Study Guide Final Exam PSYC 3083

Flashcards for reviewing Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT), focusing on the stages of therapy and skills involved.

Stage I of DBT

A focus on safety and stabilization, in the following order: behaviors that are life threatening, behaviors that interfere with therapy, and behaviors that decrease the quality of life.

Stage II of DBT

A focus on behaviors that cause misery and “quiet desperation,” often due to past trauma and invalidation.

Stage III of DBT

A focus on behaviors that cause problems in everyday living so that clients can live a life of relative contentment with its ups and downs.

Stage IV of DBT

A focus on finding deeper meaning, spiritual fulfillment, and ongoing capacity for success and joy.

Individual therapy in DBT

Occurs weekly. Follows a structured format, often using a diary card to track behaviors, emotions, and skills used. Focuses on: Applying DBT skills to real-life problems. Problem-solving.Validation and behavior change strategies.Working through the treatment hierarchy (as noted above). Often involves chain analysis to understand triggers and consequences of target behaviors.

Acceptance Skills in DBT

(help clients tolerate and accept reality): Mindfulness – staying present, observing nonjudgmentally. Distress Tolerance – managing crisis situations without making them worse.

Change Skills in DBT

(help clients change behaviors and emotions): Emotion Regulation – identifying and modifying emotional responses. Interpersonal Effectiveness – navigating relationships, asserting needs.

Where are DBT skills are learned?

Skills training groups

“What” skills of mindfulness

observe - notice internal and external experiences without trying to change them. Describe – label what you observe. Participate – fully engage in the current moment.

“How” skills of mindfulness

“How” skills (how you do mindfulness): Nonjudgmentally – observe without labeling as good/bad. One-Mindfully – focus on one thing at a time. Effectively – do what works rather than what feels right or wrong

Purpose of Consultation Team Meetings in DBT

Prevent therapist burnout, ensure fidelity to DBT model, offer support and feedback.

Who attends: Consultation Team Meetings?

All DBT therapists on a treatment team

What occurs: Consultation Team Meetings?

Purpose: Prevent therapist burnout. Ensure fidelity to DBT model. Offer support, skill-building, and feedback to one another.

Case consultation, discussion of challenging client situations, reinforcement of DBT principles.

Focus of ACT and Third Wave Therapies

Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), along with other Third Wave therapies (like Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) and Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy (MBCT)), focuses more on acceptance, mindfulness, and values-based action compared to traditional Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT). While CBT primarily works to change negative or irrational thoughts and behaviors, ACT and other Third Wave therapies emphasize the importance of accepting difficult thoughts and feelings rather than attempting to change them. The goal in ACT is to increase psychological flexibility, helping individuals act in accordance with their values even in the presence of distressing thoughts or emotions. Third Wave therapies also incorporate more mindfulness-based techniques, emphasizing being present with one’s internal experience without judgment, rather than focusing only on changing thoughts and behaviors.

Goal of ACT

To increase psychological flexibility, helping individuals act in accordance with their values even in the presence of distressing thoughts or emotions.

Hayes developed ACT

He developed ACT in response to his own struggles with intense anxiety and panic attacks after finding traditional therapies ineffective.

The core idea behind ACT

Instead of trying to control or avoid painful experiences, we can accept them, commit to our values, and take meaningful action anyway.

Relational Frame Theory and Stimuli

Stimuli become related to one another through the association of their meanings (how we conceptualize them).

What makes ACT a functional contextual theory?

It examines current and past contexts to determine if a behavior supports meaningful living.

What is “combinatorial entailment?”

It refers to the way we derive new relationships between things based on previously learned ones, even without direct teaching.

Psychological Inflexibility

Experiential avoidance, dominance of conceptualized past/future, attachment to the conceptualized self, lack of values clarity, inaction or impulsivity.

Psychological Flexibility

Acceptance, Defusion, Contact with the present moment, Self-as-context, Values and Committed Action.

Committed action

Taking values-driven steps — even when uncomfortable or difficult.

Unworkable action

Behavior that may offer short-term relief but results in long-term harm or moves someone away from their values.

Experiential avoidance

The attempt to avoid or suppress unwanted internal experiences (thoughts, feelings, memories).

Private events

Private events are internal experiences (thoughts, emotions, sensations). They are formed and shaped through learning and relational networks (per RFT), and ACT teaches clients to observe rather than fight them.

Components of the MI Spirit

Collaboration, Evocation, Acceptance, Compassion

What does OARS stand for?

Open-ended Questions, Affirmations, Reflecting, Summarizing

OARS are foundational communication skills used to guide conversation in an MI-consistent manner.

