Deck 8: Cognitive Behavioral and Mindfulness-Based Couple and Family Therapies

Question 1

Pavlov was able to train dogs to salivate at the sound of a bell by pairing the dogs' natural response to salivate at the sight of food with a bell. When the bell was rung each time food was presented, the dog learned that the bell signaled food was coming and began salivating. After enough repetition, the dog began to salivate with just the sound of the bell. What is this called?

A) Classical conditioning
B) Operant conditioning
C) Reinforcement training
D) Punishment training

Answer 1

A

Question 2

All of the following would be considered examples of late-phase treatment goals in cognitive-behavioral family therapy EXCEPT:

A) developing a positive mutual reinforcement cycle to reduce negativity and labeling.
B) replacing perfectionist beliefs about a child school performance with more realistic expectations.
C) redefining family schemas to increase tolerance of difference between members.
D) redefining couple schemas to reduce pressure for perfection and increase tolerance of weaknesses in the other.

Answer 2

B

Question 3

In general in the mental health field, which therapies are some of the most commonly used therapeutic approaches?

A) Systemic therapies
B) Cognitive-behavioral therapies
C) Experiential therapies
D) Psychoanalytic family therapies

Answer 3

B

Question 4

Tess is working with a couple who has reported marital problems. She is working from a CBFT perspective and thinks that it would be helpful to have a detailed and accurate account of the problems the couple wants to work on. Tess asks the couple to log the frequency, duration, and severity of specific behavioral symptoms, such as their anger, outbursts, conflict, and social withdrawal. This is known as:

A) necessary intake procedures.
B) baseline functioning.
C) creating a contingent environment.
D) arbitrary inference.

Question 5

Cognitive-behavioral family therapies have had the greatest influence in:

A) parenting.
B) couples dynamics.
C) individual pathology.
D) attachment.

Question 6

Albert Ellis' A-B-C theory has been applied to working with families. In this model, what does the A-B-C stand for?

A) Action, behavior, and cognition
B) Activating event, behavioral reaction, and cognitive response
C) Action, belief, and cause
D) Activating event, belief, and consequence

Question 7

Reinforcement is typically only effective if parents are:

A) cordial.
B) authoritarian.
C) consistent.
D) emotionally involved.

Question 8

Rather than use a general goal such as "improve communication," cognitive-behavioral family therapists identify what kind of behaviors and thoughts for interventions?

A) All
B) Specific
C) Problematic
D) Easy

Question 9

In operant conditioning, desired behaviors can be positively or negatively reinforced or punished, depending on desired behaviors. What techniques are designed to do this?

A) Positive reinforcement or reward
B) Negative reinforcement
C) Positive punishment and negative punishment
D) All of these are correct

Question 10

There are four options for shaping behavior in operant conditioning. Which of the following is the best definition for positive reinforcement or reward?

A) Rewards desired behaviors by adding something desirable (e.g., a treat)
B) Rewards desired behaviors by removing something undesirable (e.g., relaxing curfew)
C) Reduces undesirable behavior by adding something undesirable (e.g., assigning extra chores)
D) Reduces undesirable behavior by removing something desirable (e.g., grounding)

Question 11

What is the role of the therapist in CBFT?

A) Friend
B) Equal
C) Expert
D) Advisor

Question 12

Why do cognitive-behavioral family therapists use empathy to build the therapeutic alliance?

A) To create rapport, allowing therapists to get to the "real" interventions of therapy
B) Because empathy is a curative process in and of itself
C) To "integrate" experiential concepts to make better therapy
D) To manipulate clients into feeling more comfortable with the therapy process

Question 13

What is the primary reason CBFT therapists use contracts?

A) To make sure the client comes to therapy consistently and pays on time
B) To trick the client into thinking that something is required so they will work harder and take therapy seriously
C) To force the client to work on the behaviors they want to target
D) To give the client a sense of commitment to the process as well as motivate them

Question 14

Of the behavioral and cognitive-behavioral couple and family therapies, which one is a scientifically-based approach to couple therapy based on 30 years of research on the key differences between happy and unhappy marriages?

