ACTUAL PSYC 365 final

Who are generally considered the founders of CBT?

Aaron T. Beck (cognitive therapy) and Albert Ellis (REBT).

How long are clients who finish an effective course of CBT typically in treatment?

Typically 8–20 weekly sessions (≈2–5 months), depending on severity and setting.

What is the ABC model?

A = Activating event; B = Beliefs (thoughts/appraisals); C = Consequences (emotions/behaviors); B mediates A→C.

What are maladaptive beliefs and irrational thoughts?

Rigid, inaccurate, or unhelpful beliefs/automatic thoughts that generate distress and dysfunctional behavior.

Why are cognitive schemas important?

Schemas are long‑term knowledge structures that shape interpretations and automatic thoughts; dysfunctional schemas bias many situations.

What are common cognitive distortions (thinking mistakes)?

Examples: all‑or‑nothing, overgeneralization, mental filter, discounting positives, mind reading, fortune‑telling, catastrophizing, emotional reasoning, should/must statements, labeling, personalization.

What is the role of homework or experiments in CBT?

Homework (thought records, behavioral experiments) practices skills between sessions and tests beliefs in real life to promote generalization.

What is collaborative empiricism?

Therapist and client work as partners to test thoughts as hypotheses and gather evidence together.

What cultural considerations matter in CBT?

Adapt language, goals, interventions to clients’ values, spirituality, family roles, discrimination experiences; avoid pathologizing culturally normative beliefs.

What is Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT)?

Ellis’s directive CBT emphasizing disputing irrational “must/should” beliefs to produce emotional change (A–B–C–D–E).

What is Socratic dialogue in REBT/CBT?

Guided open questions that lead clients to examine and revise their beliefs rather than being told what to think.

What is guided discovery (Beck’s approach)?

Collaborative method where therapist helps client notice thoughts, treat them as hypotheses, test them, and generate alternatives.

For which diagnoses does CBT show demonstrated efficacy?

Strong evidence: depression, anxiety disorders (GAD, panic, social phobia, specific phobia), OCD, PTSD, bulimia/binge‑eating, insomnia, many child/adolescent disorders; also helpful for substance use and some psychotic symptoms as adjunct.

For which diagnoses/symptoms has CBT shown limited efficacy?

More limited for some severe treatment‑resistant depression, some personality disorders (mixed results), anorexia nervosa (limited), and severe cognitive impairment or low‑engagement clients.

What is mindfulness (ACT/DBT context)?

Nonjudgmental present‑moment awareness of thoughts, feelings, and sensations.

What is acceptance (ACT/DBT)?

Willingness to experience internal events without trying to avoid or control them, while pursuing valued action.

What is dialectical thinking (DBT)?

Holding opposing truths simultaneously (acceptance + change) and seeking synthesis rather than polar extremes.

What are the core principles/processes of ACT?

Six core processes: acceptance, cognitive defusion, present‑moment awareness, self‑as‑context, values clarification, committed action — all to increase psychological flexibility.

How does ACT differ from CBT?

CBT targets changing thought content; ACT targets changing relationship to thoughts (defusion/acceptance) and emphasizes values‑based action rather than disputation.

How does the structure of DBT treatment differ from standard CBT?

DBT combines weekly individual therapy + weekly group skills training + phone coaching + therapist consultation team and prioritizes behavioral targets and crisis skills.

What is the "wise mind" in DBT?

Integration of emotion mind and reasonable mind — a balanced state for effective decisions.

What are the four modules of DBT skills training?

Mindfulness, Distress Tolerance, Emotion Regulation, Interpersonal Effectiveness.

Who are generally regarded as the founders of ACT and DBT?

ACT: Steven C. Hayes (with Kelly Wilson, Kirk Strosahl). DBT: Marsha Linehan.

Is ACT culturally appropriate for clients from diverse backgrounds?

Potentially yes — its values focus can fit many cultures — but adaptations are often needed to honor cultural meanings and community values.

