Test 3

Question 1

Psychoeducation Groups
a. Where are they offered at?

Answer 1

Offered in schools or other settings

Question 2

Psychoeducation Groups
What do they provide?

Answer 2

group leaders attempt to provide relevant information on careers, sex, parenting skills, job possibilities, colleges, and other topics that might be of interest.

Question 3

Psychoeducation Groups
What do they focus on?

Answer 3

Focus on preventing problems in the future by encouraging developmental growth, aiding the decision-making process, teaching valuable life skills, and providing useful information.

Question 4

Psychoeducation Groups
Who in particular is called on to lead this type of group?

Answer 4

School, rehabilitation, and substance abuse specialists, in particular, will be called on to lead these types of groups.

Question 5

Task Groups
a. What are some examples of a task group?

Answer 5

A meeting, town hall discussion, teach in a classroom, consulting or coaching capacity.

Question 6

Is task group more concerned with present or past?

Answer 6

Group counseling is usually focused in the present rather than on the past.

Relatively short term, spanning a period of weeks or months, and stresses relationship support factors for resolving stated conflicts.

Question 7

Therapy Groups
a. Usually long or short duration?

Answer 7

Usually long term in duration.

Question 8

What are some themes that go along with therapy groups?

Answer 8

Identification of behaviors, challenges, struggles

Question 9

What is the goal of a therapy group?

Answer 9

Goal is to minimize symptoms
Understand past actions
Support

Question 10

Self-Help Groups

Answer 10

Often do not have a professionally trained leader
Use a more experienced member
Membership of self-help groups are open and fluctuates

Question 11

What are some examples of self-help groups?

Answer 11

Alcoholics Anonymous, an eating disorders group, a Heart-Smart group for individuals with cardiac problems, a group for people diagnosed with HIV, and many others on almost any conceivable topic or issue.

Question 12

Support Groups

Answer 12

Developed and sponsored by professional organizations or professional individuals

Question 13

What are some examples of support groups?

Answer 13

include breast cancer survivors, Parents Anonymous, Parents of Children with Attention Deficit Disorders, and spouse loss/grief groups.

Question 14

What are the advantages of using group counseling compared to individual?

Answer 14

*Cost-Effectiveness
*Spectator Effects
*Stimulation Value
*Opportunity for Feedback
*Support
*Structured Practice

Question 15

Forming Stage

Answer 15

just thinking about the group before it begins
Expectations of group and leader
Screening process
Introductions
Purpose of group
Ground rules established
Trust is explored
One-three sessions

Question 16

Transition Stage

Answer 16

*Long silences
*Demands for leader structure
*Expressions of discomfort or anxiety
*Someone acting out as a distraction
*Prolonged conflict, or even attacks on the leader (Gladding, 2012).
*Express, and deal with fears
*Mood of the group changes from one in which people only pat one another on the back to one in which it is safer to disagree respectfully, confront constructively
*Experiment with more freedom and flexibility—that is, all the behaviors needed for the real work to take place.

Question 17

Working Stage

Answer 17

*When there is good movement from one member to another with almost everyone participating
*When there is less reliance on the leader(s) to direct and structure things
*When individuals are accomplishing their stated goals
*When cohesion, intimacy, and trust are operating at consistently high levels
*When game playing, conflicts, and acting-out behaviors are labeled, confronted, and worked through successfully
*When self-disclosure, constructive risk taking, and sharing are high
*When it appears as if people are making consistent progress in their sensitivity and responsiveness to one another

Question 18

Closing Stage

Answer 18

*Group members assess what they have learned
*Discuss plans for change
*Explore their feelings about the experience
*Members attempt to resolve unfinished issues within the group
*Evaluate the performance of the group
*Say good-bye and deal with ending issues

Question 19

Understand Intervention Cues

Answer 19

*Counselor relies heavily on “gut wisdom” but also knows that, when a client becomes self-deprecating or self-deceptive or drifts from reality.
*Group situations contain a virtual overload of stimuli to attend to. The most difficult task is to describe not just how and when to intervene but with whom.
*A leader’s behavior can be at best distracting or at worst destructive if ill timed or inappropriately directed.
*Abusive behavior/dialogue
*Rambling & digressions
*Withdrawal and passivity
*Lethargy and Boredom
*Sensitivity to language used “I” word

Question 20

What are the leadership skills?

