Deck 6: Experiential Family Therapies

Question 1

When a Satir-oriented therapist is working with a client who takes on a blamer stance, the therapist should NOT:

A) placate the client by not speaking honestly and directly to them.
B) increase the client's awareness of the thoughts and feelings of others.
C) help the client to communicate their personal perspectives in a way that is respectful of others.
D) directly confront the client when necessary.

Answer 1

A

Question 2

According to the Satir growth model, there are five communication strategies for survival. Which of the following suggestions would be best for a therapist working with clients who have adapted the placator stance or role?

A) Encourage the client to take a firm stance from the onset of therapy.
B) Use less directive therapy methods, such as multiple choice questions and open-ended reflections, to require them to voice their opinion and take a stand.
C) Use therapeutic techniques, such as reflecting, to highlight hidden emotions.
D) Applaud the placator; after all, they can be the easiest people to get along with.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

It is said that rather than focus primarily on behavioral interaction sequences, experiential family therapists focus more on the __________ layer of those interactions.

A) emotional
B) internal
C) external
D) intermittent

Answer 3

A

Question 4

The ingredients of an interaction intervention detail the internal communication process of clients and can be used to teach clients about internal and relational processes. This intervention can be use with which type of clients?

A) Individuals
B) Couples
C) Families
D) All of these are correct

Question 5

Power struggles, parental conflicts, lack of validation, and lack of intimacy are considered what according to the Satir model?

A) Family life chronology
B) Survival stances of the family
C) Family dynamics
D) Family role

Question 6

A Satir-oriented therapist says, "I believe this child's exaggerated acting out and drug use may serve to reduce tension in his parents' marriage by getting his parents to focus on him." What is the therapist doing?

A) Determining the family life chronology
B) Viewing the symptoms as having a role in the family system
C) Figuring out the survival stance of the family
D) Using a mandala to understand the child's drug use

Question 7

Satir's work and relationships with clients was characterized by her foundation of warmth and humanity. These conditions can be achieved by other therapists practicing the Satir model by:

A) emulating Virginia Satir.
B) reading Carl Roger's On Becoming a Person.
C) systematically developing accurate empathy.
D) being congruent.

Question 8

Each of the following therapies fall into the category of experiential family therapies EXCEPT:

A) the Satir growth model.
B) symbolic-experiential therapy.
C) emotionally focused therapy.
D) external family systems.

Question 9

Satir's six-stage model of change is best described by which of the following statements?

A) The model emphasizing the therapist perturbs the system, shakes it up, and respects its ability to naturally reorganize itself in a more useful way.
B) The model identifies the different communication stances each family adapts to through the process of therapy.
C) The model addresses conflict resolution and recovery in the family system.
D) The model highlights the inconsistencies and patterns into which the family system has fallen.

Question 10

There are four primary assumptions about people and therapy according to Satir and her associates. Which of the following is NOT one of those assumptions?

A) People naturally tend toward positive growth.
B) All people possess the resources for positive growth.
C) Every person, thing, or situation impacts and is impacted by everyone and everything else.
D) Therapy is a process that involves interaction between therapist and client; in this relationship, the therapist is responsible for him/herself and the client.

Question 11

The use of which metaphor allows Satir practitioners to use six levels of experience to help clients transform their feelings about feelings to make lasting change and more effectively meet their underlying need for love and acceptance?

A) Ice cube
B) Iceberg
C) Ice age
D) Iceland

Question 12

The overarching individual goal of Satir's approach is consistent with other humanistic approaches. Which of the following is the individual goal?

A) To promote self-actualization of members of the system
B) To promote independence of all members of the system
C) To promote interdependence of all members of the system
D) To promote self-assurance of all member of the system

Question 13

Sacha, a Satir-oriented therapist, notices that her client, who often reports feeling overwhelmed, is often ill and exhausted. What might Sacha be doing during her assessment of the client?

A) Making a mind-body connection between her client's emotional issues and how they are manifesting in his or her body
B) Considering the specific aspects of self her client values and the aspects of which he or she is ashamed
C) Assessing the motivation behind the client's problematic behaviors and interactions
D) Viewing the context for the potential problems and determining the client's potential weaknesses

Question 14

Experiential therapists assert that warmth and empathy are essential to effective therapy. To foster an environment where this is evident, a therapist must:

A) make a strong, affective connection with clients to create a sense of safety, allowing clients to explore areas of emotional vulnerability.
B) acknowledge that the client is the expert in their own life and the therapist is merely there to facilitate the process of self-discovery.
C) fully explore the amount of empathy the members of the family have for each other.
D) all of these are correct.