What is a directive psychotherapy group?

Therapist leads, sets agenda, teaches skills (e.g., psychoeducational or skills training groups).

What is a non‑directive psychotherapy group?

Member‑led process focus; therapist facilitates group interaction and sharing rather than teaching specific skills.

What is an open group versus a closed group?

Open: members may join/leave anytime. Closed: fixed membership from the start to the end of the group.

How can group composition vary?

Homogeneous (shared trait/problem) vs heterogeneous (mixed), organized by age, diagnosis, stage of change, gender, or goals.

What confidentiality issues arise in group treatment?

Therapist bound by confidentiality but cannot guarantee member behavior; members must agree to privacy; legal limits (harm, abuse reporting) still apply.

What are benefits of group psychological interventions?

Normalization, peer support, interpersonal practice, observational learning, cost‑effectiveness, instillation of hope.

What are challenges of group psychological interventions?

Managing conflict, dominant members, dropout, matching readiness, confidentiality limits, and some clients’ discomfort with sharing.

What are common therapeutic factors in group treatment?

Universality, group cohesion, hope, interpersonal learning, altruism, catharsis, corrective emotional experiences.

Why do people seek family therapy?

Child/adolescent behavior problems, parent–child conflict, marital conflict, major life transitions, mental illness/substance problems, parenting issues, custody disputes.

What are common family communication patterns?

(1) Demand–withdraw (one pursues, other withdraws), (2) Triangulation (third party drawn into conflict), (3) Cross‑generational coalitions, (4) Indirect communication, (5) Enmeshment vs disengagement.

What is Multi‑systemic Family Therapy (MST)?

An intensive, home‑based, evidence‑based intervention for youth with serious conduct problems that targets family, peers, school, and community systems.

What ethical issues arise in family therapy and couples counselling?

Multiple clients/confidentiality, secrets, informed consent from all parties, domestic violence/safety, therapist neutrality, alliances, dual relationships.

How successful is couples therapy and what predicts success?

Couples therapy shows moderate to strong effectiveness; predictors: commitment, early reduction in hostility, low levels of violence, skill practice between sessions, therapist competence.

What are common goals couples have in therapy?

Improve communication, rebuild trust, increase intimacy, resolve parenting conflicts, make separation/commitment decisions.

What is CBCT (Cognitive‑Behavioral Couple Therapy)?

Couples therapy applying cognitive and behavioral techniques to interaction patterns, communication, and partner cognitions.

What is EFCT (Emotion‑Focused Couple Therapy)?

Attachment‑based couples therapy focusing on emotional experience and restructuring negative interaction cycles to create secure bonds.

What are John Gottman’s main research findings and recommendations?

• The corners of “The Magic” triangle are commitment, calm and trust.

• The ratio of positive to negative emotions in happy, stable couples is 5:1.

• Five times as much affection, humour, interest, excitement and connection as there was hostility, anger, disappointment, and negativity.

• Great friendships and love relationships result in immense benefits such as greater health, greater wealth, greater resilience, faster illness recovery, greater longevity and more successful children. In fact, Gottman remarked that if you want to live 10-15 years longer, work on your relationships.

• Loneliness is the main reason people have affairs, not because of sex or desires.

• Mutual trust is when both partners maximize the benefits of both people. It is important to view the world in a way your partner would. Those who have mutual trust always have their partners in their heads, not just themselves.

• A key turning point in the commitment aspect, when things aren’t going well in a relationship, is to make positive comparisons. In doing so, repeat grateful remarks for your partner out loud as this leads to deepened loyalty.

When is separation likely recommended over couples therapy?

When ongoing severe intimate partner violence or coercive control exists, when safety is at risk, or when one/both partners are committed to leaving and therapy would be unsafe or counterproductive.

