LPC - Definitions

Question 1

Client resistance

Answer 1

Which is NOT a reasonable reason for a counselor to terminate a relationship with a client?

Correct answer: Client resistance

Explanation: Counselors should make every effort to address a client’s resistance during treatment. If the resistance cannot be overcome, the counselor may ask the client if they would like to continue or would benefit from another therapist. In the case of lack of payment, the client must be given a full explanation of the counselor’s termination policy for financial reasons and given opportunity for a payment plan if possible.

Question 2

Present-oriented

Answer 2

When providing counseling to older adults, regardless of what therapeutic orientation is being used, the therapist should be:

Correct answer: Present-oriented

Explanation: Therapy should be focused in the present and should address such issues as bereavement, interpersonal disputes, role transitions, and adaptation of behavior to present environment. The therapist’s role is that of collaborator and supporter.

Question 3

Cognitive-behavioral therapy

Answer 3

When working with a client who suffers from depression, a cognitive-behavioral therapist would focus on:

Correct answer: Changing the client’s negative styles of thinking and behaving

Explanation: Cognitive-behavioral therapy has proven to be helpful in treating various forms of depression. Cognitive-behavioral therapists help clients change their negative styles of thinking and behaving that are often associated with depression.

Question 4

Beck Anxiety Inventory

Answer 4

Your new client, 35-year-old Dan, tells you that he’s been having trouble staying focused, can’t sleep, has muscle tension, and recognizes that he’s been irritable for the past several months. Which assessment would help you to further assess these symptoms in order to establish a diagnosis?

Explanation: Dan’s symptoms (difficulty staying focused, trouble sleeping, muscle tension, and irritability) are indicative of anxiety. The Beck Anxiety Inventory is used to screen for and measure anxiety levels.

Question 5

Tennessee Self-concept Scale

Answer 5

Which instrument could be used to tell a clinician how clients see themselves in school and job settings?

Explanation: The Tennessee Self-concept Scale provides 15 scores, including an Academic/Work Score that tells the clinician how respondents see themselves in school and job settings.

Question 6

Absolute zero point

Answer 6

Ratio scales are known for their:
Your answer: Absolute zero point

Explanation: The ratio scale of measurement is the most informative. It is an interval scale with the additional property that the zero position indicates the absence of the quantity being measured.

Question 7

Sociometry

Answer 7

If you truly want to get a snapshot of the social structure of your group and of where you stand in relationship to others, you might use what technique?

Correct answer: Sociometry

Explanation: Sociometry is the science and art of measuring relationships between social configurations or structures and psychological well-being. Self-disclosure is both the conscious and unconscious act of revealing more about ourselves to others, yet it does not measure relationships. Behavioral observation does not measure relationships but only observes. A genogram is a pictorial display of a client’s family relationships and medical history and does not have anything to do with sociometry. The only technique that truly looks into the social structure of your group and of where you stand in relationship to other is sociometry.

Question 8

Immediacy

Answer 8

Beth says, “Well, it just isn’t that big of a deal, we should move on,” crosses her arms and looks at the ground. The group leader notes that she appears defensive in response to a group member’s reflection to her and says, “I notice defensiveness in your response and body language. I wonder if you are caught up in the irrational belief we focused on last week, specifically ‘I’m never going to be good enough’. Let’s explore this further.” The group leader has used:

Correct answer: Immediacy

Explanation: Immediacy is using the immediate situation with the client to explore what is occurring within the relationship(s). It reveals how the individual is thinking, feeling and perceiving, and may lead to the client’s underlying issue.

Question 9

Interest assessment

Answer 9

Mimi is already an excellent student and has received a number of scholarships to various universities. She is upset because she doesn’t know what she wants to study. As her counselor, which type of assessment would you administer to Mimi to address her presenting issue?

Correct answer: Interest assessment

Explanation: Interest inventories measure likes and dislikes, values, and other preferences. These inventories are often used in career counseling.

Question 10

Object permanence in the Sensorimotor Stage

Answer 10

Barbara’s little brother, Bobby, has started to recognize that when Barbara hides behind a couch, she is simply out of sight and is still there behind the couch. What is Bobby demonstrating and which of Piaget’s stages of cognitive development is Bobby in?

Correct answer: Object permanence in the Sensorimotor Stage

Explanation: Piaget presented four cognitive developmental stages of experience and interaction with the environment: Sensorimotor (birth to two years), Preoperational (age two to six), Concrete Operations (six to 12), and Formal Operations (over 12 years of age). By recognizing that an object out of sight still exists, Bobby shows object permanence, which is a key feature of the Sensorimotor Stage.