A) Cognitive-behavioral family therapy
B) Integrative behavioral couples therapy
C) Gottman method couple therapy
D) Functional family therapy

Question 15

In CBFT, a __________ allows the therapist to look for mutually reinforcing behaviors between family members and examines how these patterns are maintaining the symptom.

A) baseline assessment
B) interactional sequencing
C) functional analysis
D) family life chronology

Question 16

The concept of personalization is a cognitive distortion defined by which of the following?

A) External events are attributed to oneself; it is especially common in intimate relationships
B) It is a belief based on little evidence
C) It is a belief based on one or two incidents used to make a broad, sweeping judgment about another's essential character
D) It is the assigning of a personality trait to someone based on a handful of incidents, often ignoring exceptions

Question 17

The concept of dichotomous thinking is a cognitive distortion defined by which of the following?

A) Going to the extreme of either overemphasizing or underemphasizing based on the facts
B) Generalizing one or two incidents to make a broad, sweeping judgment about another's essential character
C) Focusing on one detail while ignoring the context and other obvious details
D) An all-or-nothing mentality: always/never, success/failure, or good/bad

Question 18

Reinforcement refers to:

A) implementing boundaries.
B) rewarding a client to make the therapeutic process more enjoyable and easy for the therapist.
C) using punishment to force clients to adapt to the way the therapist thinks they should be living their lives.
D) how positive or negative responses from the environment shape future behaviors.

Question 19

Which type of assessment do CBFT therapists conduct at the beginning of therapy as a starting point for measuring change?

A) Target
B) Antecedent
C) Baseline
D) In-depth

Question 20

The CBFT therapist's problem analysis focuses on present day __________, __________, and __________ that make the situation a problem.

A) behaviors; emotions; thoughts
B) actions; reactivity; rationale
C) behaviors; actions; thoughts
D) actions; emotions; rationale

Question 21

In which approach is it psychologically healthy to feel bad feelings as well as good feelings?

A) Acceptance and commitment therapy
B) Cognitive-behavioral family therapy
C) Mindfulness-based therapy
D) Dialectical-behavioral therapy

Question 22

When a therapist must decide whether or not to challenge a client's irrational beliefs, the therapist should consider each of the following EXCEPT:

A) the therapeutic relationship.
B) the therapist's style.
C) the client's culture and/or gender.
D) the frequency of sessions.

Question 23

A CBFT therapist can challenge a client's irrational beliefs in many ways. Which of the following would NOT be considered appropriate for confrontation?

A) For the therapist to explicitly tell the client their belief is irrational
B) For the therapist to ask the client a series of questions to help them see their belief is irrational
C) For the therapist to replace the irrational beliefs with realistic ones
D) All of these are correct

Question 24

When working with couples, mutual behavior exchanges can be useful to help partners negotiate relational rules. This is also known as:

A) behavior exchange.
B) quid pro quo.
C) contingency contract.
D) token economy.

Question 25

In order for a therapist to lead a client in mindfulness practices, a therapist must:

A) be fully congruent with him or herself.
B) be free of any mental difficulties.
C) be fully differentiated from their family of origin.
D) be engaged in their own mindfulness practices.

Question 26

Mindfulness has been integrated into two therapy approaches that have shown great promise in treating a wide range of clinical conditions. What are they?

A) Humanistic therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy
B) Dialectical behavioral therapy and acceptance and commitment therapy
C) Humanistic therapy and existential therapy
D) Dialectical behavioral therapy and existential therapy

Question 27

What therapy is based on the postmodern premise that we construct our realities through language, which shapes our thoughts, feelings, and behaviors?

A) Dialectical behavioral therapy
B) Cognitive-behavioral family therapy
C) Acceptance and commitment therapy
D) Mindfulness-based therapy

Question 28

Which of the following statements about the Gottman method couples therapy approach is NOT true?

A) The therapist coaches couples to develop the interaction patterns that distinguish successful marriages from marriages that end in breakup.
B) This model is grounded entirely in research results rather than theory.
C) Improving communication helps couples stay together.
D) Better communication produces short-term gains but does not significantly affect whether or not couples stay together.