Answer 20

*Supporting
*Facilitating
*Initiating
*Setting goals
*Giving feedback
*Linking
*Blocking

Question 21

What is homeostasis when it comes to family counseling?

Answer 21

*the idea that families experience strong pressures to maintain their typical pattern of functioning, no matter how dysfunctional they are.

Question 22

When was the term “Dysfunctional Family” developed?

Answer 22

1970’s Contributions
​​*Indeed, the very term dysfunctional family was developed by this new school of family system thinkers; the term has become such a part of our everyday language that we forget that it didn’t exist until the latter years of the 20th century.

Question 23

What are some differences between individual and family counseling?

Answer 23

*Family practitioners view problems as located not within the individual but within the larger context of interactions between people.
*Clinicians must generally be more active, directive, and controlling than they would be in individual sessions.
*Rarely can the counselor afford the luxury of operating from one theoretical approach. Family practitioners tend to be very pragmatic and flexible.
*Focus is directed toward organizational structures and natural developmental processes that are part of all family systems. This includes attention to family rules, norms, and coalitions.
*Developmental models are employed that describe the family life cycle, including predictable and natural transitions, crises, and conflicts.
*Rather than a single notion of “family” structure, counselors recognize that multiple versions are common, depending on the dominant culture.
*A model of circular, rather than linear, causality is favored. This means that when determining the causes of events or behaviors, it is important to look at the bigger picture of how each person’s actions become causes and effects of everyone else’s behavior.

Question 24

What are some additional trainings and specializations that a family counselor must complete?

Answer 24

*family counseling involves additional training and specialization, especially considering that there is a different orientation to look far beyond the symptoms of the identified client who was referred for treatment and explore issues within a larger context that takes into consideration relational patterns.
*you must have specialized training in family systems dynamics, family theories, family interventions, couples counseling, sex counseling, and professional/ethical issues unique to this practice.
*family counseling has all the challenges of individual and group counseling—plus the added burden of dealing with the fact that everyone is related to one another;
*each case, comes with a history of interactions you have not been privy to.

Question 25

What are some universal features of family counseling?

Answer 25

​​*Most family counselors rely on the same set of skills, such as “joining the family” or building rapport, assessing power hierarchies within the family system, restructuring coalitions among family members, reframing problems to make them more solvable, and engaging all members in resolving their difficulties.
All family counselors think in terms of social systems. Rather than viewing problems in terms of simple cause–effect relationships—that Mother causes Child to act out—they are seen in terms of circular causality
​​Chain reactions influence each family member, who in turn influences everyone else
*Family counselors, by and large, are more flexible, more active, and more structuring than practitioners of other treatment modalities.

Question 26

Why is it important to understand the power in relationships?

Answer 26

*Sometimes, for example, the boundaries between parents and children are clearly defined and at other times an alignment may develop between mother and son, with a disengaged boundary between them and the father
*Power within the family must also be carefully understood and balanced. Each family has a regimented hierarchy, within which each person has a specified amount of control and responsibility.
*Counseling often takes the form of reestablishing a single hierarchical organization in which the boundaries are more clearly delineated so that the parents are in charge and the children have less power.
*Family counselors tend to see psychological symptoms like depression, anxiety, and eating disorders in terms of the roles they play within a family’s power dynamics.
*Balance of power between spouses can be viewed as a metaphor for other communications in the marriage.

Question 27

What is avoidance in family therapy?

Answer 27

*A child will often develop problems as a way to protect the parents from having to face their own difficulties.
*As a counselor, you will often see families who present a “problem” child and view themselves as concerned parents who have no problems of their own.
*Counselors in a variety of settings observe this phenomenon, and it accounts for why even school counselors are now attempting more and more family counseling interventions (Davis & Lambie, 2005; Nelson, 2006; Vanderbleek, 2004).

Question 28

What is a Genogram?