Question 11

Limited self-disclosure

Answer 11

Agatha recently graduated from her counseling program and is beginning her internship in an outpatient setting. Her first client is a 14-year-old girl. As she prepares for her first session, she considers how to connect with her client. Which is an effective means of rapport building?

Correct answer: Limited self-disclosure

Explanation: Limited self-disclosure means that a counselor shares basic, appropriate information about himself/herself in order to build a relationship with the client. Such an intervention helps to achieve buy-in from the client in the counseling process because teenagers value authenticity. While family counseling and assessment may be appropriate interventions, they are usually reserved until later in the therapeutic process once the teenager and counselor have established a therapeutic alliance. Counselors should avoid oversharing, or the sharing of extremely personal or painful issues that would jeopardize therapeutic boundaries.

Question 12

Cyclothymic Disorder

Answer 12

Debra has several chaotic relationships in her life secondary to her long-standing pattern of alternating depressive and hypomanic symptoms that give rise to discord and unrest. Debra’s symptoms have been present for many years. Her diagnosis is most consistent with:

Correct answer: Cyclothymic Disorder

Explanation: Cyclothymic Disorder is characteristic of alternating depressive and hypomanic symptoms over time, so that’s the best choice for Debra. Bipolar II Disorder would be considered if Debra was experiencing hypomanic and major depressive episodes, but right now, all we know is that she’s experiencing hypomanic and depressive symptoms. Discord in relationships associated with Borderline Personality Disorder relates to impulsivity and poor, unstable self-image, not mood fluctuations. With Histrionic Personality Disorder, discord in relationships usually happens as a result of the individual’s excessive attention-seeking behavior (ex. embarrassing others by showing inappropriate public displays of affection).

Question 13

Crystallization

Answer 13

The stage in which an individual makes his or her final career decisions might be described by a developmental career counselor as:

Correct answer: Crystallization

Explanation: During the crystallization stage, the individual makes the decision about what career path he or she would like to take and focuses his or her studies toward that goal.

Question 14

Here are the scores of your peers on the exam: 80, 85, 120, 150, 150, 160, 165. What is the median of this distribution?

Answer 14

Correct answer: 150

Explanation: The median of a series of numbers is the number in the center of the data when the numbers are arranged from lowest to highest (or highest to lowest – it doesn’t really matter).

Question 15

Altruism

Answer 15

Judy is a member of a therapy group. She offers support to Carrie who is crying, mourning the loss of her spouse. Judy listens and validates Carrie’s experience. In the process, Judy feels useful in her opportunity to assist Carrie. Yalom describes this as:

Correct answer: Altruism

Explanation: Judy has engaged altruism, the opportunity to rise out of herself and assist another, feeling useful in the process. She does not offer specific advice or specifically share in her experience or offer a personal story, as least not as the scenario reads.

Question 16

A closed group

Answer 16

Mary is a group counselor who designs a group to meet the needs of several members in her practice. She wants to build trust quickly, have high stability, and be time limited. This is best suited to:

Correct answer: A closed group

Explanation: A closed group is one in which membership is set and no additional members are introduced for the pre-determined duration of the group life. Open groups allow for members to be added and this may impact cohesion of the membership and disruption of the flow because the initial group phases may have to be addressed for the group to return to full working level. The group leader’s theoretical orientation may take on any number of styles, but the issue here is composition.

Question 17

Four-dimensional classification system

Answer 17

Which of the following best describes Roe’s classification schema?

Correct answer: Two-dimensional classification system

Explanation: Based on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, Anne Roe’s approach focuses on the ways early home life and parental relationship contribute to career choice. Roe was the first psychologist to use a two-dimensional classification system with fields and levels. With Maslow in mind, Roe’s system stresses the influence of childhood on later career paths and presents three basic causes and effects: emotional concentration on the child, avoidance of the child, and acceptance of the child.

Question 18

Content validity

Answer 18

Which of the following types of validity best describes the condition of a sample from a larger population being a true representation of that larger population?

Correct answer: Content validity

Explanation: Content validity refers to the extent to which a measure represents all facts of a given social concept. If the condition of a sample from a larger population is to be a true representation of that larger population, then this validity would be best described as content validity.

Question 19

Tangential Speech

Answer 19

You are conducting an initial assessment with a middle-aged woman named Donna. You ask Donna, “Do you ever think you are more anxious than other people your age?” Donna responds by saying, “I hate it when I let my laundry pile up for three weeks at a time. I get so overwhelmed with the thought of having to do it.” Which of the following is the BEST descriptor of Donna’s response?

Correct answer: Client has tangential speech

Explanation: When someone has tangential speech, they struggle with staying on topic and keeping focus.

