1st 8 weeks

Question 1

Reflective Self-Awareness

Answer 1

we examine ourselves in order to become aware of personal biases and the interactive process of identity construction.

Question 2

Reflexive Self-Awareness

Answer 2

is a process through which we become aware of how meaning is created through our interactions with others.

Question 3

Critical Reflectivity

Answer 3

allows us to acknowledge ourselves as both affecting and being affected by society.

Question 4

The task of clinical social work is to

Answer 4

improve the biopsychosocial well-being of the people we serve.

Question 5

Clinical social work encompasses

Answer 5

a wide range and variety of theoretical frameworks, approaches, and methods; problems and concerns to address; societal conditions and views to understand and challenge; and ethical issues to consider.

Question 6

Ecosystems Perspective

Answer 6

An ecosystems perspective places the focus on the interaction between the person and his or her environment rather than on one or the other.
Not a theory but a method for organizing information…
Three tools used to gather information include the: genogram, ecomap, and social network map (Pages 15-18, Figs 1.3-5)

Question 7

Behavioral Theory

Answer 7

One of the oldest and most extensive theories applied to clinical social work
Initially overshadowed by psychodynamic approaches, reappeared in the 60’s along with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy and other theories
Can be applied to all levels of intervention
Individual
Group
Community practice

Question 8

Social Learning Theory

Answer 8

Respondent conditioning
Operant conditioning
Observational learning

Question 9

5 Basic Empirical Principles of Social Learning Theory (SLT)

Answer 9

Human behavior consists of what a person does – whether it can be observed or not
Much of human behavior is learned through life experience
Similar learning processes result in individual human behavior across cultures and account for both normative and dysfunctional behaviors

Question 10

Interpersonal (between persons)

Answer 10

behavior is also a function of these learning processes

Question 11

There are at least three major learning processes that comprise SLT

Answer 11

Respondent learning
Operant learning
Observational learning

Question 12

Respondent Learning

Answer 12

Development of a conditioned response due to a conditioned stimulus, e.g.
A dog salivates at the sound of a bell when the bell is associated with the provision of food
A child cries at the sight of any adult with a white lab coat after having experienced vaccinations by a nurse with a white lab coat

Question 13

Operant Learning

Answer 13

Increasing or decreasing behavior due to reinforcement or punishment, e.g.
Increasing the frequency of turning in homework on time by providing more video game time for a 5th grader
Eliminating procrastination behaviors by taking away cell phone privileges

Question 14

Positive reinforcement (rewarding)

Answer 14

rewarded behaviors become more frequent, stronger, etc.

Question 15

Negative reinforcement (relief)

Answer 15

behavior is enhanced when something unpleasant is removed (sunglasses)

Question 16

Positive punishment

Answer 16

the presentation of something aversive that results in a decrease in the likelihood of the behavior

Question 17

Negative punishment

Answer 17

removal of something pleasant resulting in a decrease in the probability of the behavior

Question 18

Observational Learning

Answer 18

Also known as learning by imitation and modeling
Many experiments with humans have shown that if imitated behavior is reinforced, the likelihood of imitation is greatly strengthened

Question 19

Cognitive Theory

Answer 19

Almost all cognitive theory is an expansion or extension of SLT – not a rejection of it.

Additional elements proposed for the understanding of human behavior
People respond to cognitive representations of environmental events – not the events themselves
Learning is cognitively mediated

Question 20

Cognitive Theory

Answer 20

Cognition mediates emotional and behavioral dysfunction
Some forms of cognition can be monitored
Some forms of cognition can be altered
Altering cognitions can change dysfunctional patterns of emotion and behavior
Both cognitive and behavioral therapeutic change methods are desirable and can be integrated

Question 21

Cognitive Therapy Interventions

Answer 21

Changing misconceptions, unrealistic expectations and faulty ideas
Modifying irrational self-statements
Enhancing problem-solving and decision-making capabilities
Enhancing self-control and
self-management

Question 22

Core Irrational Cognitions

Answer 22

I must be perfect in all ways.

Other people must treat me kindly and fairly all the time.