Answer 28

Useful tool for gathering information about family relationships and structures.

*It consists of a comprehensive map of all the members of a family over several generations, including their coalitions, conflicts, and connections.

Question 29

Why is it important?

Answer 29

*It thus provides a blueprint for the counselor in understanding the cross-generational themes that repeat themselves over time, as well as the current interpersonal conflicts that are evident in the structural map

Question 30

What is reframing in family counseling?

Answer 30

*The counselor’s initial task, therefore, is to define or reframe the present problem to the client or clients in such a way that it may be resolved.

*There isn’t much that can be done to help a client who is complaining about another person’s behavior, unless, of course, the other person will come in for counseling and willingly change what the accuser dislikes.

Question 31

important to know

Answer 31

Family counselors are more active, structuring, and directive compared to doing counseling with individuals

Question 32

Understand being directive and skills that go along with that.

Answer 32

*Redefining the problem in a less threatening form and describing it in a way that allows resolution
*Motivating and preparing the client to follow (or not follow) the directive
*Presenting the directive clearly, simply, and realistically, ensuring that all participants understand what they are to do or not do.

Question 33

Why do most couples come in for counseling?

Answer 33

*The majority of couples come in for counseling when the relationship is on the edge of falling apart, when there is a yearning for regaining the intimacy experienced in the early phase of the relationship, but also because of the fear that the partnership has become unsalvageable.

*Despite their best attempts to save the relationship by themselves, it remains filled with fighting, emotional distance, unsatisfying sex, constant tension, and personal anguish.

Question 34

What is the counselor’s role in couples counseling?

Answer 34

*A couples counselor helps partners strengthen the bond between them, enhance the quality of intimacy in their relationship, and regain confidence that the partnership can last.

*It is not your job to help the couple stay together; rather, your role is to help each partner take responsibility for his or her role in the relationship’s difficulties, develop skills in communicating his or her emotional needs with honesty and directness, learn to fight fairly, and allow each person to become emotionally open and vulnerable with his or her partner—perhaps the essential requirement for intimacy.

Question 35

What are some ways to deal with anger?

Answer 35

is that anger is inevitably destructive to a relationship, and while angry fights will always occur from time to time, the counselor’s role is to help couples find alternate ways of resolving differences.
*Numerous interventions have been developed to reduce the criticism, name-calling, and various other hurtful behaviors couples routinely practice.
*These include rules for fair fighting and lessons in reporting anger as an alternative to expressing it.
*Successful couples were good at making up after fights. They had developed means to repair any damage that had been inflicted.

Question 36

Behavioral Couple Therapy

Answer 36

*Teaching couples communication skills, including the ability to discuss “hot-button” issues in a healthy, productive manner. Indeed, if you utilize This intervention, you would teach couples how to paraphrase, reflect, clarify, and empathize—and most important, listen without interruption or giving advice.

*Another strategy used by behavioral couples counselors is to give couples homework assignments designed to increase the number of positive behaviors exchanged.

Question 37

Strategic Couple Therapy

Answer 37

*If you are a strategic or systems-oriented counselor in general, your main intervention might be providing feedback and insights as to how each partner helps maintain the problematic behavior;

*however, you might also use more dramatic, hands-on strategies, directing the partners to change specific behaviors.

Question 38

Integrative Behavioral Counseling

Answer 38

*Integrative Behavioral Couple Therapy (IBCT); counselors help their clients create a stronger relationship by accepting the personality traits each partner wants to change in the other as just “differences,” rather than as problems.

*Treatment is devoted to helping each partner gain a greater empathy for the other’s vulnerable feelings, leading to an increased sense of appreciation for the partner’s all-too-human struggle and increased acceptance.

Question 39

Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy

Answer 39

*Emotionally Focused Couple Therapy (EFT) integrates attachment theory, systems theory, and person-centered empathy to help couples express their deepest fears about becoming close to each other (Johnson, 2004, 2008, 2011).

*Emotionally focused counselors identify the ways in which couples create negative cycles of interaction and reframe hostile behaviors as a partner’s protest that the relationship isn’t closer.

