Practice Exam Questions Flashcards
A solution focused therapist using the miracle question would start out in which of the following ways?
Suppose one night you were asleep a miracle happened in your problem was solved. How would you know?
Mrs. and Mr. Doherty present for family therapy complaining that their son John will not listen to them and is acting out. In implementing a treatment plan, a strategic therapist would:
Track disabling sequences
Feminist have faulted over family therapist models as:
Favoring masculine values, devaluing mother child nuturance, been primarily based on male development.
Family therapist who believe that, if left alone, people tend towards self actualization are primarily working from the:
Emotionally focused therapy perspective
The family therapist best known by their investment in spontaneity, creativity and risk taking are:
Experiential
A statement such as “men only do anger “might be used as an example in which of the following models
Emotionally focused couples therapy
The narrative model uses the term external invaders to describe
destructive internalized emotional states and beliefs
An MFT reviews a study that concludes, “of all the families included in the study, only two failed to achieve significant improvement in symptom relief by termination of treatment. A one-year follow-up, only four showed signs of return to their original symptomatic state. “A proper conclusion from this information is:
We want to know if the reported findings can be considered representative of what a clinician would find one replicating the treatment in the general population. Therefore we need to check Back in the research report for sample size, correlation and significance.
Entropy is:
The tendency for a system to break down into less organized states.
Family therapy would probably be the primary intervention choice for all of the following except:
Borderline personality issues.
Problems with relationships.
Problems with children.
Problems in an individual around times a family transitions.
Olson’s circumflex Model of family functioning is based on the intersection of two basic family dimensions. They are:
Cohesion and adaptability
An MFT routinely discusses some of her clinical work with her husband she can avoid violations of that HIPAA privacy rule is:
PHI is de-identified
Systems trained clinicians will manage client crises similarly to individually trained clinicians except:
The systems trained clinician will always consider the clients social context
All of the following are similarities between structural and strategic except:
A view of families as rule governing system.
Consideration of the family life cycle.
Concerned with the subsequent organizational structure of the family system. (Correct answer)
Utilization of therapeutic contracts and behavioral test.
Syrupy session a husband implies that his wife appears to get her own way most of the time. The therapist and suggest that the husband says “no “to the wife, once during the following week. The model which emphasizes expectations formed by early experiences is:
Psychodynamic
A therapist may assign a group of friends to watch over a young adult who is abusing drugs in another group to arrange for him to move out of his parents house this therapist is most likely implementing a technique used in:
Network therapy
During the process of treatment, Mr. Medeiros recognized how he was victimized by his parents, and that the past generations were also victimized by their parents. In recognizing this he began to see his parents less as monsters and more as struggling human beings, themselves acting out invisible loyalties. Therefore he was able to block the transgenerational pattern of destructive entitlement and allowed the positive transmission of relational resources. The process by which he earned entitlement by dealing with issues with his own parents is called:
Exoneration
Mrs. ask him to therapy complaining that she had been unhappy and abnormal all her life the therapist asked how do you know you were unhappy?
Mrs. ass expressed being unhappy with friendships and in her relationships with her family. The therapist then asked how Mrs. S knew those unhappy feelings were not normal. Mrs. Allison mentioned some days in which she did feel happy. This attempt by the therapist to help Mrs. us to identify expections is a technique used in:
Solution focused model
Katharine asked her mother for candy at breakfast time. Her mother says no and Katharine continues to ask her mother. Each time her mother says no Katharine so I need becomes more persistent until she has a full fledge tantrum, at which time her mother gifts in so as not to wake her baby sister and KATHRYN stops whining. Katharine is apt to learn from this interaction that:
If she whines enough she will get her way
A family comes to therapy because their 10-year-old child is stealing money from them. After three sessions, the ceiling stops in the family decides to terminate therapy. A collaborative therapist would:
Maintain input from all members of the system including him/her self in mutually determine if the therapy should end.
Both the constructivist and Mulan systemic therapists agree that:
Living systems are characterized by “loop formations “rather than linear cause and affect
A husband and wife are in couples therapy. They both are experiencing depression at a level that is altering their lives. They have both experienced some improvement in depression and some improvement in their marital satisfaction. After next session, they ask the MFT if they could be better off if they took time off of couples work in both entered separate individual therapies. From the perspective of current outcome research alone:
The therapist should encourage continuing the couples therapy because there is research evidence that it is as effective or more effective in relieving symptoms of depression
Which of the following therapist believes that when treating alcoholics, the culvert do used to drinking is only an appropriate go, if it is also a goal of the clients? The therapist may also state that the more traditional concepts of the disease model May, in fact, be counterproductive for many alcoholic clients.