Question 29

Which intervention-considered a hallmark of CBFT-involves teaching clients psychological and relational principles about their problems and how best to handle them?

A) Psychoeducation
B) Psychoanalysis
C) Psychopharmacology
D) Psychology

Question 30

To help clients confront their own irrational beliefs, a CBFT therapist might ask a client to keep a thought record. What kind of information is NOT generally kept in a thought record?

A) The trigger situation
B) The emotional response
C) The cognitive distortion
D) The homework task

Question 31

CBFT homework tasks are described as:

A) linear and literal.
B) metaphorically making the covert overt.
C) interrupting the problem interaction.
D) enacting the solution.

Question 32

The process of dialectical behavioral therapy involves helping clients learn to increase balance in their lives by better managing the inherent dialect tensions in life including all of the following EXCEPT:

A) being able to seek to improve oneself as well as accept oneself.
B) being able to accept life as it is and also seek to solve problems.
C) taking care of one's own needs and putting them before the needs of others.
D) balancing independence and interdependence.

Question 33

In operant conditioning, positive punishment is defined as:

A) rewarding desired behaviors by adding something desirable (e.g., a treat).
B) rewarding desired behaviors by removing something undesirable (e.g., relaxing curfew).
C) reducing undesirable behavior by adding something undesirable (e.g., assigning extra chores).
D) reducing undesirable behavior by removing something desirable (e.g., grounding).

Question 34

Positive reinforcement is strongly encouraged to increase desired behavior with children. Which of the following is NOT a good example of positive reinforcement?

A) A toy or treat
B) A chore
C) A compliment
D) Expressions of appreciation

Question 35

If a teen's grade point average is above 3.0, the parents agree to an 11:00 p.m. curfew on Friday and Saturday. This is an example of:

A) behavior exchange.
B) quid pro quo.
C) contingency contract.
D) token economy.

Question 36

In the Gottman method of couples therapy, what role does the therapist have with his or her clients?

A) Coach
B) Observer
C) Peer
D) Partner

Question 37

In this paradoxical approach to cognitive-behavioral approaches, the client is guided to accept difficult thoughts and emotions in order to transform them. What is the name of this therapy?

A) Pure-behavioral therapy
B) Cognitive-behavioral family therapy
C) Mindfulness-based therapy
D) Dialectical-behavioral therapy

Question 38

A therapist might work with a client to help them understand their beliefs are illogical or dysfunctional using which of the following methods?

A) Guided discovery
B) Inductive reasoning
C) None of these is correct
D) Guided discovery and inductive reasoning

Question 39

One of the key factors in CBFT case conceptualization is:

A) to describe the relationship between the family and the symptom.
B) to define the problem in concrete, measurable terms.
C) to describe each person's role in the interaction sequence.
D) to define the parts patterns between people.

Question 40

In mindfulness-based stress reduction and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy, clients learn to do all of the following EXCEPT:

A) deliberately distract their attention and thereby better control their thoughts.
B) become curious, open, and accepting of their thoughts and feelings (even those that are unpleasant).
C) develop greater acceptance of self, other, and things as they are.
D) live in and experience themselves in the present moment.

Question 41

According to Gottman's research, which of the following statements is NOT true?

A) When failed repair attempts are combined with the Four Horsemen, Gottman can predict whether a couple will divorce in the next five years with 97.5% accuracy.
B) Marriages in which men are willing to accept influence from their wives are 80% more likely to end in divorce.
C) For 96% of couples, only the first minute of data is necessary to predict divorce or stability; harsh startup is one of several key variables in predicting divorce in that first minute.
D) Stable couples have five times as many positive interactions as negative interactions during conflict; distressed couples may have a 1:1 ratio.

Question 42

In the CBFT approach, how does the therapist address the pathologizing interpersonal pattern (PIP) to resolve issues among families?

A) Therapists identify PIPs by tracking both the behaviors and the cognitions in the PIP
B) Therapists would conceptualize not just the PIPs the couple presents as a problem, but also the PIPs in each family of origin
C) They will have only minimal conversations about PIPs and will carefully assess it only if it seems necessary for a particular client
D) None of these are correct

Question 43

When using CBFT with a diverse population, which of the following is important to keep in mind?

