusive language with her mother, destruction of property, and overreaction. Heather could benefit from some education around:

Accepted Answer

Anger management is a method in which individuals can deal with all of their problems, fears, and concerns around anger and how it impacts their life. The other options listed all make for good options when dealing specifically with those issues, but, for example, while grief and loss may be underlying the anger, anger management would be the best place to reveal that information for further exploration.

Question 6

Which of the following could be considered a "long term" goal?

Accepted Answer

For many, locating the feelings is one thing. Discussing them or naming them is something else entirely. All of the other options are considered short-term with regard to emotional well-being. They are things that could increase self-image, but the really in-depth work goes toward expressing negative feelings contributing to poor self-concept.

Question 7

Which of the following would be an appropriate referral before completing a diagnosis with a young client who exhibits signs and symptoms of Attention-Deficit-Hyperactivity Disorder?

Accepted Answer

Neuropsychology is a field that helps inform psychology from the biological perspective of brain function. Neuropsychologists have special assessments they can administer, which would help determine how much of an individual's presentation could be contributed to a certain disorder.

Question 8

Amy cannot remember much about her maternal grandparents, but she does remember that both were married twice, that one was an alcoholic, and that her maternal grandmother had a twin. This information, while not complete, is enough to begin:

Accepted Answer

Genograms do not always come complete with everything necessary to see patterns or develop a detailed history, but often enough, they come with information that leads to an in-depth review of much of the internal issues at play for us. While all of us are searching for meaning, we usually do it in the context of our history, attempting to make essential changes.

Question 9

Each time the therapist is making progress toward understanding another part of the family's presentation, Ashley's father comes up with a reason for her behavior. It appears that in this family, Ashley is serving to protect:

Accepted Answer

When families want a behavior to remain part of the dynamic and it is clearly a negative influence or impact, it must serve some purpose for them. In order to help reduce the problematic behavior, you must realize what role it serves so that you can first suggest a replacement family behavior, which may not adhere right away.

Question 10

Elena presents in therapy with you after trying four other therapists who don't quite understand where she's coming from. When she explains that she suffers from low self-esteem, you suggest some of the following. Which is not considered a short term objective?

Accepted Answer

The word consistently is what defines (D) as a long term objective. Viewing some positive aspects of self-image is easier than making it a long-term proposition. After all, since exploring feelings is long term, consistent positive images would be long-term as well. In this case, though, verbalizing the feelings doesn't necessarily mean having a full understanding.

Question 11

Relaxation, breathing control, and covert modeling are all positive examples of:

Accepted Answer

The techniques listed are all available coping skills for adapting to PTSD. While perhaps helpful with warding off negative influences, they do not ward them off in and of themselves and should not be confused with any aspect of CBT work around reinforcement.

Question 12

When a client presents who wants answers very quickly and is only willing to work minimally on his own issues, but wants you to focus instead on fixing his family, you might suggest:

Accepted Answer

If an individual is unwilling to focus on his own issues during therapy with a larger family unit, it may be helpful to point out that no matter what, his behavior contributes to the family and in order for the family to change, his behavior must change as well. You may be able to do this all the while maintaining that he can do this with speed and accuracy, following only your directive to change behavior, not necessarily exploring emotional issues.

Question 13

You are running up against roadblocks with the teenagers in your practice. Your tried and true methods are no longer satisfactory. A colleague suggests that you try giving the power of the story to the client. In doing that, you begin making an effort to:

Accepted Answer

Of all of the options available, narrative therapy is the only one that will actively seek, or encourage the client to seek, ways in which he can change his story. Popular culture might be helpful, but in the end, teenagers likely have plenty to reference already. Recognizing parents is also helpful, but does not give the power of the story over to the teenage client like narrative therapy would.

Question 14

When it comes to working with school personnel who are uncooperative, it may help to remind them that:

Accepted Answer

Difficult school personnel sometimes forget that as a therapist, you see the client once every week for sixty minutes. Often, they see them multiple days a week and multiple times each day, even if just for interactions in the hall. In order to cope with difficult behavior, modification could start with school personnel willing to act as authority figures.

Question 15

Terry and Belinda are doing their best to raise their kids appropriately, but keep running up against some popular myths. For example, Terry is worried that unless he gives in to some demands, his kids will grow up disliking him. Which of the following might benefit Terry most closely:

Accepted Answer

Structural family therapy could benefit Terry most closely because of its focus on redirecting the family hierarchy. When it comes to Bowenian work, the focus would be on boundaries and strategic work would be on alliances and unbalancing, neither of which could benefit Terry as much given his current adherence to the myth.

Question 16

"When I feel like I want to harm myself, I will instead do 3 of the following:" - read a book
- plant in my garden
- call a friend
- go to a movie
- go to a church function.
If I need immediate help, I will call my therapist or 911.
The above would be considered:

Accepted Answer

A safety plan, like the one above, includes the triggering event (plan to harm), the potential interventions that will prevent such harm, and steps that can be taken to immediately prevent harm. As a therapist, you would continually assist your client in monitoring and implementing the safety plan as necessary.

Question 17

In looking at an effective safety plan, which of the following important items are missing?
"When I feel like I want to harm myself, I will instead do 3 of the following:"
- read a book
- plant in my garden
- call a friend
- go to a movie
Go to a church function.

Accepted Answer

Each safety plan must contain contact information for at least one person in the support network. The above plan already lists safe places to go and a plan for what else to do. While listing key medications is also important, not all clients use psychotropic medication. However, for those who do, it may be included.

Question 18

You are a structural therapist. When a family comes into your office and presents themselves in need of someone to help fix their daughter/sister who has a drinking problem, your first question or first musing would be:

Accepted Answer

Structural therapy is about disrupting the current pattern of behavior so that the therapist can assist in developing a more workable hypothesis to help this family implement change. Regardless of the number of people who know, or who started it, the fact is that it needs to be disrupted in order for the family to regain some key level of functioning.

Question 19

Therapeutic contracts can be helpful when determining:

Accepted Answer

Contracts can assist in any of these functions. They can set up expectations of individuals participating in therapy and set up measurable objectives for whether or not progress has been made. The illness can be more defined by those who are closest to it by expression of the illness in frequency and duration of symptoms, for example.

Question 20

As a Bowenian therapist, which of the following would be on your list of interventions?

Accepted Answer

As a Bowenian therapist, you would be most interested in the triangles that exist among certain members of the family system. When evaluating the family, you would be in search of which family members aligned with one another and for what purpose. Satir and others were more interested in how family were maneuvered or finding something to identify as a problem, rather than equalizing the relationship patterns, as Bowen did.

Quiz 5: Treatment