Question 40

Imago Relationship Counseling

Answer 40

*Imago Relationship Therapy (IRT) builds on psychoanalytic concepts to explain how we choose mates who resemble our parents—with the unconscious hope that our partner will heal our childhood wounds.

*Relationship difficulties are caused, in part, by our disappointment in discovering that our partners cannot make up for old, family-of-origin wounds.

Question 41

What are the basics when it comes to couple counseling?

Answer 41

*Establish clear goals and focus..
*Maintain balance.
*Do not allow verbal abuse in a session.
*Assess for domestic violence.
*Stay calm regardless of the intensity of the couple’s arguing or covert tension.
*Assessment of couples should be multidimensional regardless of theoretical orientation
*Be assertive when appropriate. Couples counselors are not passive listeners
*Examine your own values regarding relationships, your relationship behaviors, and your parents’ relationship to ensure that you see your clients objectively

Question 42

Sex Counseling

Answer 42

*First, determine the nature of the sexual problem. If it is primarily a relational issue, proceed with one of the couples counseling modes, followed by sexually oriented behavioral interventions.

Question 43

Sensate focus

Answer 43

*, a sequence of exercises designed to enhance each partner’s awareness of his or her body while eliminating the performance anxiety frequently associated with sexual difficulties.
*After the counselor has assessed for and addressed intimacy issues, the counselor will next introduce the sensate focus sequence in the treatment, essentially a prescribed series of progressive exercises that the couple will do at home.
*Initially, all pressure is removed by specifically prohibiting the couple from any further attempts at intercourse.
*They are absolutely forbidden to try, thereby removing the threat of failure.

Question 44

Is it organic or mental?

Answer 44

*If the sexual problem appears to be organically caused, refer to a physician, but with the stipulation that the couple return to couples counseling if medical treatment does not completely resolve the couple’s distress.

Question 45

What is the disease model?

Answer 45

*Increasing influence of the “disease model” makes it imperative that we have a working knowledge of the biological underpinnings of alcohol and drug abuse, as well as behavioral addictions such as gambling, risk taking, and sexual acting out.

*It is also critical that counselors know when and how to refer their clients for medication evaluation in those cases when the depression or anxiety may be the result of underlying physiological processes rather than adjustment reactions to stressors.

Question 46

What are the tiny spaces between the neurons called?

Answer 46

*Neurons don’t actually touch one other. Instead, there are tiny spaces, called synaptic gaps, separating each cell from one another.

Question 47

What are the symptoms of addiction?

Answer 47

*Persistent and frequent thinking about the activity throughout the day
*Significant interference with enjoying other important aspects of life
*Inability to control, cut back, or stop the behavior, even after becoming aware of debilitating effects
*Restlessness or irritability when attempts are made to cut back the behavior
*Feelings of anxiety or agitation if behavior is stopped for a period of time
*Use of the addiction to escape or avoid other responsibilities
*Dishonesty or exaggerations when reporting the incidence of behavior, minimizing the problem to self and others
*Engaging in high-risk behavior that jeopardizes emotional or physical safety
*Intense mood swings associated with the activity, ranging from euphoria to shame, guilt, and depression

Question 48

drug things to know

Answer 48

4.) The most widely used drugs are those that happen to be legal.
5.) Nothing will decrease the hold of drugs unless there is an adequate substitute for the feeling’s drugs provide

Question 49

Prevention/Effective Prevention programs

Answer 49

*Prevention programs can focus on alcohol and drug education, social resistance, and social skills training. Focus should be directed toward understanding the reasons why people use drugs, especially variables like self-confidence, self-control, and impulsivity.

*They go beyond simple information sharing and publicity about substance abuse.
*They include parent and family involvement.
*They are long-term commitments, not Band-Aid approaches.
*They are integrated into a holistic concept of healthful living.
*They are closely connected with positive school climates.

Question 50

What are some treatments when it comes to internet/cybersex?