Question 20

Nancy is 32 and works to hold in her stomach, as she fears looking fat. “Food is my comfort; it helped me cope after my father left when I was 14. Then when I started bingeing, it got out of control.” Nancy found out she could make herself vomit. Nancy first started vomiting when she binged, then randomly to relieve the stress associated with fearing weight gain, then because it was a habit. Now Nancy vomits once or twice a day. About three years ago Nancy’s teeth began to have problems, but in short order all had to be replaced with implants. Despite the loss of all of her teeth, bingeing and purging continues. Nancy’s symptoms are consistent with:

Answer 20

Correct answer: Bulimia Nervosa, severe

Explanation: Nancy’s symptoms are consistent with Bulimia Nervosa, with both bingeing and purging activities, feeling out of control with food, and pressure about her weight. Compensatory activities occur 7-14 times per week, making severity ‘severe.’ Bulimia Nervosa can be differentiated from Anorexia, Binge-Eating/Purging Type, in that with Anorexia Nervosa, the client will have significantly low body weight, which has not been mentioned in Nancy’s case.

Question 21

Statements

Answer 21

You have just begun the initial interview process with your client, Claire. You are practicing reflective listening responses which are delivered as:

Correct answer: Statements

Explanation: When using reflective listening, you are attempting to understand the feelings that have been expressed by your client by listening and offering back a statement summarizing what the client said. This gives the client a chance to either confirm that their message was received in the way they intended or help clarify anything that was unclear to the therapist.

Question 22

Principled Thought

Answer 22

In Kohlberg’s third level, individuals do come to realize they are separate from their society, but this occurs in the 5th stage. Principled thought comes after moving through the 6th stage, which Kohlberg believed few people actually reached.

Question 23

A counselor intensifies a client's emotional state to show the client the irrationality of her emotional reaction.  What is this technique known as?	
check
	a. Paradoxical intention	
	b. Transactional-Analysis	
	c. Systematic Desensitization	
	d. Reconfiguration

Answer 23

a. Paradoxical intention

Victor Frankl developed the technique of Paradoxical intention and used it with clients who had severe anxiety. Transactional-Analysis is used by psychoanalysts to help clients determine their ego states in order to understand behavior. For behavior change, therapists help clients alter the state of their ego (parent, child, or adult-like). Systematic Desensitization is a behavioral therapy technique developed by Wolpe to help clients overcome phobias

Question 24

Despite its age, Kohlberg's Theory of Moral Development is still in widespread use. Which of the following is the final level in the theory?	
	a. Personhood	
check
	b. Principled thought	
	c. Self-actualization	
	d. None of the above

Answer 24

b. Principled thought

Principled thought comes after moving through the 6th stage, which Kohlberg believed few people actually reached. Self-actualization is the highest level of development one can reach according to Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Question 25

If a child is learning to use abstract concepts, which of Piaget's stages is she in?	
	a. Preoperational	
	b. Sensorimotoer	
	c. Concrete	
check
	d. Early Adolescence

Answer 25

d. Early Adolescence
Typically around the age of 11 or 12, children are moving into the Formal Operational Stage where they are learning to think about abstract concepts. The Concrete Operational Stage is characterized by applying logic.

Question 26

Classical Conditioning

Answer 26

A dog is trained to salivate at the ringing of a bell.

Classical conditioning occurs when two stimuli are repeatedly paired. In this case, the two stimuli were the ringing of the bell and the treat. Operant conditioning occurs when there are rewards and punishments associated with learning. Reinforcement is a term associated with operant conditioning.

Question 27

All humans have a five-stage sleep cycle and all cycle through the stages in the same order. Choose the correct sequence.
a. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 5
b. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 1, Stage 3, Stage 5, Stage 4
c. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 5
check
d. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 3, Stage 2, Stage 5

Answer 27

All humans have a five-stage sleep cycle and all cycle through the stages in the same order. Choose the correct sequence.

d. Stage 1, Stage 2, Stage 3, Stage 4, Stage 3, Stage 2, Stage 5	

Sleep does not progress through all of these stages in sequence, however. Sleep begins in Stage One and progresses into stages Two, Three, and Four. Then, after Stage Four sleep, Stages Three, then Two are repeated before going into REM sleep. Once REM is over, we usually return to Stage Two sleep. Sleep cycles through these stages approximately 4 or 5 times throughout the night.

Question 28

What type of partial reinforcement produces the best response to stimuli?	
	a. Fixed-ratio Schedules	
check
	b. Variable-ratio Schedules	
	c. Fixed-interval Schedules	
	d. Variable-Interval Schedules

Answer 28

b. Variable-ratio Schedules

A variable ratio schedule is when a reward occurs after an unpredictable amount of responses and typically provides a high rate of response. A fixed ratio schedule occurs when a response is reinforced after a set number of responses. Fixed interval schedules reinforce the response only after a certain amount of time has passed. Variable interval schedules reinforce the response after an unpredictable amount of time has gone by.