What does FRAMES stand for?

Feedback, Responsibility, Advice, Menu of Options, Empathy, Self-Efficacy

FRAMES outlines strategies for brief motivational enhancement.

What does DARN CATS stand for?

DARN CATS Desire, Ability, Reason, Need, Commitment, Activation, Taking Steps

DARN CATS helps practitioners identify and strengthen client motivation through their own language.

Four factors that increase the effectiveness of MI?

Expressing empathy, developing discrepancy, rolling with resistance, supporting self-efficacy

Four steps of the counseling process in MI

Engaging, Focusing, Evoking, Planning.

Change Talk

Client speech that favors movement toward change.

Types of change talk?

Preparatory: Desire, Ability, Reason, Need (DARN)

Mobilizing: Commitment, Activation, Taking steps (CATS)

Sustain Talk

Client speech that supports the status quo or argues against change.

Rolling with Resistance

Rather than confronting client pushback, the therapist uses reflection and curiosity to de-escalate tension and maintain collaboration.

Classical Conditioning (Pavlov)

Learning via association

A neutral stimulus becomes associated with a meaningful stimulus and acquires the capacity to elicit a similar response. Example: A dog salivates (response) when it hears a bell (conditioned stimulus) that has been paired with food (unconditioned stimulus)

Operant Conditioning (Skinner)

Learning through consequences of behavior

Behaviors are strengthened or weakened depending on reinforcement or punishment. Example: A child cleans their room to receive praise (positive reinforcement).

Observational Learning (Modeling, Bandura)

Learning by watching others and imitating their behavior.

Does not require direct reinforcement. Example: A teenager starts vaping after seeing peers do it

Positive Reinforcement

Adding something pleasant - Increases behavior

Negative Reinforcement

Removing something unpleasant - Increases behavior

Positive Punishment

Adding something unpleasant - Decreases behavior

Negative Punishment

Removing something pleasant - Decreases behavior

Most effective methods for lasting change in Operant Conditioning?

Reinforcement (both positive and negative) and consistent schedules of reinforcement.

Token economy

Tokens (e.g., stickers, points, chips) are given for desired behaviors which can be exchanged for rewards.

Extinction

When a behavior that was previously reinforced stops being reinforced, leading to a decrease and eventual cessation of that behavior.

The “Build What’s Strong” approach

Focuses on cultivating strengths, positive emotions, and personal potential.

The “Fix What’s Wrong” approach

Targets reducing symptoms, correcting deficits, and solving problems.

Broaden Hypothesis

Positive emotions broaden one’s thought–action repertoire (e.g., joy sparks creativity and exploration). Leads to building cognitive, psychological, and social resources over time.

Undoing Hypothesis

Positive emotions can “undo” the physiological effects of negative emotions (e.g., reducing heart rate and stress after fear or anger). Emphasizes the regulatory power of positive emotional experiences.

What are the four errors in thinking related to “strengths theory?”

Strengths = Talents Only – Mistaken belief that strengths are only natural abilities; in reality, they include learned skills, values, and behaviors.

Strengths Are Always Good – When overused or misapplied, strengths can become liabilities (e.g., persistence turning into stubbornness).

Strengths = Job Fit Only – Strengths aren't just about performance at work; they impact relationships, well-being, and life satisfaction.

Focus Only on Weaknesses – Emphasizing only deficits can blind clients (and counselors) to areas of natural resilience and potential.

Who developed Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)?

Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg

Berg and De Shazer focus on?

Insoo Kim Berg and Steve de Shazer focused on helping clients build solutions rather than analyzing problems. They believed that clients already have the strengths and resources needed for change, and therapy should emphasize those assets. Their approach centered on identifying goals, exploring exceptions to the problem, and fostering small, practical steps toward a preferred future through collaborative and respectful dialogue.

Amplification

The therapist intentionally emphasizes and explores even small signs of progress or success the client shares.

Reframing

Presenting the client’s problem or behavior in a more positive or empowering light.

Complementing

Offering genuine, specific praise about client efforts or qualities.

Solution-oriented questions

Questions designed to elicit solutions, resources, and preferred futures.

Examples: “What would be different if the problem were solved?”, “What’s worked before?”

Evaluative questions

Help assess progress or motivation.

Often include scaling questions: “On a scale from 1 to 10, how confident are you in this plan?” “How close are you to your goal?”

Exception-seeking questions

Aim to identify times when the problem didn’t occur or was less severe. Help uncover resources, patterns, or strategies the client already uses.

Example: “Tell me about a time last week when things went a bit better — what was different?”