Things and conditions must be the way I want them to be and not too hard or frustrating. (See page 33 & 34)

Question 23

Albert Ellis’ RET Model The A-B-C Model

Answer 23

A – Activating event
Not hired for a desirable job.
B – Beliefs about the event
“I’m a complete failure and I’ll never get a good job.” or “I’m basically very good at what I do and I’ll continue to look and will get the job I want.”
C – Consequences
Stops looking for work and starts to abuse substances or continues job search.

Question 24

Core Irrational Cognitions

Answer 24

I must be perfect in all ways.

Other people must treat me kindly and fairly all the time.

Things and conditions must be the way I want them to be and not too hard or frustrating. (See page 33 & 34)

Question 25

Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 25

Introduction of a new & radical theory and made unique contributions
Not a unified body of knowledge
Composed of multiple theories, models and schemata pertaining to development, psychopathology and clinical methods and techniques
Literature covers an entire century

Question 26

Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 26

Major influence on clinical social work from the 1920’s through the 1960’s
Caseworkers recognized limitations of their work; advice giving, etc.
Given the child guidance movement and working with “shellshock” victims (WWII), social workers provided services in hospitals and clinics and among psychiatrists and psychiatric thinking
Led to “Psychiatric Deluge”

Question 27

Basic Concepts of Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 27

Places emphasis on the individual
Gave meaning to pathological symptoms
Presumes the existence of an unconscious
Presumes the existence of universal experiences in early-childhood development
States it is the failure of adaptive resolution of developmental conflict that serves as a basis for psychopathology
Translocate: Adults tend to repeat early childhood conflicts in adult relationships

Question 28

Three casework approaches

Answer 28

The Diagnostic or Psychosocial School

The Functional School (1930s)

The Problem-Solving Model (1950s)

Question 29

The Problem-Solving Model (1950s)

Answer 29

Developed by Helen Harris Perlman - UChicago
Concepts:
Partializing: breaking down large problems into smaller more manageable tasks
Importance of relationship: Transference and countertransference – minimize
Stay reality based and thus focus on problem-solving and development of rapport

Question 30

The Diagnostic or Psychosocial School

Answer 30

Use of Freud’s personality theory as basis
Diagnosis: dynamic, etiological, classificatory
Resistance, Transference, and Countertransference

Question 31

The Functional School (1930s)

Answer 31

Otto Rank (“Freud’s Disciple”): Theories emphasized human growth, development of self, and the will as the controlling & organizing force.
“Birth Trauma” – life & death fear
Erik Erickson: psychosocial, psychosexual development
Emphasis on separation and individuation
Emphasis on developmental crisis

Question 32

Psychoanalytic Theory

Answer 32

Treatment techniques emphasize self-knowledge or insight as the essential curative factor in psychotherapy
Posits that the mind is a product of evolutionary development which functions to ensure adaptation and survival
Mental activity governed is by the fundamental propensity to seek pleasure and avoid pain (the pleasure principal)

Question 33

Psychic conflict (approach-avoidance dilemma)

Answer 33

results from the pursuit of instinctual pleasures that are met by an aversive response, and not being able to achieve pleasure

Question 34

Mental life is characterized by

Answer 34

the pervasive presence of psychic conflict

Question 35

Psychological symptoms & character pathology are

Answer 35

complex structures produced by UC to avoid or minimize unpleasure (compromise formations)

Question 36

Conflicts and Compromise Formations

Answer 36

Wishes of Childhood - Formed by biological and social-experiential factors, unique to all of us.
The Sexual Drive - The Oedipus Complex (3-6yo). The influence on adulthood.
The Aggressive Drive – constant or reactive instinct? Component of psychic conflict; and consequence of it.
Unpleasures - Loss of object, loss of love, punishment, fear of being a “bad” child. Psychic Conflict occurs when childhood wishes become associated with painful affects of unpleasures in the course of development.
Defense – various ways to reduce anxiety/depression.

Question 37

Theory of Defense

Answer 37

Component of psychic conflict and cornerstone of psychoanalytic theory…Freud, 1984

Defined as psychological activities that reduce the unpleasure of psychic conflict by blocking, inhibiting, or distorting awareness of disturbing mental contents.

