Deck 13: Systems Approaches

Question 1

The systemic orientation in mental health grew primarily out of

A) practitioners' need for a theory to work with families.
B) the public's need and demand for more socially holistic approaches to families.
C) the government's emphasis on stabilizing and strengthening families after WWI and the Great Depression.
D) all of the above
E) B and C only

Answer 1

B

Question 2

One of the earliest marriage therapy practices was established in New York by

A) Abraham and Hannah Stone.
B) Paul Papanoe and Emily Mudd.
C) Alfred Adler.
D) Virginia Satir.
E) Murray Bowen.

Answer 2

A

Question 3

According to the text authors, the most important historical event in the family therapy movement was

A) the introduction of child guidance in the school setting in the late 1890s.
B) Abraham and Hannah Stone opening a marriage therapy practice in the United States in the late 1920s.
C) the establishment of the American Association of Marriage Counselors in 1945.
D) when Norbert Weiner authored his book, Cybernetics, about studying communication and control in animals and machines in the late 1940s.
E) research conducted with patients of schizophrenia and their families at the Mental Research Institute in the 1950s.

Answer 3

E

Question 4

According to the text authors, families

A) have unique structures that they generate and maintain.
B) always strive for the welfare of all members.
C) respond to perturbations by employing negative or positive feedback.
D) all of the above
E) A and C only

Question 5

Which of the following statements is true of feedback?

A) Negative feedback increases equilibrium.
B) Positive feedback decreases equilibrium.
C) Positive feedback increases disequilibrium.
D) All of the above are true statements.
E) None of the above are true statements.

Question 6

The Rodriguez family has been going to family therapy because the middle child, Lucio, has gotten into some trouble and is now on probation. The family counselor has educated the family and modeled better communication strategies they can use. If the family adopts these strategies, this is an example of

A) negative feedback.
B) positive feedback.
C) second order change.
D) first order change.
E) restructuring.

Question 7

A family has come to therapy because the only child is depressed and spends an excessive amount of time playing video games, and the parents are considering divorce. The systems therapist assigns a family the task of spending one hour a week together doing something fun. This is an example of

A) a paradoxical prescription.
B) a countersystemic prescription.
C) a restructuring prescription.
D) a positive prescription.
E) both B and C

Question 8

Which of the following statements regarding the genesis of the systems movement in therapy is true?

A) Conjoint therapy was more readily accepted in Europe than in America.
B) The psychoanalytic movement convinced the public that becoming psychologically healthy was an individual process.
C) Systems approaches were begun in opposition to Freudian psychoanalysis.
D) All of the above statements are true.
E) None of the above statements are true.

Question 9

When the Mental Research Institute conducted research with hospitalized schizophrenic patients, relevant findings included which of the following?

A) Parents neglected their hospitalized children, which led to "crazy-making."
B) Parents communicated with their hospitalized children in maladaptive patterns.
C) Family communication patterns affected a child's mental health.
D) all of the above
E) B and C only

Question 10

In systems theory, holistic refers to

A) the view that individuals are cognitive, affective, behavioral, social, and spiritual beings.
B) the belief that dimensions of feeling, thinking, and acting are highly interdependent in a social system.
C) the perspective that individual members of the system can be completely understood only in the context of the entire family.
D) the view that an individual is more than the sum of one's parts.
E) none of the above

Question 11

In terms of goal-directedness, the family system

A) develops individual purposes depending on culture.
B) is usually not aware of its purpose.
C) aims for the greatest satisfaction of all members in the system.
D) none of the above
E) B and C only

Question 12

Matt and Mike meet on their first day of work at their new company. They begin having lunch together. Matt always has a joke to tell, and Mike always laughs even though he thinks that Matt's jokes aren't really funny. This pattern of interaction continues throughout their friendship. In systems theory terms, this is an example of

A) morphostasis.
B) goal-directedness.
C) morphogenesis.
D) a perturbation.
E) disequilibrium.

Question 13

Javier is the oldest son of a Mexican-American family. His parents came to the United States so that their children could attend U.S. schools. Javier did well in school and is now in his third year of medical school. Javier has fallen in love with an African-American girl, Demi, who is a nurse in the hospital where he is doing rounds. He tells his parents he is going to ask Demi to marry him. His parents tell him they will disown him if he marries her. They say that no one in their family has ever married someone who is not from Mexico. Which systems theory principle does this example not illustrate?

A) goal-directedness.
B) morphostasis.
C) a perturbation.
D) disequilibrium.
E) The example illustrates all of the above principles.

Question 14

In systems theory, a system is said to have a dynamic equilibrium. Dynamic equilibrium refers to

A) the fluctuations of members in and out of the system.
B) the constant movement due to individuals in the system interacting with one another.
C) the ebb and flow of the system's overall mood and affect.
D) all of the above
E) A and B only

Question 15

TJ has just learned that he has the opportunity to travel overseas and study in South America for a semester of college. TJ comes from a very close family. He is the oldest son and has never been away from home for more than one night. This new opportunity is an example of

A) an active perturbation.
B) a passive perturbation.
C) a threat to equilibrium.
D) increased equilibrium.
E) decreased disequilibrium.

Question 16

Mary and Tim have been married for 12 years. Recently, Mary has acquired a new position as a teacher in a new school. Her aide is a man named Robert. Mary comes home and tells Tim how funny Robert is and how she and Robert eat lunch together and generally have a good time. The next day, Tim gives Mary a surprise: two tickets for them to go away for a romantic weekend to Colorado Springs. Tim's gesture of buying this surprise vacation for him and his wife is an example of

A) positive feedback.
B) negative feedback.
C) a corrective strategy.
D) an active perturbation.
E) a threat to equilibrium.

Question 17

Mary responds to her gift from Tim by thanking him. They go to Colorado Springs and have a wonderful time. Tim is excited because they have more sex that weekend than they have had in a long time. This situation is an example of

A) positive feedback.
B) negative feedback.
C) a corrective strategy.
D) an active perturbation.
E) a threat to equilibrium.

Question 18

According to systems theory,

A) negative feedback is bad, and positive feedback is good, for a system.
B) negative feedback involves an unpleasant interaction, and positive feedback a pleasant one.
C) the nature of a given corrective actions predicts whether it will result in negative or positive feedback.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 19

A systems counselor focuses on disrupting the system so that change can occur during

A) the first interview.
B) the early phase of treatment.
C) the middle phase of treatment.
D) termination.
E) all of the above

Question 20

Regarding DSM-IV-TR diagnosis, systems therapists

A) disagree with it but use it when the institution demands it.
B) believe it can handicap the therapist and damage the family.
C) look forward to the next edition of the DSM in which authors have agreed to include interactional diagnoses.
D) all of the above
E) A and B only

Question 21

Regarding diversity issues, systems theorists

A) have not adequately addressed issues of culture and ethnicity.
B) have focused therapeutically not on sexual orientation itself but on the degree to which the system accepts the sexual orientations of its members.
C) have focused on how gender bias damages the disempowered members of a system which, in U.S. culture, are females.
D) all of the above
E) none of the above

Question 22

Research on the effectiveness of systems approaches has shown that

A) systems approaches are more effective than no treatment.
B) systems approaches are at least as effective as individually oriented approaches.
C) some forms of systems approaches are more effective than others.
D) all of the above
E) A and B only