Insoo Berg
Mrs. J called a Bowenian therapist and told him she wanted to set up an appointment with her and her husband and their daughter Mary, age 3, who has a behavioral problem the therapist suggested that Mr. and Mrs. J come for their first visit with aunt Mary because:
Including Mary in the session could possibly detract from his desired focus
Mr. and Mrs. Dority present to family therapy complaining that their son John will not listen to them and is acting out. Which of the following would be a response by milan systemic Therapist?
Who in the family is most upset when John ask out?
According to Bowens theory, the extent to which ones emotional and intellectual systems are distinguishable is called:
Differentiation of self
A technique developed by Milan model that utilizes a third person’s perspective on a subsystem or other Diaz within the system is also known as:
Circular questioning
A 12-year-old boy was brought to therapy because he went to bed almost every night. The mother had been hospitalized at one time for depression. The father worked long hours, and the mother complained about his lack of interest in her and his attraction to other women. The therapist hypothesized that the bedwetting was both A metaphorical expression of the fathers improper behavior and attempt to help the parents by eliciting their concern in distracting them from their own problems. This assessment of the problem is associated with:
Strategic therapy
A family therapist working with the family around the acting out eight-year-old boy goes to great lengths to inform the family that he does not have a particular answer for them as to how they should proceed. There’s not knowing stands reminiscent of Goolishian and Anderson is used to help the clients:
Acknowledge their own expertise on their own lives
Research and found one year following the voice to be the peak of maximum negative behavior for children. Such behaviors were “most likely” sustained in:
Boys then in girls
If you were a structural family therapist and the husband of the couple said, “I am angry quote, what would you most likely say in response?
“Who in the family are you angry with?”
A mother calls the therapist sounding very panicky, wanting an immediate appointment. At the end of the first session, the mother states that her 12-year-old son Sam has just been caught in the bathroom of a neighbors home with a six-year-old boy. The six-year-old says that Sam is playing with his bun and kissing his penis. When confronted by his mother, Sam admitted to having played with the boy on four previous occasions. The neighborhood boys parents have been Sam from their home and informed other parents at the school about his “perversion quote. Sam‘s mother called a psychiatrist prior to calling you who she says stated, “you can put him into therapy and give him drugs, but it’s probably already too late “you begin seeing Sam and his family. You are also seeing another family living in the same neighborhood as Sam and his family, with a boy two years younger than Sam Who given this new information, you are now concerned about. In your work with Sam and his family, you should:
Explain to the family what a mandated reporter is in file a suspicion of sexual abuse report
The DSM-V has replaced important language as required by what is commonly known as roses law ( public law 111 – 256). This federal statute changed:
The use of the term mental retardation
Which of the following therapist emphasized the importance of transgenerational themes:
Satir, Minuchin, Whitaker(correct), erikson
Epston and White regard problems as something which influence or operate on people, rather than as something they are doing wrong. The Negative technique utilized to accomplish this is:
Externalizing
One important way that a family system therapist crisis management work will differ from an individually oriented therapist is:
The family therapist will always explore the possibility that other family members are also in crisis
Systems that are self organizing in South maintaining, such as biological and human systems, are known as:
Autopoetic systems
A family therapist has in session goals to accentuate the clients expression of attachment needs. Such an emotional expression might be termed:
Primary emotions
Dr. a train‘s family therapist. Mary B is Dr. A’s student. Midway through the year it becomes evident to Dr. a that and Mary could benefit from therapy. When she approaches Mary with her recommendation, Mary Grace and ask Dr. a to be her therapist. Dr. A:
Declines on the grounds that it would be unethical
A doctoral candidate had difficulties meeting his deadlines due to procrastination. He reports to his therapist his fear of doing a poor job. The therapist responds by telling him to write one chapter in his usual way, and in writing the next to submit only a quick first draft. The quick first draft chapter receives praise and acceptance and the problem maintaining sequence was broken this therapist most likely was trained in the:
MRI Approach
Structural and MRI strategic different in their orientation to all of the following except:
The punctuation of sequences. Therapist use of confrontation. Negative and positive feedback use of symptom dysfunction. Emphasis on process over content (correct)
You were seen a single father and his two children and therapy. You find yourself physically and sexually attracted to him. As an ethical family therapist, you should:
Discussed the issue with a colleague in order to determine your objectivity and ability to continue working with the family
A family presents with a seven-year-old child who seems to look for his parents acceptance and reassurance well answering every question the family therapist puts to her when her parents expressed disagreement to what she has expressed, she quickly adapts her position to that of her parents. This might be best described by the following models:
Framo’s objective relations model
Which of the following statements are true of emotionally focused therapy.
