Deck 10: Issues in Theory and Practice

Question 1

The purpose in using a technique is to:

A) facilitate movement.
B) impress clients with your creativity and skill.
C) help clients rationalize their feelings.
D) trigger strong emotions.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

______________________is the integration of the best available research with clinical expertise in the context of patient characteristics, culture, and preferences.

A) Feminist therapy
B) Evidence-based practice
C) Behavior practice
D) Systemic therapy

Answer 2

B

Question 3

Which of the following factors is NOT a best predictor of treatment outcome?

A) The client's motivation
B) Severity of the client's symptoms
C) The client-therapist relationship
D) Cost

Answer 3

D

Question 4

Not possessing the competence to use the DSM-5 appropriately raises an ethical issue. Practitioners who use the DSM diagnosis must be trained. This training requires learning more than diagnostic categories; it involves:

A) understanding V- and D-codes.
B) knowing how to make a diagnosis fit criteria accepted by an insurance company.
C) knowing how to work within some kind of diagnostic and assessment framework but not needing a clear picture of the client's problem.
D) knowing personality theory, psychopathology, and seeing how they relate to therapeutic practice.

Question 5

A theoretical orientation is best described as:

A) a rigid framework that provides specific steps of how to conduct a counseling session.
B) a set of general guidelines that counselors can use to make sense of what they are hearing and what needs to change.
C) a conceptualization of the intrapsychic structures that dictate a client's behavior.
D) a set of techniques that can be used to promote behavioral changes.

Question 6

According to professional ethical principles on testing, it would be unethical for a counselor to:

A) perform testing and assessment services for which they have not been adequately trained.
B) develop, administer, score, interpret, or use assessment procedures that are appropriate for the situation.
C) test within the client's socialized behavioral or cognitive patterns.
D) consider the validity of a given test and interpret data in the context of the cultural characteristics of the client.

Question 7

When considering administrating or interpreting testing, in order to increase the likelihood you are practicing in a culturally sensitive manner, it is important to pay attention to all of the following points EXCEPT:

A) be familiar with any test you use, preferably taking it yourself first.
B) know the standards pertaining to testing in your professions' codes of ethics.
C) select, with your client's help, appropriate tests while keeping in mind cultural issues with testing.
D) give clients the test scores only, suggesting they look online for results.

Question 8

When a counselor works in a managed care system, client's goals need to be:

A) long-term and all encompassing.
B) aimed at character reconstruction.
C) geared toward the client gaining insight into his or her problems and movement toward self-actualization.
D) highly specific, limited to reduction of problematic symptoms, and often aimed at teaching coping skills.

Question 9

Which of the following is NOT true concerning therapeutic use of the DSM-5 to diagnose clients?

A) Emphasis is on pathology, deficits, limitations, problems, and symptoms.
B) Rather than using a multiaxial system, a nonaxial documentation of diagnosis has been created.
C) It is based on the assumption that distress in a family or social context is the result of individual pathology.
D) It is based on a systemic approach that views the source of distress as being within the entire system rather than on the individual.

Question 10

Maria, a Mexican American woman, will live with her parents until she marries. A culturally competent and sensitive counselor will understand that:

A) Maria's parents are enmeshed in her life.
B) Maria is afraid to live alone.
C) Maria must move out of her parents home if she wants to truly be a healthy individual.
D) this may be a result of gender-role expectations in Maria's family and not enmeshment.

Question 11

______________________is a general term covering the process of identifying an emotional or behavioral problem and making______________________a statement about the current status of a client.

A) Medical diagnosis
B) Differential diagnosis
C) Psychodiagnosis
D) Cognitive appraisal

Question 12

______________________is based on a medical model of mental illness that defines problems as residing with the individual rather than in society. It does not take into account the political, economic, social, and cultural factors in the lives of clients.

A) The DSM
B) V-codes
C) Confidentiality
D) Informed consent

Question 13

Contemporary theories of counseling:

A) are grounded on assumptions that are a part of Eastern culture.
B) emphasize the uniqueness of the individual, self-assertion, and ego strength.
C) focus on interdependence and losing self in the totality of the cosmos.
D) emphasizes the social and cultural facts of human existence.

Question 14

Practitioners who argue AGAINST diagnosis:

A) claim that DSM labels stigmatize people.
B) are likely to be psychoanalytically oriented therapists.
C) often work in community mental health centers.
D) are likely to work for a managed care system.

Question 15

______________________uses assessment to understand the client's pattern of thinking and to identify self­defeating beliefs.

A) Feminist therapy
B) Cognitive-behavioral approaches
C) Behavior therapy
D) Systemic therapies

Question 16

Empirical research the centrality of the therapeutic relationship as a primary factor contributing to psychotherapy outcomes.

A) downplays
B) exaggerates
C) consistently supports
D) inconsistently supports

Question 17

It is an ethical, and sometimes legal, obligation of therapists to be mindful that a medical evaluation is many times indicated. Which of the following is NOT a reason to refer for a medical evaluation?

A) Dementia
B) Schizophrenia
C) Manic-depression
D) Marital discord

Question 18

Which of the following statements is TRUE regarding evidence-based practice?