Question 15

The importance of making contact and establishing credibility with clients, according to the Satir model, can be established by:

A) using paradoxes in therapy.
B) asking family members to rearrange themselves in the therapy room.
C) sitting or standing at the same physical level so that eye contact is easy.
D) asking the family to engage in an enactment.

Question 16

Which of the following experiential family therapies is the leading evidence-based approach to couples therapy that uses experiential, systemic, and attachment theories?

A) Satir growth model
B) Symbolic-experiential therapy
C) Emotionally focused therapy
D) Internal family systems

Question 17

What is the heart of relational goals in Satir's approach?

A) Restructuring the family boundaries
B) Reconfiguring the family's interaction sequences
C) Congruent communication for all family members
D) Reducing emotional reactivity through detriangulation

Question 18

When a Satir-oriented therapist is spending time "floating" along with the client's distractions to identify the unique "anchors" of the client's reality that the therapist can tap into, they might be working with what type of client?

A) Placator
B) Blamer
C) Superreasonable
D) Irrelevant

Question 19

The Satir growth model focuses mostly on which of the following?

A) Fostering individual growth and improving family interactions
B) Reframing the problem in a completely positive light
C) Creating a sense of safety for interpersonal learning
D) Realigning the patterns and alliances to which the family has adhered

Question 20

A Satir-oriented therapist working in a session with a client said the following: "As I listen to you explain what happened to you during that argument with your sister, I am getting a sense that you were feeling hurt. Does that sound right?" What is the therapist attempting to do with the client?

A) Understand the ingredients of the interaction
B) Facilitate emotional expression
C) Soften the family rule
D) Coaching communication

Question 21

A Satir-oriented therapist working with a couple asks the partners to turn their chairs toward each other and gives the following prompt: "Tell your partner how you feel about what happened New Year's Eve." The therapist might be doing which of the following?

A) Understanding the ingredients of an interaction
B) Creating an enactment
C) Softening the family rules
D) Coaching communication

Question 22

A symbolic-experiential therapist working with a family says to the mother, "When did you divorce your husband and marry your son?" The therapist is attempting to:

A) deeply offend the family to the point of changing out of embarrassment.
B) affectively confront the family to interrupt rigid patterns.
C) help the client to separate personal issues from interpersonal issues.
D) expand the symptom from an individual matter to a family matter.

Question 23

In symbolic-experiential therapy, absurdity is used to do which of the following?

A) Perturb the family system in a compassionate and caring way
B) Render the family system into a state of confusion
C) Condition the family system into a meaningless existence
D) Disturb over-involved family relationships in a shocking way

Question 24

When a client is unrealistically hopeless, the therapist might augment the client's despair and amplify it so the client can see how the despair and negative assumptions are out of proportion with the facts. This is also known as:

A) reframe.
B) triangle.
C) paradox.
D) boundary.

Question 25

During the assessment process, symbolic-experiential therapists attend to two broad patterns in the family: the __________ of the family and the emotional processes and exchanges within the family.

A) cognitive sequences
B) behavioral actions
C) triangulation
D) structural organization

Question 26

Which of the following statements most accurately summarizes Whitaker's concept of the battle for initiative?

A) Therapists should avoid tension and crisis in therapy at all costs.
B) Therapists should never work harder than their clients.
C) Clients should not initiate change; the therapist should.
D) Clients should allow their therapist to be overly helpful and to push their change.

Question 27

When conceptualizing a case from a symbolic-experiential framework, it is important to assess each of the following areas EXCEPT:

A) structural organization.
B) emotional process.
C) lack of competency.
D) symptom development.

Question 28

In most cases, sculpting is a highly-effective __________ confrontation that bypasses cognitive defenses.

A) nonverbal
B) artistic
C) creative
D) problematic

Question 29

When a Satir-oriented therapist is working with a client by facilitating a process in which the client is better able to accept different aspects of self and to identify the contexts in which they have been useful, the therapist might use which of the following interventions?

A) Ingredients of an interaction
B) Sculpting
C) Touch
D) Parts party

Question 30

Symbolic-experiential family therapy involves increasing family cohesion and the authenticity of family relationships. Therapists accomplish this goal by focusing on which two key areas?