A. Emotionally focused therapy is generally contra indicated for bulimic symptoms, including the frequency and severity of perching or vomiting. B. All of the possible choices.
C. Emotionally focused therapy adds to cognitive therapy a focus on the construct of aspects of specific emotions.
D. Emotionally focused therapy is generally contracting indicated in the short term for those conditions in which there is an under control of Emotion, i.e. panic disorder and impulse disorders. (Correct answer)
All of the following variables are measured by the GARF except:
Sub skills of problem-solving/interactional. Sub skills of emotional climate. Sub skills of interactional competence a scale (correct). Subscales of organization.
What does “tickling the defenses“ mean?
Provoking people to open up and say what’s really on their mind
Hey therapist reports to her supervisor that a family she is seen complains to her that she doesn’t listen well to what they tell her. Her supervisor response, “I’m sorry what were you saying? “This is an example of a/an?
isomorphism
Solution focused therapists hold the following to be a primary therapeutic goal:
A Perceptional shift from talking about problems to talking about solutions.
Process research has shown that emotional focused therapy correlate strongly with Lassing therapeutic outcomes when there is:
A deep level of emotional processing.
A couple comes to therapy because their 3yr old daughter is “out of control”. During the session the wife begins complaining that her husband is never home and she is left to deal with her daughter’s behavior. During the first interview w/ this family, the first priority of a Strategic Family Tx would be:
Set Goals
A 60yr old woman is referred for depression and feeling ‘lost’ in life. As she takes the client’s history, the clinician should be particularly concerned about:
Erickson’s developmental stage of “generativity” in which older individuals struggle to find meaning while coping with knowing the number of years they have left is dwindling.
History of suicidality, substance abuse and impulsive control which might be signs of current suicidality.
Does the client have any fear of her life partner and is he making any extraordinary efforts to please them, which might be signs of domestic abuse.
A Haitian family therapist has just been given assigned a new case. The mandated family consists of a Dominican mother, 23, with a set of 2 yr. old twin girls. She has brought her “aunt and uncle” to the therapy, both of who seem cold and dismissive of the therapist. Over the course of the first session, it appears that aunt and uncle are not related to the mother at all. Which of the following would be most helpful in both joining and assessing this family?
Extended and compound households are common in Dominican culture, and the aunt and uncle should be treated as family.
There is historically tension between Dominicans and Haitians and these cultural differenes between therapist and clients ethnicities may need to be addressed with the family.
Assessing how traditional this Dominican family is.
All of the following are examples of physiologically-based sexual dysfunction except:
Hypoactive sexual desire: Hypoactive or inhibited sexual desire is a sexual disorder that refers to an individual’s arousal capabilities, rather than physiological responses. The other sexual dysfunctions are based upon known physiological phenomena that can prevent a person from functioning sexually. While these problems may also have a psychological basis, they are known to be physiologically- based as well.
In a therapy session a husband implies that his wife appears to get her own way most of the time. The therapist then suggests that the husband say ‘no’ to the wife once during the following week. In initially assessing this client, a Strategic therapist would do all of the following except
A. Define the problem
B. Think of the problem that simultaneously offers a solution to the problem and is a problem itself
C. Develop a plan for the problem
D. Take family history (Correct)
Harmonious relationships are more difficult to achieve for gay and lesbian couples because:
Our society presents them with far more obstacles.
Jacobson’s Pretreatment Assessment for Marital Therapy includes all of the following EXCEPT:
A. Individual functioning of each spouse.
B. Strengths and skills of the relationship
c. cohesion (correct)
D. presenting problems
Neil Jacobson offers an outline for pretreatment assessment. After completing the assessment, the therapist presents the couple with an analysis of their relationship in social learning terms. The assessment includes: strengths and skills of the relationship, presenting problem, sex and affection, future prospects, assessment of social environment and individual functioning of each spouse.
Prior to the DSM, the ‘Statistical Manual for the Use of Institutions for the Insane’ was developed by
National Commission on Mental Hygiene.
Prior to the DSM being developed in 1952, in 1917 the APA in conjunction with the National Commission on Mental Hygiene developed the Statistical Manual for the Use of Institutions for the Insane which included 22 diagnoses. The current DSM-5 was released in 2015, expanding and collapsing many diagnostic categories.
Questions that provide information about how a problem has managed to disrupt a family versus how much they have been able to control it are referred to as:
Relative influence questions: These questions serve to “map or chart the relative influence of the problem” and are an essential part of the understanding how the problem is controlling family members.
A person’s experience shapes the way they think about it, this notion is called:
Social Constructionism: Experience shapes the meaning we attach to reality and is the foundation of Social Constructionism.