The goal of _____ is to answer the question "who will do it?" and the goal of _____ is to answer the question "who did it?"

predicting dangerousness; psychological criminal profiling

Societal biases and _____ of criminal activity often suggest a stereotype of the accused (e.g., gender, race/ethnicity,
physical appearance, occupation) that can bias perceptions of who may be assumed to be engaged in criminal activity.

Media depictions

Research on the nature of ____ may be important to determining whether a hate crime has been committed

Prejudice

Which of these is NOT a strategy a forensic psychologist might use during witness preparation?
A. coaching witnesses in how to display emotions when in front of the judge and jury
B. making suggestions for the witnesses' dress and physical appearance
C. altering witnesses' testimony to ensure consistency across witnesses
D. preparing the witness for being cross-examined by the opposing side

C

During _____, attorneys on both sides are given the opportunity to question potential jurors to discover their biases, gain hints as to which side of the case they are likely to identify with, and determine whether they will be receptive to the attorney's arguments and strategies

voir dire

_____ is an evaluation that aims to reconstruct a person's mental state - their thoughts, mood, and behavioral tendencies at the time of their death to shed light on contextual factors preceding their death.

psychological autopsy

____ is the most liberal standard for determining the insanity of a defendant. This standard attests that the defendant is not responsible for an unlawful act if it resulted from a mental disease or defect, such that the defendant lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the act (a cognitive deficit) or to conform to the law (a volitional deficit).

ALI standard

Per the specialty guidelines for forensic psychologists related to ethics, ______ suggests that forensic psychologists continually develop and maintain their knowledge and skills, keeping up with developments in the fields of psychology and the law.

competence

As related to informed consent, because rights, liberties, and properties may be at risk in forensic matters, forensic psychologists fully inform their clients about the ______ and ______ of the services they provide.

Nature ; parameters

Which of these would NOT be an appropriate way to enhance information-gathering during a forensic interview?
A. Allow the defendant to determine what is discussed during the interview.
B. Identify the defendant's preferences regarding the time of the assessment.
C. Utilize other variables that might make the defendant feel more at ease.
D. Recognize the defendant's preferences regarding the location of the assessment.

A

Following Jennifer Eberhardt's work with the Oakland Police Department, which led to findings that officers more often used negative terms, stuttered, used informal language, and used fewer explanatory terms when speaking to Black drivers, Eberhardt and her team worked closely with the Oakland Police Department to ______.

implement evidence-based recommendations for reducing such racial disparities

Which of these is NOT important for psychologists providing expert testimony?
A. be honest
B. share your intuitions and hunches
C. admit weaknesses
D. listen carefully to wording of the questions

B

Although many consider Münsterberg the founder of forensic psychology (indeed, psychological studies have supported many of his assertions), psychology had relatively little influence on the law until 1962, when Judge David Bazelon, writing for the majority on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (Jenkins v. United States, 1962), established clinical psychologists' legal status by ruling that they were appropriately qualified to testify in court as experts on mental disorders (psychiatrists had already enjoyed the privilege of providing expert testimony for many years. This decision, and the respectability that clinical psychology had gained because of its contributions to the
helped pave
the way for the field of forensic psychology to develop.

U.S. military

Which of these does NOT fall within the scope of forensic psychology?
A. determination of the need for a guardian due to incapacity
B. Interviewing youth to understand educational abilities
C. advice to attorneys regarding factors that may affect jurors' behavior D. psychological damages suffered as the result of another's negligence

B

Which of these is TRUE?
1. The term jury testimony refers to a testimony that is given by an individual who has witnessed part or all of an event.
2. The term sane refers to a legal determination that an individual was of sound mind and mentally healthy at the time of the alleged crime.
3. Reasonable doubt is the assumption that similar crimes are committed by similar offenders.

2 only

Which of these is TRUE?
1. The term opinion witness refers to an individual who has unique training, or experience, and is called upon to help the court understand and evaluate evidence or offer opinions and inferences on an issue.
2. The term insane refers to a state of being unable to think clearly or sensibly at the time that one commits a crime.
3. Under the guilty but mentally ill verdict, convicted individuals are sent to a psychiatric facility for treatment.