A) Intrapersonal boundaries and transgenerational boundaries
B) Transgenerational boundaries and self-actualization
C) Interpersonal boundaries and self-actualization
D) Interpersonal boundaries and transgenerational boundaries

Question 31

Symbolic-experiential therapy is an experiential family therapy model developed by:

A) Virginia Satir.
B) Carl Whitaker.
C) Susan Johnson.
D) Richard Schwartz.

Question 32

More than many other family therapists, symbolic-experiential therapists focus on increasing the sense of family cohesion. Family cohesion is defined as which of the following?

A) The symbiotic relationship the family has in place for all to benefit
B) Clear communication patterns between generations
C) A strong sense of belonging, being loved, being wanted, and loyalty
D) There is no clear definition since each family system is affected by different cultural and economic tendencies

Question 33

In symbolic-experiential therapy, what is the therapist's primary responsibility?

A) Be responsive to the family without being responsible for them
B) Be responsible for the family without being responsive to them
C) Be responsive to the family without being responsible for them and be responsible for the family without being responsive to them
D) None of these is correct

Question 34

If a symbolic-experiential therapist is bored in session and shows it to their client or says something about feeling bored, this is considered the therapist's:

A) absurdity.
B) integrity.
C) authenticity.
D) professionalism.

Question 35

The therapist needs to win the battle for structure because they are responsible for setting up a program for change and need to ensure a structure for change is in place. Which of the following factors is NOT noted for contributing to the structure for change?

A) The necessary people attend therapy
B) The therapy occurs frequently enough to produce progress
C) The session content goes into depth or covers necessary areas
D) The session process will produce change

Question 36

How will a therapist know when their client has achieved personal growth and successfully navigated developmental tasks, a process also referred to as self-actualization?

A) Self-actualization is a lifelong process; therefore, only the client will know when they have achieved self-actualization
B) The therapist will know that their client has achieved self-actualization when the client is no longer attending sessions regularly
C) The therapist will know that their client is making progress towards self-actualization when the client is no longer experiencing symptoms at the individual level and they are able to function in most areas of daily life
D) There is no clear definition of self-actualization; therefore, one can never fully achieve it

Question 37

Symbolic-experiential therapists have three primary long-term goals for all clients. They include all of the following EXCEPT:

A) increasing family cohesion by creating a sense of nurturance and confidence in problem solving.
B) enacting effective parental hierarchy and the severing of cross-generational coalitions.
C) promoting personal growth by supporting the completion of developmental tasks for all family members.
D) expanding the family's symbolic world.

Question 38

Similarly to the Satir model of family therapy, Whitaker's symbolic-experiential model focuses on family structure and:

A) behavioral sequences.
B) cognitive processes.
C) emotional process.
D) structural sequences.

Question 39

Satir's most distinctive intervention is family sculpting, which is done either with the family or in a group setting. How is sculpting accomplished?

A) By enacting a new way of interacting and communicating among family members
B) By allowing individuals to convey how they believe they are viewed in the system, therefore "sculpting" their image
C) By putting family members in physical positions that represent how the "sculptor" sees each person's role in the family
D) By self-reflecting in order to determine areas in need of personal growth and fostering an environment where the individual can "sculpt" how they want to improve

Question 40

Whitaker believed that therapists should walk away from therapy doing which of the following?

A) Growing and becoming more fully authentic
B) Not having allowed therapy to transform them
C) Feeling more fully in charge of the process of therapy
D) Feeling they are the same person they were when they began working with the client

Question 41

A Satir-oriented therapist says, "I think that part of the reason you may be pulling away is that you want closeness and connection so badly; if you were to be rejected, you would be devastated." What strategy is the therapist using?

A) Validation
B) Evocative responding
C) Empathetic conjecture
D) Heightening

Question 42

Which of the following factors has been researched and supported by the evidence base related to experiential therapies?

A) The therapeutic relationship
B) The interventions
C) The client
D) The outcome

Question 43

In EFT, how does the therapist address the pathologizing interpersonal pattern (PIP) to resolve issues between couples?

A) The therapist shows the client that they must internalize the PIP
B) The therapist shows the client that the PIP is the problem, not one's partner
C) The therapist shows the client that the PIP is a problem separate from the broader family system
D) All of these are correct

Question 44

Which of the following statements is true regarding the attachment needs of diverse populations and EFT therapy?