An MFT in private practice keeps some of her clinical records on her laptop computer, which she carries back and forth to work every day. One evening after work she stopped to meet a friend for dinner before going home. When she returned to her car she noticed the trunk was open and then found that her computer had been stolen.According to the HIPAA Security Rule:
She is in violation of the Security Rule only if she did not password protect her computer, anticipating the possibility that it could be stolen.
As a structural therapist you would most likely:
Imitate family style and affect: Imitating certain family patterns is considered a helpful step to connecting and being accepted early on in the therapy by Structural therapists. This aspect of the engagement process is called “accommodation.”
Biracial children have unique circumstances for identity development because:
they may not look like their monoracial parents and therefore feel isolated from the family unit.
A Contextual therapist views family dysfunction as caused by:
Two of the basic concepts of the theory of dysfunction in Contextual Therapy are lack of justice and lack of trust.
Autism Spectrum disorder now encompasses which of the previous DSM-IV diagnostic categories?
A. Pervasive developmental disorder - not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS)
B. Asperger’s disorder
C. Childhood Disintegrative Disorder
D. All of the above (correct)
Your focus of practice is with ‘gamers’ and internet game addiction. Naturally, you reach out to your clientele through the internet and make yourself available for video therapy sessions. You notice that your practice is expanding when your first client from out of state asks for your services. Your first response to the potential client is to
check with your state licensure board and the licensing regulations of the state the client lives in to determine the limits of your practice.
Circular causality speaks to the non-linear nature of systems. This concept originates from?
General Systems Theory and Cybernetics
Which of the following statements are true?
a. For boys whose parents divorce, the risk of dying from accidents and violence was particularly robust, as they grew up to be more reckless.
b. The experience of parental divorce was strongly linked to earlier mortality from all causes, including accidents, cancers, and cardiovascular disease.
c. Children’s standards of living decreased, on average, when their parents divorced, but the psychological effects went beyond the economic changes.
d. All of the above (correct)
According to research conducted by Beavers-Timberlawn, which family type is most at risk for domestic violence?
Centripental: Centripetal family members look for gratification from within the family and are less trustful of the outside world.
LoPiccolo is a well-known sex therapist who helped developed:
a sexual growth program for women who have problems in experiencing orgasm.
be familiar with LoPiccolo’s and others’ work in sex therapy. Heiman, J., LoPiccolo, L., & LoPiccolo, J., (1988) wrote a book titled, “Becoming Orgasmic: A Sexual Growth Program for Women”.
The therapist least likely to rely on self-report data is:
Haley did not rely on self-report data but the interactional patterns that took place in the session. He focused on process not content.
An MFT retired to a rural area. She decided to volunteer for the local community mental health agency to do some home-based family therapy. Her work was entirely free, not receiving any compensation from the agency or from the clients. After a few months working with one particular family, the father mentioned that he often drove past her farm and noticed her barn door didn’t close and was off its hinges. He stated that he would be happy to fix it for her, since she had done so much for his family. The correct statement about her obligation under HIPAA rules is:
She is a ‘covered entity’ unless she is separated from the agency as totally independent, has no access to other agency clients’ PHI, and does not transmit any PHI electronically.
A couple comes in for therapy. The husband complains his wife is too close to her family and she has trouble separating from them. In fact, he states that his wife is in constant contact with her mother and looks to her mother constantly to help her make decisions. Often these decisions are in opposition to decisions made previously by he and his wife.
A Structural therapist in assessing this couple would:
assess boundaries between the wife and her family.
Minuchin assesses functioning of subsystems (including individuals), paying particular attention to the boundaries between them. Only “clear” boundaries support the successful functioning of subsystems, while “rigid” boundaries will prevent the exchange of needed information and affect, and “diffuse” boundaries will permit too much exchange.
Which of the following theorists, a pioneer in cognitive psychology strongly influence the narrative model with his work “The Narrative Construction of Reality”?
Bruner.
In an article from the journal Critical Inquiry, Bruner argued that the mind structures its sense of reality through mediation through “cultural products, like language and other symbolic systems”. He specifically focused on the idea of narrative as one of these cultural products. He defined narrative in terms of ten things:
Narrative diachronicity: The notion that narratives take place over some sense of time. Particularity: The idea that narratives deal with particular events, although some events may be left vague and general. Intentional state entailment: The concept that characters within a narrative have “beliefs, desires, theories, values, and so on” (7). Hermeneutic composability: The theory that narratives are that which can be interpreted in terms of their role as a selected series of events that constitute a “story.” See also Hermeneutics Canonicity and breach: The claim that stories are about something unusual happening that “breaches” the canonical (i.e. normal) state. Referentiality: The principle that a story in some way references reality, although not in a direct way that offers verisimilitude. Genericness: The flipside to particularity, this is the characteristic of narrative whereby the story can be classified as a genre. Normativeness: The observation that narrative in some way supposes a claim about how one ought to act. This follows from canonicity and breach. Context sensitivity and negotiability: Related to hermeneutic composability, this is the characteristic whereby narrative requires a negotiated role between author or text and reader, including the assigning of a context to the narrative, and ideas like suspension of disbelief.