Answer 50

*There is agreement in the field that total abstinence from the Internet should not be a treatment goal; instead, clients are taught to avoid only the sites that cause psychological and relational distress.
*Behavior modification includes teaching clients to keep a log for recording the amount of time spent on the Web.
Use filtering software to block access to risky sites
*Cognitive restructuring is an effective intervention that requires the counselor to confront the denial associated with Internet addiction as well as help clients change distorted thoughts offline
*Harm reduction therapy is a strategy that consists of the counselor addressing the underlying factors like depression and anxiety that contribute to the addiction.

Question 51

What does the medical model of addiction say?

Answer 51

*E. M. Jellinek, a physician who argued that alcoholism should be viewed as a disease, similar to diabetes or cancer.
*Gene studies have indicated that some individuals may be born with a propensity for becoming alcoholic.
*Other research has found biochemical markers in the human body that predict a genetic predisposition
*Research in brain chemistry has suggested that substance abusers may have lower levels of neurotransmitter dopamine receptor sites than the normal population, and consequently would be drawn to substances like cocaine and other drugs that increase dopamine levels
*Medications have also been used as a primary treatment approach to reducing or eliminating alcohol abuse.

Question 52

What are self-help fellowships and what are some characteristics?

Answer 52

*The Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous (AA/NA) model has become such a widely used component of addiction treatment that it is essential that counselors understand what it is all about and are familiar with 12-step language.
*Each member is assigned a “sponsor,” a group member who is available 24 hours a day for support and guidance.
*Recovery requires addicts to complete all 12 steps, and relapse necessitates going back to the beginning.
*Be aware of labeling. Many clients are offended by the label of alcoholic. Consider neutral ways to refer to the problem without glossing over real issues. Also consider that while abstinence is often preferred (and a requirement of AA/NA), some clients can manage with controlled use.

Question 53

What is motivational interviewing?

Answer 53

*The model emphasizes that the counselor cannot push or confront clients into giving up their addiction; only clients can take responsibility for change in their lives, and they cannot do so until they are ready to change, wanting to accomplish their goals more than they want their alcohol or drugs.

*Indeed, advocates of this model believe that confrontation is counterproductive, increasing clients’ resistance to change by promoting defensiveness and lack of self-confidence.

*Instead, motivational interviewing counselors remain gently empathic toward whatever feelings, values, or goals clients describe; as with any client-centered approach, the counselor maintains a stance of nonjudgmental acceptance, including acceptance of clients’ unwillingness to give up their addiction.

Question 54

What are the 5 stages of change?

Answer 54

1. Precontemplation. Individuals in this stage do not recognize themselves as having a problem and only come for counseling because they are pressured by a spouse or employer or mandated by a judge.
2. Contemplation. In this stage, substance abusers recognize they have a problem and are beginning to weigh the pros and cons of their addictive behaviors. They are not ready to change but are giving the idea serious consideration.
3. Preparation. Individuals in this stage intend to take action and change their behaviors but still haven’t committed to taking the major steps necessary.
4. Action. The “action” stage reflects overt behavioral changes, with successful alteration of their addictive behaviors. They feel like they are actually doing something about their problem.
5. Maintenance. In this stage, substance abusers have been abstinent for more than six months and are trying to avoid relapsing, which for some will be a lifelong process.

Question 55

What can be done with relapse prevention?

Answer 55

*Design a program of cognitive-behavioral interventions aimed at helping the client cope effectively with high-risk situations.
*Encourage the client to make significant lifestyle changes that include relaxation techniques.
*Recovery from addictions is unlikely without some support system as an adjunct to counseling.
*The counselor should explore the motivation for using alcohol by examining the availability of nonchemical incentives.
*Consider gender and cultural differences as a context for the addiction or substance abuse.

Question 56

Why is it important to know some medications that deal with addiction/mental health? Again, you are not required to know every medication.

Answer 56

​​*As a counselor, you need to be current with what the research says about both a medication’s risks and efficacy, helping parents separate frightening anecdotes reported in the news from the actual data about how these drugs impact children’s lives.

*You also need to encourage the parents to discuss the risk/benefit issue with the prescribing physician.

Question 57

What are some guidelines for counselors and children when it comes to pharmacology?

Answer 57

​​*One of the most controversial fears among the public has been that antidepressants cause young people to kill themselves. Actually, it is very difficult to prove that a medication caused a depressed child’s or teen’s suicide, since depression alone could very likely have been the reason.

