11 Counseling Families, Diagnosis, Neurocounseling, and Advanced Concepts Flashcards
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.
Most family counselors believe that the entire family system, which is really a natural social system, is dysfunctional. Hence the entire family is the identified patient and in need of treatment. Traditionally, the identified patient (IP) was seen as the person who was having a problem. (c)
- 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.
According to ethics guidelines counselors must not disclose information about one family member in counseling to another without prior consent. Could this situation happen in your caseload? Consider this: In the United States, getting married could be likened to playing the ponies—approximately 50% of all marriages end in divorce, while about 65% of second marriages end in divorce. By the third marriage the figure tops 70%. In general, family therapy seems to be briefer than counseling or therapy
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provided to individuals. (a)
- 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 and c are both correct.
b. this is unethical.
There’s a clear-cut answer here folks: Counselors should never engage in sexual or romantic relationships with current students or supervisees. Likewise for sexual harassment. This refers to in- person as well as electronic relationships. The fact that the supervisee is interested in marriage and family counseling is totally irrelevant. (b)
- 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.
Philosophical differences between organizations are evident. The American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy (AAMFT) sees marriage and family therapy as a separate profession in and of itself. The International Association of Marriage and Family Counselors (IAMFC)—a division of ACA and adheres to CACREP guidelines—believes that marriage and family counseling is a specialty mastered by an individual who has experience and generic training in counseling. Coursework areas between CACREP programs and those set forth to meet AAMFT curriculum are similar, though certainly not identical. (c)
- 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).
Linear causality is where you assume a causes b. For example, a person was physically abused as a child so now that person becomes an abusive parent. Linear causality is generally accepted as a valid concept in individual counseling; however, marriage and family therapists usually prefer the notion of circular causality. Anthropologist Gregory Bateson became interested in cybernetics (the analysis of information interactions and how the flow of information regulates and controls a system) after World War II and launched the concept of circular causality. Bateson was fond of explaining the new
paradigm by taking the example of a man who kicks a stone versus a man who kicks a dog. When a man kicks a stone a linear or Newtonian physics model is appropriate. That is to say, if we know the weight of the stone, the angle it was kicked, the air density, and so on we can calculate the result of the kick. If a man kicks a dog, however, the dog’s behavior may control the man’s next response. Hence, the dog might bark and merely sit there; howl and run; or perhaps growl and attempt to bite the man. The man is influencing the dog; nevertheless, the dog is influencing the man. Thus, since everybody is influencing everybody else the problem resides in the family rather than a given individual. The distinction between linear causality and circular causality is a must-know concept for most exams in this field. Performing family therapy often seems to resemble group therapy more than individual work; however, most group models do not work well with families since they are a very special type of group. (a)
- 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.
Cybernetics was pioneered in the early 1940s and named (from the Greek word for steersman) by MIT mathematician Norbert Wiener. Wiener was asked to investigate how guns could be aimed to hit moving targets. He teamed up with mathematician John von Neumannn, who worked on the Manhattan Project in Los Alamos, New Mexico, the site of the first U.S. nuclear weapons production. This information, which initially related to machines, was used to analyze family systems thanks to Gregory Bateson. In family therapy, cybernetics suggests that the family has feedback loops to self- correct a family system. (b)
