Deck 2: Helper Know Thyself

Question 1

__________ generally has its roots in a client's unresolved personal conflicts with significant others.

A) Transference
B) Countertransference
C) Boundaries
D) Unfinished business

Answer 1

A

Question 2

Which of the following are not included in family rules?

A) Myths
B) Secrets
C) Injunctions
D) No rules

Answer 2

D

Question 3

Nancy, a high school senior, feels pressured by her parents to pursue a nursing degree right after graduation; however, she is uncertain about her future direction. She recently started dating, has developed new friendships, and would like to postpone college to see what it's like to have a life. Nancy is working on which of Erikson's developmental tasks?

A) Intimacy versus isolation
B) Industry versus inferiority
C) Initiative versus guilt
D) Identity versus identity confusion

Answer 3

D

Question 4

By studying their own families of origin, helpers are able to

A) be in a position to offer therapy to family members that may not seek professional assistance.
B) improve their own ability to counsel families.
C) completely resolve unfinished business from their own childhood.
D) learn how to manipulate family members to do what they want.

Question 5

What do you think as a helper that group counseling will best do in your work?

A) Identify personal attributes that may be either strengths or limitations.
B) Maintain self-care and competence.
C) Resolve past conflicts.
D) Enable overcoming emotional reactivity.

Question 6

Phyllis, a 35-year-old housewife and mother, has returned to college. Her educational experiences have led her to broaden her view of sex roles, although she still feels unsure of herself. Her counselor might conclude that her sex-role foundation is confused and she may have not formed a healthy picture of appropriate feminine behavior during her

A) middle childhood.
B) preschool age.
C) early childhood.
D) adolescence.

Question 7

What do you think an integrated person can best achieve?

A) Strive for that is almost never achieved.
B) Recognize the many and varied aspects of his or her being and accept both positive and negative sides.
C) Encourage clients to do what is reflected on his or her life.
D) Identify personal attributes that may be either strengths or limitations.

Question 8

While growing up, Patrick was told to always be appropriate, be perfect, and do his best. Now as an adult, Patrick is rigid socially and devotes most of his energy to his work. Consequently, his wife has threatened to leave him. Patrick is seeking counseling in order to save his marriage. As a counselor, you recognize that his early childhood rules

A) were impossible for him to escape and Patrick had no choice but to accept them.
B) need to be given up so that Patrick can mend his relationship with his wife.
C) can be transformed into something useful and functional.
D) were dysfunctional and he needs to confront his parents about their behavior.

Question 9

Identifying and resolving __________ related to your family of origin is essential if you hope to establish relationships that do not repeat negative patterns of interaction.

A) boundaries
B) individuation
C) unfinished business
D) self-discipline

Question 10

Which of the statements does not hold for self-exploration and personal therapy for helpers?

A) If helpers are unaware of issues stemming from their family experiences, they are likely to find ways to avoid acknowledging and dealing with potentially painful areas with their clients.
B) As clients confront events that trigger their pain, memories of helpers' own pain may come forth.
C) As you review your family history, you will NOT gain some insight into patterns you have "adopted" from your family of origin.
D) Identifying and resolving unfinished business related to your family of origin allows you to establish relationships that do not repeat negative patterns of interaction.

Question 11

After questioning Joe, the counselor discovers that he has had learning problems all of his life and that school was a painful place since he was constantly taunted by his peers. Joe's fear of new challenges and lack of initiative is a result of failing to achieve mastery over which of the following tasks?

A) Industry versus inferiority
B) Initiative versus guilt
C) Autonomy versus shame and doubt
D) Trust versus mistrust

Question 12

Which of the following is a characteristic of a healthy family?

A) The family may have secrets.
B) The family allows its members to be in their own stances.
C) The family may cope with stress by showing a singular style.
D) The family functions in open ways and allows all members the possibility for changing.

Question 13

As an abused child, Robin made the early decision that anger was a useless emotion and that she would never allow herself to feel angry. Robin is presently going into the counseling field and realizes that her denial of anger will

A) make it easier for clients to express their anger constructively.
B) contribute to trust on the part of her clients, since she never expresses negative reactions to anything.
C) make it difficult for her to allow clients to express their anger and deal constructively with it.
D) help create a positive climate for the client who fears anger.

Question 14

How do you find that rules in dysfunctional family systems create serious problems?

A) The number of rules is small and is applied consistently.
B) Rules may vary for different situations.
C) Rules are rigid and serve the function of masking fears about differences.
D) Rules tend to make all members act with self-esteem.

Question 15

According to Erikson, during the late adulthood stage, in which the task to be accomplished is integrity versus despair, the older adults who have succeeded in achieving ego integrity would NOT

A) accept that they have been productive and have coped with whatever failures they faced.
B) concentrate on what they have not done and yearn for another chance to live in a different way.
C) tend to integrate their past experiences with current realities.
D) necessarily welcome the notion of death but view it as an inevitable part of the life cycle.

Question 16

What kind of therapist might want clients to challenge words like "must" and "always" and "never" as irrational?

A) Cognitive
B) Humanistic
C) Psychodynamic
D) Behavioral

Question 17

Identify one of the dangers encountered during middle adulthood.

A) Slipping into secure but stale ways of being and failing to take advantage of opportunities for enriching life
B) Withdrawal from taking an active stance toward life due to guilt over life's failures
C) Dealing with separation from the family system and establishing an identity based on one's own experiences
D) Lack of initiative in establishing and maintaining social relationships

Question 18

In doing a review of your family history, it is important to remember that

A) your commitment to exploration and change may bring discomfort to significant people in your life.
B) you should avoid adopting an attitude that others should change.
C) self-exploration is a must while you work with families.
D) a crisis may erupt when you discover a family secret.

Question 19

Which of the following in the context of family therapy would refer to emotional barriers that protect and enhance the integrity of members of a system?

A) Family rules
B) Self-exploration
C) Self-understanding
D) Boundaries

Question 20

Which of the following descriptions about Erikson's stage of development is not true?

A) It represents a psychosocial crisis, or turning point, when individuals are faced with fulfilling their destinies.
B) It builds on the psychological outcomes of earlier stages.
C) It has a psychosocial task to be mastered before moving to the next stage.
D) Personal transformation demands an awareness of how you deal with developmental tasks currently with no connection to your past.

Question 21

What do family therapists generally assume to be inevitable?

A) No family will truly become a healthy unit.
B) They will meet parts of their family in every other family with whom they have a professional relationship.
C) All families with severe issues will NOT seek assistance through counseling.
D) Families cannot change unhealthy boundaries and family rules.

Question 22

Unless helpers have identified their own __________, they are likely to be constantly triggered by the stories of your clients.

A) healed psychological wounds
B) sources of vulnerability and completely worked through them healing all wounds
C) sources of strength and psychological health
D) sources of vulnerability and to some extent worked through experiences that may have left them psychologically wounded

Question 23

What is a state of psychological separateness from one's family?

A) Transference
B) Unfinished business
C) Individuation
D) Family rules

Question 24

What refers to emotional-behavioral reactions toward a client that originated from some part of the helper's life?

A) Countertransference
B) Transference
C) Family of origin
D) Family structure

Question 25

__________ are characterized by closed communication, by the poor self-esteem of one or both parents, and by rigid patterns.

A) Transferences
B) Family secrets
C) Functional families
D) Dysfunctional families