A Contextual family therapist interviews a family and discovers that Mr. Medieros, the father, comes from a family in which his father was irresponsible and unavailable. Mr. Medieros reports that as the eldest son, he took responsibility along with his mother for the well-being of the family. Mrs. Medieros smirks and states how ironic it is that her husband withdraws from her and her children. In obtaining this information, the therapist is able to see:
the transgenerational issues and destructive entitlement.
According to Lyman Wynne, pseudo-mutual families may create a flexible yet unstable boundary called:
Rubber fence boundary:
Wynne has coined the rubber fence boundary concept to describe a flexible, yet non-stable family boundary in families characterized by a pseudo-mutual pattern. Rules that govern this type of boundary are in constant flux, allowing in whatever is deemed acceptable, while unpredictably excluding that which is deemed unacceptable. A pseudo-mutual pattern is a collusive family maneuver which presents an harmonious picture to the outside world, covering up dysfunction.
A behavioral family therapist working with a wife who is having trouble getting her husband’s attention when she talks, offers the following instruction: “This time when he turns his head away, I want you to squeeze his hand gently and tell him you really want him to listen.” These verbal instructions are called:
Coaching: Classical conditioning is pure stimulus-response, as in pavlov’s dogs.
Mr. and Mrs. M. were in therapy with their minister, Rev. A. A colleague of the minister’s reprimanded her, stating that Rev. A. was in a dual relationship with the couple. Rev. A. replied that she was well within the AAMFT code of ethics because she was getting supervision for this case. The minister was correct because:
all dual relationships are not prohibited.
Section 1.2 of the current AAMFT Ethics Code does not prohibit all dual relationships. The Code states that when dual relationships cannot be avoided (such as marriage and family therapist also serves as pastor to his/her congregation) the therapist must “….take appropriate precautions to ensure judgment is not impaired and no exploitation occurs.” Precautions usually consist of supervision and/or consultation
A couple comes to therapy because they feel their sex life is not satisfying. The female reports that she is always anxious and is unable to reach orgasm and feels that her husband thinks she is an inadequate sex partner. In the first session, a Bowenian therapist would do all of the following EXCEPT:
A. assess the inequality of power in the couple system and the extended family. (correct)
B. assess the family life cycle phase.
C. assess the level of anxiety/stress in the couple system and the extended family.
D. assess the level of differentiation of the couple, in relation to their extended families.
Relevant concepts of Bowen theory include all of the following Exect:
A. degree of differentiation of self of each family member.
B. Search for strengths (correct)
C. Family’s anxiety level and emotional reactivity
D. family projection process
A family comes to therapy because their son has just been diagnosed as schizophrenic. The parents report that the hospital report alluded to the fact that their son’s schizophrenia was caused by the family’s dysfunction. The therapist states that schizophrenia is genetically based, and that the family had “no control over it”. This therapist is MOST LIKELY coming from which model?
Psychoeducational
An MFT has been seeing a divorced father with two daughters, 8 and 12 years old. After not showing up for an appointment, the MFT receives a call from the police stating that the mother reported the children and the father as missing and that he is the primary suspect in the childrens’ disappearance. The police demanded copies of his psychotherapy notes to see if there’s anything in them that will help determine the childrens’ location.
In this situation:
The MFT should hand over his psychotherapy notes so that the police can determine if there’s anything of value to them in the notes
A mother calls the therapist sounding very panicky, wanting an immediate appointment. At the first session, the mother states that her 12-year old son Sam has just been caught in the bathroom of a neighbor’s home with a 6-year old boy. The 6-year old says that Sam was playing with his “bum” and kissing his penis. When confronted by his mother, Sam admitted to having “played” with the boy on 4 previous occasions. The neighbor boy’s parents have banned Sam from their home and informed other parents and the school about his “perversion”. Sam’s mother called a psychiatrist prior to calling you who she says stated, “You can put him into therapy and give him drugs, but it’s probably already too late.” You begin seeing Sam and his family. In your first meeting with this family, you begin by speaking for a time with each member of the family, asking them about themselves. This engagement technique might be used in which school of family therapy?