*Assist parents in having meaningful discussions with their child’s physician.

*Support the parents’ right to ask questions, and help them devise a list of concerns they want to address.

*Discuss with the parents both the benefits and the risks of medications. Consistent with ethical counseling practice, review with them options besides medication.

*Familiarize yourself with the drugs prescribed.

Question 58

Understand that the same counseling skills are used with women and men, just adapted.
a. The same theories also

Answer 58

Understand that the same counseling skills are used with women and men, just adapted.
a. The same theories also

Question 59

What are your cultural responsibilities as a counselor?

Answer 59

1)Examine and explore your own cultural identity
2)Educate yourself as completely as you can about the cultural context for each client’s experience
3)Learn about the effects of oppression on minority and disadvantaged groups
4)Acknowledge and confront your biases and prejudices with regard to particular groups
5)Adapt all your counseling knowledge and skills in such a way that you can help diverse clientele.

Question 60

What is the influence of culture?

Answer 60

*Each person is not only strongly influenced by his or her ethnic/racial background but also the culture of his or her gender, religion, socioeconomic class, geographical location, first language, sexual orientation, political affiliation, profession, and similar identities

Question 61

What are some qualities when it comes to a culturally sensitive counselor?

Answer 61

*They embrace the concept of cultural pluralism and are extremely committed to learning all they can about racial/ethnic groups different from their own

*They are aware of how their own ethnicity and cultural backgrounds influence their own values, behavior, and professional practice

*They realize the extent to which they are not only enriched but also limited by their own ethnic and cultural heritage

*They are extremely flexible and eclectic in the ways they work with people, depending on where the client comes from and what he or she needs

*They view their professional roles as not only to help their assigned clients but also to take a stand against oppression against marginalized groups

Question 62

Are you biased?

Answer 62

*Of course you are, especially if you consider that a bias is a kind of preference based on prior experiences
*naive—we exhibit a rigidity that can only be destructive to our relationships with those unlike us
*Be honest about your Biases!
*Confronting your prejudices and biases is an important component of your counselor training. You can do great damage to clients who may already be feeling somewhat vulnerable and insecure

Question 63

Understand advocacy competence.

Answer 63

*Client/Student Empowerment. Counselors help clients and students recognize their strengths and learn how to advocate for themselves
*Client/Student Advocacy. Counselors work with community agencies, community leaders, and school authorities to provide resources and support for clients
*Community Collaboration. Counselors can use their listening skills to facilitate collaboration among community groups
*Systems Advocacy. This competency recognizes that institutions can be resistant to change and suggests counselors use their training in addressing client’s resistance in therapy to address systemic resistance at a school or community level

Question 64

What is a counselor’s role?

Answer 64

1)Find a cause dear to your heart, one that involves both personal passion and professional interest
2)Recruit like-minded individuals to join the mission, providing mutual support, collaboration, and added resources
3)Immerse yourself in the culture of the target population, bringing humility and a position of “not-knowing” into the context, deferring to elders and clients as experts on their own experience just as we would do in therapy
4)Adjust, adapt, and invent what we know as counselors to other helping contexts in local and global communities
5)Start a project that you are willing to sustain over time, building ongoing relationships that will make the efforts endure over time
6)Think way outside of the box of what is possible and the best way to do things

