NCE- Counseling Families, Diagnosis, & Advanced Concepts

A married couple brings their two children to counseling for behavioral problems. The 14-year-old daughter stays out late and their 17-year-old son is using drugs. According to most marriage and family therapists the identified patient would be…

a. the 17-year-old son

b. the 14-year-old daughter

c. the family

d. both children

c. the family

You are seeing a husband and wife for marriage counseling. During one of the sessions you decide to see them separately. The husband tells you he has seen an attorney because he is filing for divorce. He has not told his wife and indicates that he will not do so. You feel the wife has a right to know this because it will help her plan for the future. You should…

a. only tell his wife if he gives you permission

b. communicate his intent to his wife since ethics guidelines state you may do so when a member of the couple is contemplating divorce

c. not tell the wife since research indicates that women respond more positively to divorce when they have less time to think about it

d. terminate the husband unless he tells her

a. only tell his wife if he gives you permission

You are supervising a licensing candidate who is primarily interested in marriage and family counseling. You are very attracted to her and have sex with her. According to ethics guidelines…

a. this is perfectly ethical, since this is a student and not a client

b. this is unethical

c. this is perfectly ethical, since this is a supervisee and not a client

d. a & c are both correct

b. this is unethical

The fastest growing clientele for professional counselors are persons…

a. experiencing bipolar disorder

b. experiencing suicidal ideation

c. experiencing marriage and family problems

d. who abuse their children

c. experiencing marriage and family problems

Family counselors generally believe in…

a. circular/reciprocal causality (e.g., dynamics of family members)

b. linear causality

c. random causality

d. dream analysis

a. circular/reciprocal causality (e.g., dynamics of family members)

Cybernetics is a concept used by family therapists. It is usually associated with the work of…

a. Sigmund Freud and Albert Ellis

b. Norbert Wiener

c. Virginia Satir

d. behavioral family therapists and cognitive family therapists

b. Norbert Wiener

A family that is stable and reaches an equilibrium is in a state of…

a. adaptability

b. enmeshment

c. nonsummativity

d. homeostasis

d. homeostasis

Adaptability is the ability of the family to balance…

a. ego strength

b. stability and change

c. morphostasis and morphogenesis

d. b & c

d. b & c

A family wants to see you for counseling; however, they have a very limited income and can’t afford to pay. You therefore agree to see the family for free (i.e., pro bono). The term that best describes your actions would be…

a. aspirational ethics

b. mandatory ethics

c. empathy

d. all of the above

a. aspirational ethics

Experiential conjoint family therapy is closely related to the work of…

a. Virginia Satir

b. Albert Ellis

c. Jay Haley

d. Salvador Minuchin

a. Virginia Satir

Virginia Satir felt that a major goal of therapy was to improve intrafamily communication (i.e., communication between family members). According to Satir, four basic patterns prevented good communication under stress. These defensive postures or stress positions are: placating, blaming, being overly reasonable, and being irrelevant. Placating means…

a. you disagree with all the other family members

b. you pick a favorite family member and agree with him or her

c. you ignore the other family members

d. you try to please everybody out of a fear of rejection

d. you try to please everybody out of a fear of rejection

The placater is a people pleaser under stress while the blamer…

a. will sacrifice others to feel good about himself

b. will often say “if it weren’t for you…”

c. will point the finger at others to avoid dealing with his or her own issues

d. all of the above are typical behaviors of the blamer

d. all of the above are typical behaviors of the blamer

The person who becomes overly reasonable…

a. practices excitation

b. cries a lot during therapy sessions

c. is likely to engage in the defense mechanism of intellectualization

d. has a high degree of emotion

c. is likely to engage in the defense mechanism of intellectualization

According to Virginia Satir, the individual displaying an irrelevant style…

a. will distract the family from the problem via constantly talking about irrelevant topics

b. will become a people pleaser

c. will analyze the situation more than most

d. all of the above

a. will distract the family from the problem via constantly talking about irrelevant topics

Virginia Satir is considered a leading figure in experiential family therapy. ____ is sometimes called the dean of experiential family therapy.

a. Ludwig von Bertalanffy

b. Gregory Bateson

c. Carl Whitaker

d. Murray Bowen

c. Carl Whitaker

Carl Whitaker’s interaction with the family could best be described as…

a. quiet and empathetic

b. joining the family and experiencing it as if he were a family member

c. a reality therapist

d. a cognitive behavior therapist

b. joining the family and experiencing it as if he were a family member

According to Carl Whitaker…

a. a co-therapist is helpful

b. a co-therapist should never be used

c. a co-therapist should be used only with blended families

d. all of the above could be true

a. a co-therapist is helpful

Psychotherapy of the absurd is primarily related to the work of…

a. Virginia Satir

b. Carl Whitaker

c. Maxie C. Maultsby, Jr.

d. William Glasser

b. Carl Whitaker

A behavioristic marriage and family therapist is counseling the entire family together. She turns to the 18-year-old son who is attending community college and says, “You must complete your sociology essay before you can use the family car and go out with your friends.” Which theorist is primarily guiding her intervention strategy?

a. David Premack’s principle or law

b. Ivan Pavlov and John B. Watson

c. B.F. Skinner

d. all of the above

a. David Premack’s principle or law

A behavioristic marriage and family counselor is counseling the entire family together. She turns to the 18-year-old son who is attending community college and says, “I know you like to play golf. Therefore, every time you cut the grass your father will take you to play golf. I am going to have you and your dad sign a contract confirming that you agree with this policy.” Which principle is primarily guiding her strategy?