Strategic / Haley.
During a session a client stated that she had had it with a co-worker’s verbal abuse, had bought a hand gun and was developing a plan to kill him. The therapist, although concerned about confidentiality, called the police who said they would take care of it. The therapist:
did not fulfill his duty to warn because he did not contact the co-worker directly.
The Rodriquez family has been run like clockwork for the last 12 years. Mother and Father both agree that it is important to have clear rules in the family. But since the oldest daughter has turned 14, the rules are no longer working. An MRI therapist asks the family what they have done to solve the problem thus far. Father explains that they have increased the daughter’s curfew from 9 to 10pm on weekends. This is an example of a:
1st order change. -a change in behavior. While a second order change is a change in the beliefs or rules that govern behavior or emotions.
A couple presents for family therapy saying that “whenever they talk, they argue,” and that their conflict has been escalating and is getting scary. The husband Bob is 48; his wife Donna is 29. They have two teenage children from Bob’s previous marriage. Bob is a project manager for a large corporation with responsibility for numerous national and international locations which frequently take him away from home. Donna is getting a graduate degree. Donna complains that neither of the teenage boys will listen to her when he is away from home.
In working with this family, a therapist working from the Feminist Model of Family Therapy would most likely:
align with the wife in the couple systemc
A new client comes into your office for intake with a number of pages printed from the internet. He goes on to explain that the papers all contain information about you that he has collected online. There is a story from your hometown newspaper from ten years ago that has a picture of your mom, there is your Facebook page that you have privatized but still identifies people in your network, and there is your LinkedIn professional page. As a family therapist,what would be the appropriate stance for you to work with this client.
Acknowledge with the client that with the advent of the internet that the traditional boundaries between therapist/client are easy to blur and explore with the client what they might have hoped regarding a response from you.
A twelve year old boy told a friend in school that he was going to kill himself so that he didn’t have to tell his parents about a recent poor test grade. The friend told a teacher who contacted the mother who became very upset on the phone. The teacher recommended an urgent appointment with a local family therapist. The boy has an older sister who has been in treatment for depression and a father who abuses alcohol. Before his initial interview with the boy, the clinician learns from the parents through a phone call, that although he did go home and tell his parents about the poor grade, he has repeated his suicide threat to other people, including to the clinician herself. From this new information the clinician concludes:
it is not good practice to determine the risk level from this information alone.
A family therapist would label the type of relationship that demonstrates the exchange of different types of behavior as:
Complementary.
Feminist family therapists are critical of the cybernetic concept of circular causality in male-female relationships because of the implication of:
equal power and control.
A family therapist is working with one member of a family who reports that when she feels vulnerable, she desperately searches for ways to numb the pain. This family member seems to be describing the role of the:
Firefighter
One of the methods used by LoPiccolo when treating an inorgasmic dysfunction is:
Directed masturbation training.
Guillermo, age 14 is the first child to his father and the oldest brother to his three half-siblings. The father, a Mexican-American was raised in Orange County, California and his wife is of Jewish heritage and was raised in New Jersey. She is the mother to the three younger children. The family has come to therapy with Guillermo because Guillermo has begun to terrorize his younger sister. He looks very much like his dad while the younger children resemble their mother much more. The girl being terrorized by Guillermo has bright blue eyes and curly blond hair. “She gets everything!”, Guillermo protests.
What is the most culturally sensitive way to address this possible race related issue with this family?
Address possible race issues in the beginning of therapy directly with the family.
Heather, a 16-year-old, was caught at school with marijuana and has been expelled. She comes to therapy with her father, Mike. Mike is divorced from Heather’s mother and has custody of Heather and her two siblings. He owns slot machines and is out all day servicing them and collecting money. He smokes marijuana around his children. From a Solution-Focused model, the presenting problem around which a goal is to be created is:
Unknown
Olsen’s Circumplex model, sometimes called ‘FACES’ identifies:
flexibility and cohesion facilitated by communication as the most important characteristics to assess when families are in crisis.
Which of the following statements regarding divorce are NOT true:
a. Boys and girls from divorced homes were more likely to smoke and drink when they got older, as compared to their peers from intact families.
b. Girls and boys from divorced homes tended to end their education earlier than those from intact families, with the expected problems that then ensued.
c. Children’s standards of living decreased, on average, when their parents divorced, but the psychological effects went beyond the economic changes.
d. A positive family environment—having positive feelings about one’s family—will ameliorate the detrimental effects of divorce. Boys with positive family feelings lived longer lives, as it turns out not to be especially traumatic to have a seemingly positive, functional home change its parental structure. (Correct)
The notion that a person’s experience shapes the way they think and understand the meaning of things and relationships in their life is called:
Social Constructionsim:
A family comes to therapy and during the first session, the therapist observes that the 7-year-old daughter sits between her parents and looks toward her mother before answering any questions. The father appears bored during the session and constantly looks up toward the ceiling whenever the daughter looks toward the mother. The 5-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter are sitting opposite the parents and appear distracted and uninvolved.