Question 65

Know the difference between counseling women and men.
Counseling Women

Answer 65

*Though women are not definable as a minority group, they have been subjected to similar marginalization, discrimination, and prejudice that minorities have experienced
*Most positions of power and influence have been controlled by men
*Inequalities still exist in many sectors
*Women are more likely than men to be diagnosed with major depression, and when they are depressed, they stay depressed longer
*Research evidence has found a sex bias in the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by emotional volatility
*Women strive to fulfill some ideal concept of how they should look and, in the process, often develop distorted images of their body and poor self-concepts
*Adolescent girls are particularly vulnerable to this eating disorder, which is reinforced when parents, teachers, and sports coaches encourage them to lose weight
*Eating disorders have proven to be highly challenging to treat effectively; cognitive behavioral, psychodynamic, family systems, and group modalities have all been adapted
Counseling Men
*Men usually come to counseling because they are in a crisis state and, frequently, because someone else has pushed them into it
*Regardless of the reason for a man’s getting psychological help, counselors need to be sensitive to the particular issues men face arising out of their socialization experiences
*Men learned throughout their childhood to avoid any experience that might feel “feminine” to them
*With men counseling requires the self-disclosure of vulnerable feelings, the admission of needing help from others, and openness to forming an intimate relationship with a counselor
*“The Sturdy Oak”
*“Give ’Em Hell”
*“The Big Wheel”
*“No Sissy Stuff”
*Living according to this code is virtually impossible; every man experiences hurt, self-doubt, and the need for support from others.
*Many men frequently experience a gender role strain or conflict, torn between their authentic needs and yearnings, and their fear of being unmanly.
*The traditional male role has been associated with a broad array of difficulties, including anxiety, depression, marital and relational difficulties, and substance abuse
*The fact that men are taught not to cry or show negative feelings also means they lose the opportunity for family members to recognize their pain and come to their aid
*Some men get so little practice expressing tender feelings that they struggle using the language of feelings; as a result, their intimate partners find them emotionally unavailable or inadequate for providing words of support

Question 66

Understand the concepts when counseling minorities.

Answer 66

*Minority clients are diagnosed more often as having more severe disturbances and pathological conditions than white persons—a finding that is not surprising considering that most tests of mental illness are culturally biased and most diagnosticians are not members of minority groups.
*Minority clients tend to use mental health services only in cases of emergency or severe psychopathology, again skewing the perceptions of clinicians, who may be used to working with normal or neurotic whites but very disturbed minorities
*Minority clients more often drop out of treatment prematurely, usually within the first few sessions.
*Minority group attitudes toward psychological disturbances are markedly different from those of whites, more often stressing the roles of organic factors. Latinos, for example, may have more faith in the power of prayer than in counseling for healing what they believe are inherited illnesses.
*Many people feel more comfortable and prefer working with others whom they perceive as similar (particularly with regard to race or ethnic background).
*With minority clients, and particularly with those of the lower class, counselors must adapt their strategies and interventions to cultural differences.

Question 67

Older Adults

Answer 67

the length of sessions and length of overall treatment.
*Counselors need to appreciate the complexity of the issues the elderly are dealing with; simple DSM diagnoses may not be sufficient for categorizing their distress, given the real-life issues of loss and change that are part of everyday life for this population.
*Anxiety is quite common for the elderly, and counselors need to be alert for symptoms reflecting this form of distress.
*Mild to moderate cognitive changes, sensory impairments, and health issues are associated with aging, and counselors may need to help older clients address these limitations.

Question 68

LGBT

Answer 68

*Identity development
*Coming out
*Career issues
*Racial, ethnic, and regional issues
*Isolation
*Emotional distress
*Couple issues
Anti-gay violence

Question 69

Physically Disabled

Answer 69

*Career exploration and the establishment of training goals are a major focus of rehabilitation efforts, helping individuals to prepare for alternative forms of meaningful work. Counselors need to recognize, however, that these individuals may have emotional problems not necessarily related to their abilities or disabilities
*People with disabilities are often able to participate fully in life as a result of social, political, and technological developments
*Today, we are challenged to think of disabled or handicapped people as “differently abled” as a way to remove the stigma associated with such conditions

Question 70

Understand Spirituality & Counseling

Answer 70

*Assess for clients’ spiritual and religious functioning and recognize when their values are relevant to the presenting issue.
*Familiarize yourself with the different belief systems and the role of religion among the various cultural groups you work with.
*Join with clients in using their spiritual language, without abandoning or imposing your own beliefs.
*When clinically appropriate, recommend interventions like prayer or meditation that have been demonstrated in research as helpful and are also consistent with the client’s own practices.
*Make it safe for clients to talk about their religious and spiritual beliefs; as you might expect, that means remaining empathic, nonjudgmental, and staying alert for any subtle signs you might express that could discourage clients from sharing their views.