2 and 3

Which of these is NOT a factor considered by courts when making child custody rulings?
A. reasonable preference of the child
B. permanence, as a family unit, of the existing or proposed custodial home C. love, affection, and other emotional ties existing between the competing parties and the child
D. the child's other social supports, including teachers

D

Which of these is TRUE?
1. The term voir dire refers to the court-given right of the noncustodial parent to see and visit the child, absent extraordinary circumstances.
2. Psychological criminal profiling is a method of identifying criminal suspects using emotional and behavioral clues from the crime scene.
3. Competency to stand trial is a legal determination that refers to the defendant's state of mind at the time of trial when they have been shown to be capable of cooperating with an attorney with a reasonable degree of rational understanding as well as maintaining an understanding of the criminal proceeding and charges being faced.

2 and 3

Forensic psychologists maintain the ____
of information relating to a client or retaining party, except insofar as disclosure is consented to by the client or retaining party, or required or permitted by law.

confidentiality

Which of these is true?
1. Psychological criminal witnessing is a method of identifying criminal suspects using emotional and behavioral clues from the crime scene.
2. Competency to stand trial is a legal determination that a mental illness makes one incapable of differentiating between right and wrong.
3. The term expert witness refers to an individual who has unique training, or experience, and is called upon to help the court understand and evaluate evidence or offer opinions and inferences on an issue.

3 only

With _______, ______ must prove that they were insane at the time of the criminal offense.

An insanity plea ; defendants

The ALI standard attests that the defendant is not responsible for an unlawful act if it resulted from a mental disease or defect such that the defendant lacked substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of the act (a _____ deficit) or to conform to the law (a _______ deficit).

Cognitive ; volitional

The ____ witness may only testify to events observed while the ______ witness may offer judgements to help the court understand and evaluate evidence or determine a fact at issue.

Lay ; expert

The ____ holds that people accused of a crime are not criminally responsible if their unlawful act was the product of mental illness.

Durham standard

The ____ testimony refers to the testimony of a trained individual, such as a psychologist, giving opinions and inferences about psychological damage.

Expert

When working with a couple whose cultural norms may be different from one another, which of these is NOT important to consider?

Responsiveness to restructuring intervention

As part of an internship, you are able to lead a support group for patients with a new medical diagnosis. You are struck by the group members' comments about the main benefit of the group, stating that they realize that they are not alone in their experience of the new diagnosis. What phenomenon are you observing?

Universality

If using a group therapy approach where the early lessons are expected to build a foundation for later lessons, it is likely preferable to have a(n) _____
group.

closed

The Unified Protocol emphasizes skills in ____, ____, and ____.

emotional awareness, acceptance of strong emotions, exposure

A friend is shadowing a psychologist who leads a group, and they observe that the group leader often teaches coping skills, asks the group members to practice the skills outside of session, and plays a more didactic role. What type of group is your
friend observing?

directive group

Compared to nondirective groups, directive groups ____.

Require therapists to play an active, almost didactic role

Compared to directive groups, nondirective groups are _____

Less structured or "classroom-like"

Compared to cognitive-behavioral couples therapy, emotion-focused couples therapy:

Is focused on helping couples build new emotional experiences to foster attachment security.

Compared to cognitive-behavioral couples therapy, emotion-focused couples therapy _____.

includes the stages of de-escalation, restructuring, and consolidation

Compared to emotion-focused couples therapy, cognitive-behavioral couples therapy _____.

Relies on principles from social learning theories

Compared to nondirective groups, directive groups ____.