a. Negative reinforcement

b. Thought stopping

c. Shaping with successive approximations

d. Quid pro quo

d. Quid pro quo

A male is supervising a female counselor for state licensing. He tells her that he will continue to supervise her as long as she has sex with him. This is an example of…

a. quid pro quo

b. a legal but not an ethical violation

c. a & b

d. none of the above

a. quid pro quo

A behavioristic family counselor suggests that the family chart the number of times that 6-year-old Billy says “no” when he is told to do something. The baseline of the chart would refer to the period…

a. when positive reinforcement is being implemented

b. when negative reinforcement is being implemented

c. when quid pro quo is being implemented

d. before the behavior modification begins

d. before the behavior modification begins

The family counselor explains to Mrs. Smith that the next time that 9-year-old Sally hits her little brother she must sit in the family room by herself. The counselor is using…

a. shaping

b. shaping with successive approximations

c. reciprocity

d. time-out, a procedure that most behaviorists feel is a form of extinction

d. time-out, a procedure that most behaviorists feel is a form of extinction

Mrs. Chance tells a family therapist that she pays all the bills, does all the cleaning, and brings in 90% of the family’s income. Moreover, Mrs. Chance is convinced that her husband does not appreciate her or show her affection. According to the behavioristic principle of family therapy known as reciprocity…

a. there is a good chance that Mrs. Chance will consider leaving the marriage

b. it may seem paradoxical; nevertheless, Mrs. Chance will be more committed to making the marriage work

c. it may seem paradoxical; nevertheless, there is a good chance Mr. Chance will consider leaving the marriage

d. this situation will have virtually no impact on this couple’s marriage

a. there is a good chance that Mrs. Chance will consider leaving the marriage

A couple is having sexual problems that stem from anxiety. A marriage counselor who is a strict behaviorist would most likely…

a. dispute the couple’s irrational thinking

b. prescribe thought stopping

c. rely on systematic desensitization procedures

d. rely primarily on paraphrasing and reflection

c. rely on systematic desensitization

A family counselor notices that the husband in a blended family is having obsessive sexual thoughts about a woman living down the street. A strict behaviorist would most likely…

a. analyze the man’s dreams

b. have him chart the incidence of the behavior, but do little else

c. practice thought stopping

d. rely primarily on Wolpe’s systematic desensitization

c. practice thought stopping

You secure a job as the executive director of a family counseling agency. As you go through your files you discover that five years before you took the job at the agency selected 100 families and counseled them using a strict behavioral model. The agency took the next group of 100 families and counseled them using Satir’s experiential conjoint family therapy model. Each family received 12 sessions of therapy and each family took a before and after assessment that accurately depicted how well the family was functioning. You decide to run a t test to examine whether or not a statistically significant difference in evident between the two approaches. This is…

a. an ex post facto (i.e., after the fact) correlation study

b. causal comparative or ex post facto (i.e., after the fact) research

c. a true experiment

d. simple survey research

b. causal comparative or ex post facto (i.e., after the fact) research

All of the techniques listed below would be used by a behavioristic family therapist except:

a. Family sculpting

b. A functional analysis of behavior followed by operant conditioning

c. Modeling

d. Chaining and extinction

a. Family sculpting

Which statement is true of families?

a. The divorce rate has decreased markedly in the last several years.

b. Remarriage today is uncommon.

c. Remarriage today is common.

d. The divorce rate in the United States hovers at about 10%.

c. Remarriage today is common.

Which statement is true?

a. Single life is short-lived for divorced persons. About 30% of all divorced persons are remarried within 12 months of being divorced.

b. Most persons who are divorced do not remarry.

c. Most persons who are divorced wait a minimum of five years to remarry.

d. Women remarry quickly, however, men do not.

a. Single life is short-lived for divorced persons. About 30% of all divorced persons are remarried within 12 months of being divorced.

The theory of psychodynamic family counseling is primarily associated with…

a. William Glasser

b. Sigmund Freud

c. Virginia Satir and Carl Whitaker

d. Nathan Ackerman

d. Nathan Ackerman

In psychoanalytic family therapy the word object means…

a. a dream

b. a significant other with whom a child wishes to bond

c. transference

d. countertransference

b. a significant other with whom a child wishes to bond

In psychoanalytic family therapy the term introjects really means that the client…

a. unconsciously internalizes the positive and negative characteristics of the objects within themselves

b. possesses internal verbalizations

c. possesses a finite number of problem-solving options

d. possesses the internal motivation to solve his or her own difficulties

a. unconsciously internalizes the positive and negative characteristics of the objects within themselves

Pick the best example(s) of the psychoanalytic concept of splitting:

a. A client who realistically perceives her therapist as a very empathetic person.

b. A client who realistically perceives her therapist as only having good qualities.

c. A client who sees her therapist as all bad.

d. b & c

d. b & c

A 72-year-old woman you are counseling in a family reminds you of your mother and this is bringing up unresolved childhood issues for you as the counselor. This is an example of…

a. positive transference

b. negative transference

c. countertransference

d. ambivalent transference

c. countertransference

A family actually changes the structure of their family system. According to Watzlawick, Weakland, and Fisch the family has achieved…

a. second-order change that is more desirable than first-order change

b. first-order change that is more desirable than second-order change

c. mediation

d. a Greek chorus

a. second-order change that is more desirable than first-order change

A woman sees her husband as all good sometimes and all bad at others. An analytically trained family therapist who believes in object relations would see this as…

a. ambivalent transference

b. splitting

c. persistent depressive disorder

d. psychotic behavior

b. splitting