The capacity to protect the self from both real, and perceived danger

Question 38

Defense Mechanism Characteristics

Answer 38

Automatic and unconscious
Modify the individual’s perception of, and reaction to danger
Designed to keep unconscious content from entering conscious awareness
Utilized at a certain cost
Not used out of weakness – rather to preserve psychic integrity and survival when under stress and fear

Question 39

Six axiomatic principles

Answer 39

The Topographical Perspective
Unconscious
Preconscious
Conscious 
The Structural Perspective
Id
Ego
Superego

Question 40

The Dynamic Perspective

Answer 40

Postulates that behavior is motivated, is lawful, has an identifiable cause and is purposive

Question 41

The Economic Perspective

Answer 41

Concerns the strengths of drives and the quantitative quality of behavior

Question 42

The Genetic Perspective

Answer 42

Must understand one’s childhood to understand the adult – the past persists into the present

Question 43

The Adaptive Perspective

Answer 43

Concerns the relationship between the individual and the environment – the external

Question 44

Psychodynamic Descendants of Psychoanalytic theory

Answer 44

Anna Freud - clarification of defense theory – psychoanalysis of children
Heinz Hartmann – infants are born with innate “conflict free ego capacities” insuring infant survival (language, perception, memory, intention, motor activity, object comprehension, and adaptation)
Rene Spitz – consequences of the absence of mother-infant interactions
Margaret Mahler – theory of the separation-individuation process
Erick Erickson – Ego development across the entire life span

Question 45

The Eight Life Cycle StagesErik Erickson

Answer 45

Basic Trust vs Mistrust: 0-18 months
Autonomy vs Shame and Doubt: 18 mos – 3yrs
Initiative vs Guilt: 3-6 yrs
Industry vs Inferiority: 6-11 yrs
Identity vs Role Confusion: 11-18 yrs
Intimacy vs Isolation: Young Adulthood
Generativity vs Stagnation: Adulthood
Integrity vs Despair: Old Age

Question 46

Object Relations Theory

Answer 46

A general heading that includes multiple groups of theories
Edith Jacobson (1897 – 1978)
Humans are born into a relational environment
Human adults relate to others based on how they related to their caretakers as children
Complex relationship between affectivity and the inner representational world

Question 47

Primary Maternal Preoccupation:

Answer 47

Absorption of the unborn infant during pregnancy; withdrawn from own subjectivity

Question 48

Good Enough Mothering:

Answer 48

The ability to provide empathically attuned support or holding

Question 49

The Holding Environment:

Answer 49

The environment of protection on which infants depend; natural and spontaneous; intuitive

Question 50

D.W. Winnicott (1896-1971)

Answer 50

True Self:
Individuals begin with an “inherited potential” that represents one’s core self or essence; the spontaneous expression of the id
False Self:
A façade that is erected to achieve compliance with the mother’s inadequate adaptations; will survive at the cost of “living falsely”
The Transitional Object:
Best known of his theoretical ideas. An object that enables the child to sustain the illusion of a calming, comforting mother

Question 51

Heinz Kohut (1913-1981)

Answer 51

Introduced Psychology of the Self
Pathology results from unmet or disrupted developmental needs
Self-objects – objects are actually experienced as extension of the self by children
Mirroring self-objects – responds to child
Idealizing self-objects – look up to and merge image of calmness with child
Partnering self-objects – children acquire a sense of belonging
The tripolar self – interaction between needs of the self and responses of those important persons

Question 52

New & Evolving School of Psychoanalytic Thought by Greenberg and Mitchell, 1983

Answer 52

Relational Psychoanalysis
Assign primary importance to real interpersonal relationships, rather than to instinctual drives
The primary need of humans is relatedness and communication with others – not the gratification of sexual and aggressive drives
A spectrum of psychoanalytic theories and theorists with a common set of fundamental premises about human nature
Not a unified theory and contains no unitary theory of psychoanalytic technique

Question 53

Basic Clinical Propositions of Relational Psychoanalysis:

Answer 53

Personality is formed through interpersonal interactions
The clinical environment is inherently intersubjective and shaped by mutual influence
People need authentic personal engagement with the therapist
Relationship takes center stage
Therapist seeks to understand the client’s interpersonal field
Collaborative effort with the client
Therapist is open to understanding influence on the therapeutic interaction (conflicts/impasses)

Question 54

Rupture of Alliance

Answer 54

A tension or breakdown in the collaborative relationship
Inevitable part of psychotherapy
Successful resolution is critical for psychotherapeutic change
Repair:
clarifying misunderstandings
Linking rupture to common patterns in patients life
Providing a new relational experience