Deck 5: Strategic Family Therapy

Question 1

Both strategic and Milan systemic therapies aim to achieve personality change through

A) use of reframing
B) use of circular questioning
C) hierarchical restructuring
D) use of various paradoxical techniques
E) none of these choices

Answer 1

none of these choices

Question 2

The strategic and systemic therapies have been most directly influenced by the ideas of

A) Gregory Bateson
B) Carl Rogers
C) Virginia Satir
D) Milton Erickson
E) A and D

Answer 2

A and D

Question 3

A paradoxical technique that forces a patient to either give up a symptom or admit that it is under voluntary control is known as

A) a positive connotation
B) scapegoating
C) an ordeal
D) prescribing the symptom

Answer 3

prescribing the symptom

Question 4

A primary goal of communications family therapy was to

A) foster insight
B) negatively reinforce symptoms
C) promote individuation of family members
D) interrupt dysfunctional feedback loops

Question 5

Relabeling a family's description of behavior to make it more amenable to therapeutic change is called

A) reframing
B) prescribing the symptom
C) reinforcement reciprocity
D) a double-bind

Question 6

Basic change in the structure and functioning of a system is known in general systems theory as

A) first-order change
B) second-order change
C) quid pro quo change
D) paradoxical change

Question 7

The development and use of "pretend techniques," paradoxical interventions in which family members are asked to pretend to engage in symptomatic behavior, is associated with which strategic/systemic therapist?

A) Mara Selvini Palazzoli
B) Virginia Satir
C) Cloe Madanes
D) all of these choices

Question 8

The Bateson group may be best remembered for the concepts of the double bind and

A) metacommunication
B) family structure
C) group processes
D) triangles

Question 9

MRI therapists identify 3 categories of client solutions which tend to perpetuate or exacerbate their problems. They include attempting to solve something which isn't really a problem, taking action to solve a problem but doing so at the wrong level, and

A) complying with a paradoxical directive
B) failing to take action, though action is necessary
C) denying that a problem exists
D) B and C
E) none of these choices

Question 10

Though many schools of family therapy believe that the real problem in families is some form of underlying family pathology, ________ family therapists deny that underlying dynamics are the cause of symptomatic behavior.

A) strategic
B) structural
C) Bowenian
D) all of these choices

Question 11

The idea that because the mind is so complex, it's better to study people's input and output (e.g., behavior and communication) than to speculate about what goes on in their minds is known as

A) black box concept
B) general systems theory
C) paradox
D) metacommunication

Question 12

All of these choices schools have for their goals of therapy both symptom resolution and transformation in the whole family system, except which?

A) MRI
B) experiential
C) Bowenian
D) structural

Question 13

A technique used by the Milan group that prescribes a specific act for family members to perform--it is designed to change the family system's rules.

A) circular questioning
B) pretend technique
C) positive connotation
D) family ritual

Question 14

Action and insight are the primary vehicles of change in family therapy. The ________ school emphasizes behavioral change and eschews insight as a medium for change.

A) structural
B) strategic
C) psychodynamic
D) experiential

Question 15

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; for example, describing someone as "lonely" rather than "depressed."

A) interpretation
B) restraining
C) reframing
D) A and C

Question 16

Selvini Palazzoli's technique of ascribing helpful motives to family behavior in order to promote family cohesion and avoid resistance to therapy is known as

A) ordeal therapy
B) mystification
C) pretend technique
D) positive connotation

Question 17

Jay Haley's approach incorporates a functionalist viewpoint with his Ericksonian and cybernetic influences, thus combining aspects of the ________ and ________ approaches into his style of treating families.

A) structural/behavioral
B) Bowenian/behavioral
C) strategic/experiential
D) structural/strategic

Question 18

Madanes categorizes family problems according to 4 basic intentions of family members involved in them. They are the desire to dominate and control, the desire to love and protect others, the desire to repent and forgive, and the desire to

A) create a family
B) be loved
C) be secure
D) none of these choices

Question 19

A conflict created when a person receives contradictory messages on different levels of abstraction is known as a

A) reframe
B) double bind
C) complementary message
D) quid pro quo

Question 20

The use of ________ is designed to block or change dysfunctional behavior using indirect, seemingly illogical means.

A) therapeutic double-binds
B) paradox
C) directives
D) all of these choices

Question 21

The current form of Haley/Madanes therapy is called ________, and still involves giving directives based on therapist hypotheses, though shifting the focus away from the power elements of family hierarchy.

A) post-modern strategism
B) positive strategism
C) strategic humanism
D) none of these choices

Question 22

The central intervention within the original Milan model consisted of either a ritual or a

A) family sculpting
B) positive connotation
C) therapeutic double bind
D) A and C

Question 23

What is the purpose of "circular questioning"?

Question 24

Explain compliance-based and defiance-based directives, and give an example of each. How would a strategic therapist decide which type of directive to use with a family in treatment?

Question 25

In communications family therapy, resistance and symptoms were treated with a variety of paradoxical techniques known as therapeutic double binds. Define and give an illustration of a double bind. Why were they considered to be so powerful?

Question 26

Describe the invariant prescription.

Question 27

What is the "black box" concept? How is it used in the communications approach?

Question 28

Compare and contrast the strategic and Milan systemic theories. Consider theoretical adequacy; specificity of constructs, strategy, and technique; role of the therapist; and types of client problems best suited for each approach.

Question 29

How does the therapist's role differ in Milan systemic versus solution-focused therapy?

Question 30

What is a negative feedback loop and how or why is it initiated? Give an example. What is a positive feedback loop and how or why is it initiated? Give an example.