Wk 1 - Intro

Question 1

List/describe 7 tasks for the first meeting with a client

Answer 1

Greeting client – clients aiming at more emotional connection, rather than professional skills
Putting client at ease
Explaining roles of therapist and client
Exploring client’s expectations of therapy - Usually erroneous – need to make them explicit; also the diffs between any previous therapy exposure.
Goal setting; session agendas - need to work with theirs, not impose your view of what should be improved
Process of therapy - structured, homework, fluid?
Estimation of duration and pace of therapy

Question 2

Name 7 microskills used in therapy

Answer 2

Active listening 
Silence
Paraphrasing
Reflection of content
Reflection of feelings
Questions
Summarising

Question 3

What are two ways to display active listening?
Plus egs (x3 and x5)

Answer 3

Verbal signs:
• Minimal encouragers, tone of voice, relevant questions and comments

Non-verbal signs:
• Oriented body posture, eye contact, nodding, leaning forward, not fiddling / typing, etc

Question 4

What are three considerations for the use of silence in therapy sessions?

Answer 4

Don’t be afraid…
Gives client reflection time – internal/external experience
But don’t leave them hanging till it’s uncomfortable

Question 5

What do we mean by ‘reflection of content’ in the context of a session? (x1)

Answer 5

Using own words to tell client clearly, briefly the important parts of what they just said

Question 6

Name three ways paraphrasing is useful in therapy

Answer 6

Assist the client
Check and clarify therapist’s understanding
Give direction to the dialogue

Question 7

What do we mean by ‘reflection of feelings in the context of therapy? (x1)
And what is it used for? (x4)

Answer 7

Use own words to express clients stated or implied feelings

Increasing client awareness of their feelings
Assist them in accepting and exploring them
Demonstrating own understanding
Developing therapeutic relationship

Question 8

Give three example questions we might ask if uncertain of the feelings a client is trying to convey

Answer 8

I’m wondering how this makes you feel?
If that happened to me I’d feel really hurt
I imagine that could be a bit scary for you?

Question 9

Name/describe for common errors in reflection of feelings

Answer 9

Poor timing (e.g. reflecting anger, shame, that the client hasn’t acknowledged yet)
Parroting
Stereotyping your client (e.g. You must be really sad not to have any children)
Overshooting….too much feeling, e.g.:
• Client “I don’t know if I could stay overseas for a year without my boyfriend”
• Therapist “You feel like you’d be so lonely that you just couldn’t function without him”

Question 10

Contrast open and closed questions (x3 and x2)

Answer 10

Open questions
• Result in a detailed response and open the dialogue
• “Tell me about what it’s like at your work?”

Closed questions
• Result in a simple response (yes; no) and close down the dialogue.
• Use them to clarify a particular issue
• “Do you work fulltime or part-time?”

Question 11

What three things should you do when asking clients questions?

Answer 11

Ask one Q at a time
Simple and clear Qs (don’t take forever to explain the Q)
Wait for an answer

Question 12

What are five things to avoid when asking clients questions?

Answer 12

Don’t:
Answer your own question
Ask intrusive questions / interrogate the client
Ask leading questions
Create unnecessary inequality
Use “why” questions if “what” or “how” questions would work

Question 13

Describe three pieces of evidence on microskills, as reviewed by Sharpley et al

Answer 13

Hill and Gormally (1977) - open Qs by the counsellor led to more discussion of client feelings than did reflections of feelings or restatements.
Elliot et al (1982) – open Qs were able to produce insight and cognitive restructuring in clients
Hill et al (1988) – combination of open Qs and paraphrases led to a decrease in client anxiety

Question 14

What do we mean by summarising in the context of a session? (x1)
Which is used for… (x3)
For example… (x1)

Answer 14

Drawing together and presenting salient points identified
Used to begin or end a session, transition to a new topic, provide clarity
Eg ‘So just to summarise what you’ve told me, this is a problem that started when you were in high school, it happens several times a week and seems to be worse in the evening hours, is that right?”

Question 15

What personal attribute of the therapist is useful for all stages of therapy?

Answer 15

Empathy

Question 16

Thin-slice judgements in the clinical context (Slepian et al 2014) refer to… (x1)
And can include… (x4)

Answer 16

Random sample of the behavioural stream that is less than 5 min long
Video, audio, transcript, photo

Question 17

Slepian et al 2014 found evidence that thin-slice judgements can be used to accurately assess… (x4)

Answer 17

Healthy or unhealthy behaviours from skin condition
Pain severity from facial expression, posture, limping
Anxiety from increased gaze aversion, increased voice pitch and gitter
Depression from less eye contact, looking downwards more, contraction of lower corners of the mouth, less movement of hands, vocal quality

Question 18

Slepian et al 2014 hypothesised that… (x1)

But found that… (x1)

Answer 18

People understand others’ emotions by mimicking their facial expressions
People with facial paralysis (PD, Moebius syndrome, Bells Palsy) are equally accurate at recognising emotions as controls