Preferred goals questions

Help clients define what they want instead of the problem. Focus on positive, concrete, and achievable outcomes.

Example: “What will be the first small sign that things are getting better?”

Coping questions

Used when clients feel stuck or hopeless. They highlight resilience and perseverance, even if no progress is evident.

Example: “With everything going on, how have you managed to keep going?”

Demeanor of an SFBT therapist

Respectful, curious, optimistic, and collaborative. The therapist assumes the client has strengths and solutions, and acts more as a facilitator than expert. Uses hopeful language and avoids problem-saturated dialogue.

How do SFBT therapists work?

work by collaboratively guiding clients to envision their preferred future and identify practical steps toward it, rather than analyzing the origins or depth of their problems. They focus on what is already working in the client’s life, exploring exceptions—times when the problem is less severe or absent—and using these as building blocks for change. Through structured, strengths-based questions such as the miracle question, scaling questions, and exception-seeking questions, therapists help clients clarify realistic goals, recognize their own capabilities, and gain confidence in their ability to make meaningful progress. The therapist maintains a respectful, hopeful, and nonjudgmental stance, believing that the client already possesses the resources for change and simply needs support in bringing them to the forefront.

Core beliefs

Lead direction to how we think, act ,and feel with positive or negative affects.

Intermediate Beliefs

Are the attitudes, rules and expectations, and assumptions we have in life the outgrowth of core beliefs.

Automatic Thoughts

Quick, spontaneous, and often unconscious thoughts that arise in response to specific situations.

Where are Core Beliefs formed?

Usually formed early in life and are the most accessible in therapy.

Where are Intermediate Beliefs formed?

Developed over time as coping strategies based on core beliefs.

Where are Automatic Thoughts formed?

Emerge spontaneously in daily situations.

Cognitive distortions

Systematic errors in thinking that contribute to negative emotions and behaviors.

Examples include: All-or-nothing thinking (“I failed once, so I’m a total failure.”)

Catastrophizing (“This is the worst thing ever.”)

Mind reading (“They didn’t text back—they must be mad.”)

Overgeneralization, labeling, emotional reasoning, etc.

Empathy according to Beck

In therapy involves the therapist understanding and reflecting the client's thoughts, emotions, and perspectives in a non-judgmental way.

Beck defines Schema

A schema is a deep cognitive structure that organizes information and guides perception, interpretation, and memory. Schemas form the foundation for core beliefs and influence how individuals interpret experiences. They can be adaptive (e.g., “I’m capable”) or maladaptive (e.g., “I’m worthless”).

Beck's thought process

Identify automatic thoughts linked to distress.

Evaluate and challenge those thoughts using evidence.

Uncover underlying intermediate beliefs (rules, assumptions).

Explore and modify core beliefs if they’re rigid and maladaptive.

Develop and test alternative thoughts/beliefs through behavioral experiments and homework. Strengthen new patterns through repetition, practice, and reinforcement.

Diathesis Stress Model

Suggests that mental disorders develop due to the interaction between a person's genetic predisposition (diathesis) and environmental stressors, where individuals with a higher vulnerability are more likely to develop a disorder when exposed to significant life stress.

What catalyzed Ellis’ interests to the extent that he developed REBT?

Albert Ellis was originally trained in psychoanalysis but became disillusioned with its length, lack of directness, and slow progress. His personal and clinical observations led him to believe that people are not disturbed by events themselves but by the beliefs they hold about those events. Influenced by Stoic philosophy (particularly Epictetus: “People are disturbed not by things, but by the views they take of them”), Ellis developed a more active, directive, and problem-focused approach to therapy — leading to the creation of REBT in the 1950s.

What are the ABC&Ds?

Activating Event, Beliefs, Consequences, Disputation

What is the most commonly used emotive disputation?

"What is the evidence?" or "Is that belief absolutely true?". This approach challenges the irrationality of a belief by prompting the individual to consider the evidence supporting it and to evaluate whether their emotional response is reasonable based on that evidence.

What does REBT therapy view as the root of negative emotions?

Irrational beliefs.

What do REBT therapists focus on?

Helping clients identify and dispute irrational beliefs that lead to negative emotions and maladaptive behaviors.

Ellis's development of cognitive distortion

Albert Ellis developed his theory of cognitive distortions after noticing that many of his clients had distorted, irrational beliefs that led to emotional distress. He believed these distortions were rooted in unrealistic demands on themselves, others, and the world. Ellis theorized that these irrational beliefs (e.g., "I must always succeed" or "I am worthless if I make mistakes") were learned early in life and maintained through various cognitive patterns. By identifying and challenging these distortions, clients could significantly reduce emotional suffering and improve their mental well-being.

