Practice Questions

Question 1

According to Bowen Theory, more highly differentiated individuals will likely:
A) avoid the expression of intense emotions
B) avoid contact with dysfunctional family members
C) have parents who are highly differentiated
D) be firstborn children
E) A and C

Answer 1

C) have parents who are highly differentiated

Question 2

The central premise of Bowen theory is that unresolved ________ must be resolved
before one can differentiate a mature, healthy personality.
A) oedipal conflicts
B) emotional experiencing
C) emotional reactivity to one’s family of origin
D) career concerns

Answer 2

C) emotional reactivity to one’s family of origin

Question 3

The strategic technique of providing a new label for a family’s description of
behavior, in order to make it more amenable to therapeutic change.
A) interpretation
B) restraining
C) reframing
D) A and C

Answer 3

C) reframing

Question 4

An interaction stimulated in structural family therapy in order to observe and then
change transactions which make up family structure is called:
A) a positive connotation
B) a spontaneous behavior exchange
C) a reframing
D) an enactment

Answer 4

D) an enactment

Question 5

Experiential family therapy is designed to:
A) interpret and work on unconscious conflicts
B) increase family members’ levels of differentiation of self
C) facilitate emotional experiencing in family members
D) none of the above

Answer 5

C) facilitate emotional experiencing in family members

Question 6

Within experiential therapy, the ________ is believed to be the essential healing force
in the psychotherapeutic process, whereby the therapist establishes caring, person-to-
person relationships with each family member while modeling openness, honesty, and
spontaneity.
A) interpretation of unconscious conflict
B) existential encounter
C) therapeutic double-bind
D) paradoxical intervention

Answer 6

B) existential encounter

Question 7

A major treatment strategy in behavioral couples therapy is to:
A) increase the rate of aversive control
B) improve communication skills
C) decrease positive control
D) all of the above

Answer 7

B) improve communication skills

Question 8

Reflecting teams are used by which family therapists? 
A)   Bowen family therapists 
B)   narrative constructive therapists 
C)   structural family therapists 
D)   Jay Haley and Chloe Madanes

Answer 8

B) narrative constructive therapists

Question 9

Steve de Shazer’s term for someone who sees the problem but is not willing to work 
at changing is: 
A)  customer 
B)  visitor 
C)  patient 
D)  complainant

Answer 9

D) complainant

Question 10

While the broad goals of many family therapy schools are to solve presenting
problems and to reorganize families, the primary aim of ______ therapists is to
reorganize families.
A) experiential
B) strategic
C) behaviorists
D) structural

Answer 10

D) structural

Question 11

Cognitive-behavioral and strategic therapists tend to emphasize the technical role of
the therapist, while ____________ and _____________ therapists stress the artistic
side of the person.
A) structural; experiential
B) communications; Bowenian
C) Bowenian; structural
D) experiential; constructivist

Answer 11

D) experiential; constructivist

Question 12

Which school tends not to incorporate systems thinking into their practice? 
A) Milan 
B) Bowenian 
C) behavioral 
D) structural

Answer 12

C) behavioral