Question 29

Variable-ratio Schedule

Answer 29

A counselor that decides his consultancy fee job-by-job instead of setting a standard rate is using a variable-ratio reinforcement schedule.
check
True
False
A variable ratio schedule is when a reward occurs after an unpredictable amount of responses and typically provides a high rate of response. The counselor’s rate is unpredictable from one job to the next. A fixed ratio schedule occurs when a response is reinforced after a set number of responses. Fixed interval schedules reinforce the response only after a certain amount of time has passed. Variable interval schedules reinforce the response after an unpredictable amount of time has gone by.

Question 30

Intrinsic motivation

Answer 30

Intrinsic motivation is motivation that comes from within your own thinking or desire. And intrinsic motivation, is of course, opposite of extrinsic motivation, which comes from sources outside your own thought process.

Question 31

What three components make up all attitudes?

Answer 31

Cognitive, Affective, Behavioral

Social psychologists agree that attitude consists of these three components-the cognitive consisting of thoughts and beliefs, the affective involving feelings, and the behavioral consisting of predispositions to act in certain ways toward an object.

Question 32

Mimesis

Answer 32

as defined by Minuchin, the copying of a family’s style by a counselor.

Question 33

Perverse triangle

Answer 33

as used by Hayley, the situation in which two members of a family team up against another member in an effort to reduce his/her authority.

Question 34

Skeleton keys

Answer 34

as used by Steve deShazer, a standard intervention that can be used in dealing with several problems.

Question 35

Integrative psychotherapy

Answer 35

the integration of multiple therapy approaches, used by 30% to 50% of therapists.

Question 36

XO

Answer 36

an abbreviation used by counselors. X means treatment and O indicates observation. Can also indicate a measurement, score or dependent variable.

Question 37

Principles of ethical decision-making and the purpose of the ACA Code of Ethics

Answer 37

each counselor has his or her own ethical standards, some general principles underlie many of the ethical decisions counselors make.

These principles include: beneficence, not causing harm, respect for freedom of choice and self-determination, fairness, and honoring commitments.

The ACA Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice is a document produced by the ACA that establishes principles of ethical behavior to which all ACA members must adhere.

Question 38

Duty to warn

Answer 38

Explain the Tarasoff Case and the duty to protect.
Tarasoff family sued the University of California Board of Regents

Prosenjit Poddar, a client of a university psychologist, murdered Tatiana Tarasoff.

psychologist, in maintaining confidentiality, had failed to warn Ms Tarasoff that Poddar was a danger to her.

counselors are now required to warn their clients intended victims even when the warning violates both confidentiality and privileged information.

Question 39

Duty to protect

Answer 39

a counselor has a responsibility to protect clients from suicide. The counselor should have procedures and guidelines in place for handling such situations, be aware of referral possibilities, and be thoroughly familiar with signs that the client may be planning suicide.

Question 40

aversion therapy

Answer 40

Is associated with punishment.

Question 41

bivariate tabular analysis

Answer 41

Bivariate tablular analysis (or crossbreak) is a method of graphically illustrating the relationship or non-relationship of two variables by the use of an X/Y graph. Traditionally the independent variable is shown by the vertical axis and the dependent variable by the horizontal axis.

Question 42

Psychoanalysis

Answer 42

exploration of the unconscious through such techniques as free association, and the analysis and interpretation of dreams.

Question 43

Gatekeeper

Answer 43

a person in a group who wants to be in charge and tries to manage the group - may not work on his or her own problems.

Question 44

Scapegoating

Answer 44

blaming someone who may not be responsible for the action or event.

Question 45

Intellectualization

Answer 45

using reasoning to protect oneself from emotional stress or conflict.

Question 46

Universality

Answer 46

something that is true for all times and places, also the understanding that one is not alone in experiencing a particular problem or situation.

Question 47

Isolate role

Answer 47

the person in a group who receives little or no attention - he or she may be afraid to participate or other in the group may actually ignore him or her.

Question 48

Describe the differences between group sessions that are structured versus unstructured.

Answer 48

Some structure is required at the start of any group in order to take care of the necessary chores of getting the group organized, setting goals, etc. The leader of an unstructured group will take a laissez faire approach to the later sessions and there will be few rules and guidelines for how the sessions will progress. A structured group will have a leader who is either authoritarian or democratic. Group activities will be planned and techniques chosen to follow the particular type of counseling used.