Are usually time limited

Which of these is true?
1. Group members must be cautioned that despite the aforementioned insistence on privacy, it is simply not possible to guarantee confidentiality.
2. Doing treatment in groups allows for opportunities to practice social skills so group treatment is arguably the intervention of choice for clients with social anxiety.
3. Psychodrama is a psychodynamic group therapy technique in which clients act out events from their past as if performing in a play.

1,2 and 3

Which of these is true?
1. Enactment sessions help partners explore and express deeper emotions and become more aware of each other's feelings, thus increasing empathy.
2. Cognitive-behavioral couples therapy teaches distressed couples effective ways to share difficult thoughts and emotions with, and listen effectively to, one another.
3. Conjoint couples therapy relies on principles from social learning theories and focuses on partners' cognitions, behaviors, and emotional responses to help them improve how they communicate and solve problems

1 and 2

During the _____ stage of _______
therapy, the partners share their emotions and show acceptance and compassion for each other.

Restructuring; emotion-focused couples

The _____ stage of _____ therapy involves learning and practicing new communication strategies.

Consolidation; emotion-focused couples

The _____ stage of _____ therapy helps couples see how they have been able to change and how new interaction patterns can prevent conflict.

Consolidation; emotion-focused couples

An intervention of therapy might involve group members being introduced to a conceptual model of social anxiety that incorporates cognitive, behavioral, and physiological components. Next, group members receive social skills training, and practice exposure to feared social situations.

Cognitive-behavioral group

_____ groups admit new members at any point if someone wants to join or to replace someone who decides to leave the group.

open

____ therapy teaches distressed couples effective ways to share difficult thoughts and emotions with, and listen effectively to, one another.

Cognitive-behavioral couples

Theodore Lidz and his research team emphasized the role of ____ in the etiology of _____

Family; schizophrenia

_____ is focused on recognizing problematic interaction patterns that lead to conflict, identifying negative emotions related to attachment problems, and then helping couples better see how fears and insecurities hinder their relationship.

De-escalation

___ sessions help partners explore and express deeper emotions and become more aware of each other's feelings, thus increasing empathy.

enactment

______ therapy is a form of family therapy originally developed to treat juvenile offenders and their families. It focuses on the familv's role in the offender's problems.

Multisystemic

______ family therapy involves teaching family members to self-monitor problematic behaviors and patterns of thinking, to develop new skills, and to challenge interpretations of family events and reframe these interpretations.

Cognitive-behavioral

Compared to other general therapeutic approaches, dialectical behavior therapy is ___ effective in terms of depression and suicidal behavior.

Slightly more

The literature to support acceptance and commitment therapy is overall _____ than the literature to support cognitive behavioral treatment.

Less rigorous

An important way to diminish the power dynamic in dialectical behavior therapy is to combine _____
and ______.

Validation; change

The developers of acceptance and commitment therapy have argued that the focus on ____ helps it to overcome multicultural issues inherent in other psychological treatments.

Values

Raj feels anger with a friend after overhearing them make a comment behind his back. If using the skill of ____ from dialectical behavior therapy, Raj might respond with patience and care rather than acting on anger.

Opposite action

An exercise in dialectical behavior therapy that requires clients to engage the S.T.O.P. skill Stop and do nothing; Take a step back and a deep breath; Observe what is happening; and Proceed using mindfulness and acceptance is an example of a skill from the ______ module

distress tolerance

A therapist helps a client to see their difficult thoughts as "passengers" on a bus, where the client can fight with them, ignore them, or listen to them as mere suggestions. This metaphor conveys the core process of ______.

delusion

A client is trying to quit smoking, and they notice that whenever they have a craving to smoke, they try to distract themselves to avoid thinking about the craving. What might you share with them about the consequences of experiential avoidance?

Distraction works in the short-term by providing relief, but it does not work in the long-term as the craving will come back (and usually stronger).

Compared to "third-wave" treatments (acceptance and commitment therapy, dialectical behavior therapy), cognitive-behavioral treatments:

are aimed at changing reinforcement contingencies, conditioned responses, and thinking patterns.