A) It is synonymous with the term "empirically-supported treatments."
B) Psychodynamic therapy falls under the category of evidence-based practice.
C) Therapeutic interventions that are not considered "evidence-based practices" are unethical.
D) Clinical practice should not be based on the best available research.

Question 19

Practitioners must have a clear understanding of and have a sense of the expected outcomes of their interventions.

A) the creativity behind the techniques they employ
B) the client's family members
C) the techniques they employ
D) the client's entire life story

Question 20

Practicing counseling without an explicit theoretical rationale is somewhat like:

A) driving a car with a GPS device.
B) trying to sail a boat without a rudder.
C) flying a plane without a co-pilot.
D) taking a train ride.

Question 21

Therapists have a legal, professional, and ethical obligation to assess whether clients may:

A) become completely healthy mentally within six sessions of treatment, never needing therapy again.
B) be covered by insurance only.
C) complete a treatment plan, including their goals for therapy, before the initial assessment.
D) pose a danger to themselves or others.

Question 22

It is important to understand the common used in your profession, even if you choose not to use them in your practice.

A) diagnoses
B) assessment tools
C) confidentiality
D) informed consent

Question 23

______________________is the process of distinguishing one form of mental disorders from another by determining which of two (or more) disorders with similar symptoms the person is suffering from.

A) Differential diagnosis
B) Psychological diagnosis
C) Assessment
D) Psychometric testing

Question 24

The acronym DSM-5 stands for:

A) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: 5th Edition
B) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Diseases: 5th Edition
C) Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Muscle Disorders: 5th Edition
D) Deviant Syndromes Manual: Treatment and Remediation: 5th Edition

Question 25

______________________consists of evaluating the relevant factors in a client's life to identify themes for further exploration.

A) Differential diagnosis
B) Psychological diagnosis
C) Assessment
D) Psychometric testing

Question 26

The clinical interview serves all of the following purposes EXCEPT:

A) providing information on a client's presenting problems.
B) giving glimpses of historical factors that may be contributing to the client's condition.
C) providing a framework for making a differential diagnosis to determine whether an individual suffers from a particular mental disorder.
D) providing the actual outcome of treatment.

Question 27

The movement toward grounding psychotherapy practice on a scientific foundation led to the concept of:

A) differential diagnosis.
B) psychometric testing.
C) psychological diagnosis.
D) empirically supported treatments.

Question 28

______________________believe that many symptoms stem from problems within the system rather than originating in the individual.

A) Cognitive behavioral therapists
B) Cognitive therapists
C) Family systems therapists
D) Psychoanalysts

Question 29

A assigned to clients can have implications for their employment or future employability status.

A) diagnosis
B) empirically supported treatment
C) assessment
D) treatment manual

Question 30

Katie has just accepted her first position as a counselor in a community agency. An agency policy requires her to conduct an intake interview with each client, determine a diagnosis, and establish a treatment plan - all in the first session. Once a diagnosis is established, clinicians have a maximum of five more sessions with a given client. What ethical and legal standards are possibly broken?

A) Ethical and legal standards requiring professionals to assess a client for at least five sessions before diagnosing
B) Ethical and legal standards requiring professionals to carefully assess and accurately diagnose clients before commencing any intervention
C) Ethical and legal standards requiring professionals to forgo diagnosing a client in order to properly treat the problem
D) Ethical and legal standards requiring professionals to pick a diagnosis that fits a criteria in order for insurance reimbursement

Question 31

Practitioners who favor the use of diagnostic procedures argue that such procedures enable the therapists to:

A) attach a label to the client, which stigmatizes them.
B) identify a diagnosis that will follow the client for the rest of their life, possibly keeping them from being accepted by any future insurance company.
C) identify a particular emotional or behavioral disorder, which helps in designing an appropriate treatment plan.
D) pick and choose which symptoms truly fit the client's problems in order to create a diagnosis that will be reimbursed by insurance and remain on the client's record for possible future problems.

Question 32

Which of the following statements has NOT been supported by research?

A) Therapy is helpful to the majority of clients.
B) Most people achieve some change relatively quickly in therapy.
C) Generally speaking, therapies achieve similar outcomes.
D) People change more due to specific factors.

Question 33

Developing an approach to counseling is an ongoing and fluid process. Counselors in training tend to be drawn to a particular theory initially but modify it as they gain experience. Ultimately, your counseling orientation and style must:

A) include some aspects of psychoanalytic theory.
B) be appropriate for the unique needs of your clients and for the type of counseling you do.
C) be a combination of all theories in the counseling field.
D) be appropriate for some clients; other clients will change to fit your counseling orientation and style.

Question 34

Some practitioners may over-diagnose, under-diagnose, or misdiagnose clients from marginalized groups. In order to avoid these issues, counselors need to:

A) carefully consider all aspects of clients' culture without considering clients' past and present life circumstances.
B) carefully consider the clients' past and present life circumstances only.
C) carefully consider the clients' decisions in life with no regard of culture.
D) carefully consider all aspects of clients' culture in conjunction with clients' past and present life circumstances.

Question 35

______________________were developed for a wide range of psychological disorders. Their success ushered in the movement toward empirically supported treatments and evidence-based practice.

A) Family systems therapies
B) Cognitive therapies
C) Treatment manuals
D) Behavioral therapies