Deck 7: Help Clients Challenge Themselves: From New Perspectives to New Behavior

Question 1

What is the primary function of challenging?

A) Helping clients test reality and invest what they learn to create a better future
B) Helping clients clarify concerns
C) Helping clients appreciate their futures by understanding how their past has confused them
D) Helping clients construct a public face

Answer 1

Helping clients test reality and invest what they learn to create a better future

Question 2

According to Egan, which of the following is true about challenging clients?

A) Effective helping always involves a mixture of challenge andsupport.
B) Effective helping always separates challenge from support to avoid confusion.
C) Effective helping always makes challenge interchangeable with confrontation.
D) Effective helping always challenges early to prevent complacency.

Answer 2

Effective helping always involves a mixture of challenge andsupport.

Question 3

Kelly is upset because she believes she is not adequately keeping up with all her demands as a full-time student, part-time bookkeeper, and single mother of three. "I feel like I am so dumb; I barely made a 'C' on the biology test I just took." The counselor points out she has As and Bs in all her classes, including biology, and just got a raise at work. "I know, but I should have done better on that test. If I screw up one thing, I think I am a failure." According to Ellis, what type of self-defeating mindset does this exemplify?

A) The omniscience fallacy
B) The invulnerability fallacy
C) Dysfunctional belief of always being competent
D) Dysfunctional belief of always having one's own way

Answer 3

Dysfunctional belief of always being competent

Question 4

Sternberg identified four fallacies in thinking that otherwise smart people make. Which fallacy is consistent with the following statement, "I don't need to quit smoking; the statistics about smoking don't apply to me-I exercise all the time."?

A) Self-fulfilling fallacy
B) Egocentrism fallacy
C) Omnipotence fallacy
D) Exception fallacy

Question 5

Read the following:
Arthur tells his counselor that last night, over dinner, his friend Peter told him all their mutual friends are fed up with Arthur's acerbic interpersonal style. They all feel he is just nasty and disrespectful. Arthur tells his counselor these friends are being ridiculous and, frankly, rather stupid if they cannot see that he just intends to be funny. He said he told off his friend Peter by saying he and all their friends are idiots.
As tactfully as possible, Arthur's counselor asks: "Don't you think that the opinion of all your friends might be something to take seriously?"
This challenge is designed to help Arthur to understand his ________________.

A) damaged and thus inherently dysfunctional personality
B) self-defeating sense of perfectionism
C) inadequate participation in the helping process
D) self-defeating expressions of feelings and emotions

Question 6

Some weeks ago, Rachel told her counselor that her husband is very happy with their nonexistent sex life, and that they both agree sex is not so important. During today's session, she tells her counselor she was shocked and horribly saddened to learn that her husband was having an affair. When she asked her husband about it, he told her that he missed having sex in his life. Rachel's earlier assumption about her husband and their lack of interest in sex reflects which of the following?

A) Dysfunctional external behavior
B) Self-defeating expressions of feelings and emotions
C) Distorted understanding of the world
D) Unused strengths and resources

Question 7

Which of the following is not cited in the text as a discrepancy that a helper might want to challenge?

A) What clients think or feel versus what they say
B) What clients believe versus their intent
C) What clients say versus what they do
D) Clients' views of themselves versus the views that others have of them

Question 8

Clients use smoke screens to _______________.

A) keep themselves from recognizing their own unconscious motives
B) hide from helpers the ways in which they fail to face up to life
C) show the helpers several problems at the same time
D) cope with their inner worlds more effectively

Question 9

According to Steven Hayes' acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) approach, which of the following should clients do about self-defeating thoughts and emotions?

A) They should transform bad thoughts and feelings into good ones.
B) They should confront bad thoughts and feelings, not avoid them.
C) They should embrace and defuse them using respectful attention.
D) They should analyze them from some distance and dispute them.

Question 10

In helping, the term "blind spot" refers to which of the following?

A) Aspects of ourselves that we fail to see or choose to ignore
B) Aspects of others that we can see that they cannot
C) Problematic aspects of ourselves that can never be fixed
D) Precious parts of ourselves that reflect the saying "ignorance is bliss"

Question 11

Which of the following is not an example of a blind spot?

A) Simple unawareness
B) Failure to think things through
C) Disagreement with the helper
D) Self-deception

Question 12

Transforming blind spots into new perspectives requires which of the following to manage problems and opportunities?

A) Self-limiting internal behavior
B) Synesthesia
C) Ratiocination
D) Cognitive restructuring

Question 13

Advanced empathy is designed to help the helper to ________________.

A) respond more deeply to covert meanings in a client's communication
B) communicate the deepest level of the helper's commitment to the client
C) achieve a higher level of credibility with resistant clients
D) develop the most current clinical skills in psychotherapy

Question 14

Which of the following is not an example of an advanced empathy technique?

A) Helping clients make the implied explicit
B) Helping clients make connections that may be missing
C) Sharing your gut instincts about what is going on
D) Sharing educated hunches based on empathic understanding

Question 15

Egan recommends that helper self-disclosure typically be used ____.

A) selectively, carefully, and flexibly
B) to model openness and honesty
C) early in counseling to establish rapport
D) at the same level for all clients

Question 16

Confrontation with clients should be used _______________.

A) when helpers need to vent frustration constructively
B) in an abrupt manner to capture the clients' attention
C) in the form of ultimatums to help decision-making
D) sparingly and carefully with empathy and respect

Question 17

What is self-challenge? Describe the role of self-challenge in effective counseling. Differentiate between challenge and confrontation, and provide examples of both using dialogue. What is meant by the discordant note of challenge?

Question 18

What are the goals of challenging? Identify and discuss common targets of self-challenge and illustrate how self-challenge and challenge can be used to address these areas. Identify and discuss four fallacies that can cause smart people to "do stupid things" and how challenging can be used to address these issues.

Question 19

How can clients be "invited" to challenge the "blind spots" that keep them mired in problems? What are some of the causes of blind spots? Provide examples of questions that can help uncover blind spots.

Question 20

Identify and discuss skills that will help clients challenge their blind spots and move on. What is "advanced" empathy and how is it used in counseling? How does information sharing relate to challenging clients?

Question 21

Discuss the role of self-disclosure in counseling and identify guidelines for appropriate self-disclosure. Explain the role of making suggestions and giving recommendations and summarize some important guidelines surrounding these. Explain the roles of confrontation and encouragement in counseling.