A) CBFT is a good fit with any cultural group because it focuses on thoughts and behaviors rather than emotion
B) CBFT goals inherently conform to dominant cultural values; therefore, it is necessary to be culturally sensitive
C) CBFT treatment goals outweigh religious, cultural, or socioeconomic values
D) CBFT therapists should not take an expert stance if the family is of a different cultural background

Question 44

Gottman teaches couples a series of rules to help soften startup. Which of the following is NOT a soft startup rule?

A) Complain but don't blame
B) Avoid sharing negative feelings
C) Ask for what you need
D) Be polite and appreciative

Question 45

Which of the following is NOT considered a suggestion for using CBFT with African American clients?

A) Addressing discrimination
B) Focusing on behaviors and skills
C) Forming a collaborative relationship
D) Working with spirituality

Question 46

Which of the following is NOT considered a suggestion for using CBFT with Hispanic and Latino clients?

A) Working with spirituality
B) Increasing experiential components of CBT
C) Forming a collaborative relationship
D) Respecting the cultural value of machismo

Question 47

Despite the fact that CBFT therapies are some of the best-researched approaches in family therapy, there have been several critiques of the approach, including:

A) therapists of other theories contending that the claims of superiority of CBT have more to do with the volume of research by CBT proponents rather than any substantive advantage.
B) that for certain issues, such as adolescent conduct, systemic approaches have been found to be superior to CBT.
C) none of these is correct.
D) both that therapists of other theories contend that the claims of superiority of CBT have more to do with the volume of research by CBT proponents rather than any substantive advantage, and that for certain issues, such as adolescent conduct, systemic approaches have been found to be superior to CBT.

Question 48

When working with LGBTQ youth and adults, therapists need to assess additional areas of stress and functioning including:

A) acculturation bias.
B) intergenerational conflict.
C) internalized homophobia.
D) cultural differences in communication.

Question 49

By design, cognitive-behavioral therapies aim to help clients conform to dominant cultural values, because that is equated with "functional" within a given society. Therefore, therapists need to carefully consider which of the following when using CBFT?

A) Ensuring treatment goals do not clash with cultural values of the client
B) Whether or not the expert stance of the therapist is in conflict with a client's cultural values or beliefs
C) Ensuring treatment goals do not clash with cultural values of the client and whether or not the expert stance of the therapist is in conflict with a client's cultural values or beliefs
D) None of these is correct

Question 50

Which of the following statements about CBFT research and the evidence base is most accurate?

A) CBFT therapies are some of the best-researched approaches in family therapy.
B) CBFT is the panacea of mental health termagant.
C) CBFT is superior to other approaches in family therapy.
D) None of these is correct.

Question 51

In Gottman's studies, the presence of four behaviors during a couple's argument predicted divorce with 85% accuracy. Criticism, one of the four horsemen, is best described as:

A) seeing oneself as superior to one's partner.
B) a statement that implies something is globally wrong with the partner.
C) when the listener withdraws from interaction, either physically or mentally.
D) a way to ward off attack and defensiveness claims.

Question 52

Which of the following statements about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in Gottman's studies is TRUE?

A) Men tend to criticize more than women.
B) Happy marriages have many instances of contempt.
C) Women are more likely to stonewall than men.
D) Most couples criticize, defend, and stonewall to a certain extent.

Question 53

In the Gottman method of couples therapy, what are love maps?

A) A series of questions to help the couple understand what helps their partner feel loved
B) An outline of things that are hurtful to each partner in the couple
C) A series of questions to help the couple become more aware of the issues that are important to their partner
D) An outline of the ways each partner expresses love in the relationship

Question 54

Hwang and colleagues recommend that CBFT therapists working with Asian American clients to link Western psychological concepts to the client's cultural beliefs and practices. This strategy is known as:

A) cultural nuance.
B) cultural bridging.
C) self-reliance.
D) disputing stereotypes and expectations.