Rational Emotive Imagery

a therapeutic technique used in REBT where clients are asked to vividly imagine a distressing or anxiety-provoking situation and then mentally rehearse a more rational, positive response. This helps clients visualize how they might react to situations in a more balanced way, thereby reducing emotional distress and reinforcing rational thinking patterns. REI is used to help clients reframe their emotions and responses by practicing healthier cognitive habits.

External Locus of Control

the belief that external forces, such as fate, luck, or other people, have control over one's life events and outcomes. People with this mindset often feel that they have little influence over their circumstances. Example: "It’s all up to luck whether I succeed or fail."

Internal Locus of Control

the belief that individuals can influence or control their own actions and outcomes through their decisions and efforts. People with this mindset feel they are responsible for their own successes or failures. Example: "I can control my success if I put in the effort."

How does a person become nongenuine

Deny or distort their true feelings, thoughts, and behaviors.

What is the Organismic Valuing Process?

concept from Carl Rogers that refers to the internal process by which individuals assess experiences, determining whether they are growth-promoting or detrimental to their well-being. It’s the natural, innate ability of a person to recognize what is in alignment with their authentic self. describes an innate tendency within individuals to gravitate towards experiences and choices that are aligned with their authentic self and promote personal growth. Difrting to those who positively value us. We have a need for positive regard. This process develops naturally but can become distorted when individuals face conditional regard (i.e., when love or acceptance is contingent on meeting others’ expectations), leading them to abandon their own values in favor of those imposed by others.

What is “Conditions of Worth?”

describes an innate tendency within individuals to gravitate towards experiences and choices that are aligned with their authentic self and promote personal growth. Difrting to those who positively value us. We have a need for positive regard.

What is Socratic Questioning?

Socratic Questioning is a therapeutic technique often used in Cognitive Therapy and other approaches where the therapist asks a series of open-ended questions designed to help clients explore their thoughts and challenge their beliefs. It encourages self-reflection and deeper insight, often leading clients to recognize faulty thinking patterns. For example, a therapist might ask, "What evidence do you have for that belief?" or "How might someone else see this situation?"

What is the “actualizing tendency”?

It refers to the innate drive in every person to grow, develop, and realize their full potential. Rogers believed that this tendency is universal and inherent in all humans, guiding them toward self-actualization—living in a way that is true to oneself. It comes about naturally and requires optimal conditions (such as unconditional positive regard, empathy, and congruence) to thrive.

PCT increasing autonomony

Becoming more autonomous means they are gaining more self-awareness and self-acceptance

What happens in PCT when a person behaves contradictory to their natural selves?

when a person behaves in a way that contradicts their natural selves, it creates incongruence between their self-concept and their actual experiences. This leads to psychological tension, distress, and discomfort. The therapy aims to reduce this incongruence by helping the person align their thoughts, feelings, and actions with their true self.

Unconditional Positive Regard

Nonjudgmental acceptance and support to the client.

Empathy according to Rogers

The therapist’s deep understanding of the client’s feelings and experiences, expressed through active listening and accurate reflection.

Rogers certain tendency people are born with

Actualizing tendency

Mindfulness Meditation

Paying focused, nonjudgmental attention to the present moment through breathing or sensory awareness.

A child's unconscious desire for the opposite-sex parent

Oedipus Complex

Stages of psychosexual development

oral , anal, phallic, latency, genital

Defense mechanisms

unconscious psychological strategies used by the ego to manage anxiety and protect the self from distressing thoughts or feelings. They help maintain emotional stability but can become maladaptive if overused.

Examples include: Repression – Burying distressing thoughts (e.g., forgetting a traumatic event)

Denial – Refusing to accept reality (e.g., ignoring a diagnosis)

Projection – Attributing one’s own feelings to others (e.g., accusing someone else of being angry when you are)

Displacement – Redirecting emotions to a safer outlet (e.g., yelling at a friend instead of a boss)

Sublimation – Channeling unacceptable impulses into productive activities (e.g., aggressive urges expressed through sports) These mechanisms reduce inner conflict, but therapy often helps clients become aware of them and find healthier ways to cope.

ID vs EGO vs Superego

ID is satisfaction of unmeet needs

EGO is reality thinking

SUPEREGO is social and moral concepts in the mind.

Explain social constructivism

The theory that knowledge, values, and meaning are created through social interaction and cultural influence.

Neuroplasticity

The brain’s ability to change, adapt, and reorganize itself by forming new neural connections throughout life.