A) EFT therapists need to adapt and tailor their interventions to work effectively with diverse clients.
B) Many of the signature nonverbal interventions of EFT work equally well across a wide array of cultures.
C) None of these is correct.
D) EFT therapists need to adapt and tailor their interventions to work effectively with diverse clients and many of the signature nonverbal interventions of EFT work equally well across a wide array of cultures.

Question 45

Chapman and Caldwell (2012) propose the following adaptation of the EFT attachment resolution model to help trans-identified (TI) couples work through attachment injuries for the non-TI partner. Select the answer that represents the correct order for these steps from first to last.

A) Reengagement, reestablish a safe connection, differentiate the injured party's primary emotions, and forgiveness and reconciliation
B) Reestablish a safe connection, differentiate the injured party's primary emotions, reengagement, and forgiveness and reconciliation
C) Differentiate the injured party's primary emotions, reengagement, reestablish a safe connection, and forgiveness and reconciliation
D) Reengagement, differentiate the injured party's primary emotions, reestablish a safe connection, and forgiveness and reconciliation

Question 46

Research shows that writing to express emotions has positive therapeutic impacts. Which of the following can be considered benefits of this method?

A) Constructive expression of emotion characterizes more satisfying intimate relationships
B) It transforms meaning to increase positive emotions related to the event
C) Constructive expression of emotion characterizes more satisfying intimate relationships and it transforms meaning to increase positive emotions related to the event
D) None of these is correct

Question 47

Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding primary emotions?

A) Primary emotions are the initial reactions to a given situation.
B) The therapist focuses on salient primary emotions in the early phases of therapy.
C) By the working stage of therapy, the focus is mainly on the primary emotions.
D) Primary emotions typically represent attachment fears and needs.

Question 48

The process of family life chronology refers to:

A) an assessment that helps to identify problematic family dynamics.
B) a timeline of when symptoms first began to occur and the triggers that signal their reoccurrence.
C) a timeline that includes major events in an individual's or family's life.
D) an assessment of the quality of the relationship between the father, mother, and child.

Question 49

In assessing the family through a trial of labor, the therapist attends to which of the following two broad patterns?

A) The structural organization of the community's resources and the emotional processes and exchanges within the family
B) The structural organization of the couple and the emotional processes and exchanges within the individual
C) The structural organization of the interpersonal problem and the emotional processes and exchanges within the parents
D) The structural organization of the family and the emotional processes and exchanges within the family

Question 50

Heightening involves which of the following therapeutic practices?

A) Using images and metaphors
B) Repeating a high-impact phrase
C) Directing clients to enact responses
D) All of these are correct

Question 51

Common factors research identifies the quality of the therapeutic relationship as highly correlated with therapeutic outcome, with Lambert (1992) estimating that _____% of the therapeutic outcome in any form of therapy can be attributed to the therapeutic relationship.

A) 30%
B) 15%
C) 60%
D) 50%

Question 52

Which of the following does NOT represent one of the four basic pursue/withdraw patterns of couples?

A) Pursue/withdraw
B) Complex cycles
C) Withdraw/withdraw
D) Attack/withdraw

Question 53

A specific type of betrayal, abandonment, or violation of trust in a couple's relationship is referred to as _______ in the Satir model.

A) attachment injury
B) sociocultural factors
C) attachment history
D) negative interaction cycle

Question 54

Which of the following is considered one of the main goals of family reconstruction group interventions?

A) Identify the roots of old learning and their role in the present
B) Develop a more unrealistic picture of the client's parents
C) Discovering unique strengths and deficits
D) All of these are correct

Question 55

A Satir-oriented therapist says, "On the surface you look angry and sure of yourself when you are arguing with your spouse. But inside, it seems more like you feel like a sad lonely little girl who isn't too sure of herself. Is that what is going on here?" What strategy is the therapist using?

A) Validation
B) Evocative responding
C) Empathetic conjecture
D) Heightening

Question 56

According to the Satir model, it is generally unhelpful to assess self-esteem in an all-or-none fashion. What is recommended instead?

A) Consider aspects of the child that a client values and the aspects of which he or she is ashamed
B) Consider aspects of the couple that a client values and the aspects of which he or she is ashamed
C) Consider aspects of the self that a client values and the aspects of which he or she is ashamed
D) Consider aspects of the family system that a client values and the aspects of which he or she is ashamed