As a Structural therapist you most likely would:
instruct the 7-year-old to sit next to her siblings and ask the parents to sit next to each other.
Which of the following assumptions about systemic functioning is not accepted as valid and useful?
a. Assessment focuses on linear vs. circular causality. (correct)
B. Families who are having problems are stuck in a phase of the family development life cycle
C. Problems are the result of ineffective interactional and organizational rules in the family rather than the result of individual pathology.
D. The presenting problems are a result of family rules which are an ineffective way of dealing with stress.
An MFT in a 3-person group practice keeps her client PHI on her office computer. She uses clinical practice management software that keeps most information she needs conveniently organized. In addition to all insurance information, the software does her billing via direct internet connection to a payer clearinghouse, resulting in quick turn-around of payments, and also allows for email communications with the client, keeping the emails organized and associated with the client record. The software also provides a text entry area to record the session information. However, during her original clinical training, she developed the habit of scribbling a few notes on a pad next to her as she conducted her therapy sessions, which she still does. Her computer is password protected, she uses an encryption technology for all client and insurance company electronic/email transactions and her handwritten session notes are kept on paper and filed in a locked cabinet in her office. Two of the clinicians in the practice described above share the same family therapy case. One sees the parents in couples therapy, the other works with their 16 year old daughter individually, also offering occasional family meetings. The daughter often tells her therapist that there is information that she does not want disclosed to her parents.
Which of the following statements is correct?
The therapists can exchange HIPAA protected PHI without authorization from either parent because they are within the same covered entity.
HIPAA rules state specifically that PHI can be exchanged among workforce members of each covered entity for ‘normal healthcare operations’, just as it can be exchanged with insurance companies for billing purposes. Each person receiving the PHI must be either a licensed clinician operating under the covered entity guidelines or a trained staff member, working either as an employee or contractor with written contract. The corporation must be in full compliance and have all security measures fully documented.
The goal of Emotionally Focused Therapy is:
Emotionally Focused Therapy works to re-organize primary and secondary emotions through the creation of a strong attachment (trust) bond between partners. Once achieved, new interactional patterns are developed based on the more secure bond.
The Solution Focused therapist believes that solutions to problems are often:
Unrelated to the way the problems developed.
An MFT works as a 1/3 time employee of a local high school. His primary responsibility is to meet with students together with their family members to help them understand and coordinate educational goals with teachers and guidance personnel. Occasionally, the MFT will hold a series of family therapy sessions when school guidance counselors indicate they believe the student and their families are in conflict about the student’s school activities. During the remainder of his work hours, the MFT has a solo private practice in which he bills insurance companies for his services, making use of a billing clearinghouse service. In this situation:
Whether the MFTs work in the school is considered healthcare depends on the understanding created with each family, as to whether educational counseling or family therapy is being provided.
A wife complains that her husband is upset because she refuses to have sex after a long day. She feels little or no sexual feelings when he approaches her at bedtime. However, when they are on vacation she has absolutely no problem reacting to her husband’s advances; in fact, she is often the aggressor. The therapist diagnosis this as:
situational dysfunction.
Aeisha is a beginning therapist working with the Robinson family. The family is seeking treatment because their 15 year old son, was caught shoplifting. Aeisha feels like the family is challenging and resistant to her suggestions for change. In her next session, Aeisha spends more time joining with the family and asking how they thought therapy should proceed. After this session, Aeisha begins to reformulate an approach that is more consistent with the family’s view of the problem. She soon discovers that movement is beginning to happen in therapy. According to research, Aeisha this family may have been presenting:
therapist resistance.
A family therapist is trained in the Solution-Focused model. What would be their primary therapeutic goal?
A perceptual shift from talking about problems to talking about solutions.
A family consisting of a mother, father, two daughters ages 13 and age 15, and a son, age 17, enter therapy. The parents are complaining that their 15-year old daughter is coming in drunk every night and is very abusive to the family.
During the first interview the therapist begins the session by greeting each family member and asking each member to tell her a bit about themselves before asking for his/her view of the problem.
The therapist would be:
Joining
With regard to MFTs, licensed or certified, HIPAA states:
Nothing specifically.
An MFT is using a differentiation approach in treating an internet affair. After completing an assessment of the couple and the circumstances of the affair the therapist will
confront the distressed spouse about his/her sense of betrayal.
Some Feminist family therapists are critical of Minuchin’s emphasis on family hierarchies because they believe:
it reinforces gender stereotypes.
Feminist Family Therapists have outlined three major mistakes of mainstream family therapy theory. These mistakes are: 1) overlooks gender, one of the major building blocks of any theory of family; 2) overlooks power as a valid construct of family systems within generations (although noted power issues cross-generationally); 3) supports the main bias in our culture, that autonomy and the differentiation of self is valued more than relational competence and affiliation. Feminist thought equally values autonomy, differentiation of self, competence, and affiliation
A couple comes to therapy because the woman is having problems “being sexual”. The therapist gives a sensate focus homework assignment. During the next session the woman comments that she couldn’t allow her partner to touch her. What did the therapist fail to do?
take an adequate sexual history from the couple.
A couple comes to therapy because their three-year-old daughter is “out of control”. During the session the wife begins complaining that her husband is never home and she is left to deal with her daughter’s behavior.
An initial goal that a Structural Family Therapist working with this family might set is to:
help the couple function together as a cohesive executive subsystem.
Minuchin believes that the most important of all the general goals for families is the creation of an effective hierarchical structure
Which school of thought has recently emerged placing a renewed emphasis on language and meaning, rather than a strict adherence to the more common theories of family therapy? This school of thought is more pluralistic, crossing disciplinary boundaries while breaking free of old paradigms. It views the therapist as part of the therapy process, rather than as an expert.
Postmodernism– emphasizes language and meaning, placing the therapist inside the therapeutic focal unit.
The Contextual model regards which of the following dimensions as the most essential and powerful in family relations?
Relational Ethics
The relational ethics dimension emphasizes the subjective balance of justice and determines relational trustworthiness, regarded as being the most essential and powerful in the family.
Mr. Oesco comes to therapy with his son Josh. Mr. Oesco and his wife are divorced. He and Josh live together and Mrs. Oesco and her daughter Jessica live in another state. The presenting problem appears to be Josh’s anger at his mother and his refusal to conform to the visitation arrangement set up by the court when the Oesco’s divorced. Josh appears to have a good relationship with his sister which at times presents a problem to his father and mother.
In assessing this family, the majority of family therapists would most likely do all of the following except:
identify family of origin patterns that are transmitted across generations.
Systems that are self-organizing and self-maintaining, such as biological and human systems are know as:
autopoetic Systems
Children adapt most easily to remarriage if they are:
Preschoolers - either sex
The AAMFT Code of Ethics sets the ethical standards for:
all members of AAMFT.
Mary is a 15-year-old who has been truant for 31 days. In addition her parents report that she sleeps all day and stays up most of the night. She has gained 30 pounds over the past six months. She looks sad and has isolated herself from all her friends.A Strategic family therapist treating Mary and her family for the first time would most likely:
relabel Mary’s behavior as stubbornness or laziness.
The Johnson family first presents as with the middle child , an 8 year old boy, school refusing. Neither of his older or younger sibs is presenting with any apparent difficulties. It quickly becomes apparent that the couple is not living together and is in the process of a difficult divorce. The couple asks you about the long term effects of divorce, to which you respond
Studies have shown divorce is a predictor of many future difficulties for children including early mortality.
THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE ON CHILDREN
- Children from divorced families died almost five years earlier than those from intact families.
- Facing parental divorce during childhood was the single strongest social predictor of early death, many years into the future.
- Having one’s parents divorce during childhood was a much stronger predictor of mortality risk than was parental death.
- The experience of parental divorce was strongly linked to earlier mortality from all causes, including accidents, cancers, and cardiovascular disease.
- For boys whose parents divorce, the risk of dying from accidents and violence was particularly robust, as they grew up to be more reckless.
- Children’s standards of living decreased, on average, when their parents divorced, but the psychological effects went beyond the economic changes.
- Girls and boys from divorced homes tended to end their education earlier than those from intact families, with the expected problems that then ensued.
- Boys and girls from divorced homes were more likely to smoke and drink when they got older, as compared to their peers from intact families.
- Girls from divorced families were than 100% more likely to become heavy smokers.
- Those who had lived through their parents’ divorce when they were children were more likely to have their own marriages end in divorce, thus perpetuating the vicious cycle.
- A positive family environment—having positive feelings about one’s family—did not ameliorate the detrimental effects of divorce. Boys with positive family feelings lived shorter lives, as it was especially traumatic to have a seemingly positive, functional home torn apart.
- Men who divorced were at much higher mortality risk than those who remained married. Even remarried men didn’t live as long as those who stayed steadily married.
