NCE Counseling Theory 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Existential therapy, 'existential anxiety' (Angst) is best understood as:
- A pathological fear response conditioned by traumatic events
- An inevitable part of being human confronted with freedom and responsibility (Correct answer)
- A symptom of unconscious conflict between the id and superego
- Anxiety caused by irrational beliefs about personal inadequacy
Correct answer: An inevitable part of being human confronted with freedom and responsibility
Existential anxiety arises from confronting the fundamental conditions of existence — freedom, isolation, meaninglessness, and mortality — and is viewed as normal and unavoidable.
Question 2: The technique of 'paradoxical intention,' associated with Viktor Frankl's logotherapy, involves:
- Having the client intentionally wish for or exaggerate the feared symptom (Correct answer)
- Instructing the client to do the opposite of what feels natural
- Using humor to reframe a client's catastrophic beliefs
- Assigning homework that contradicts the client's stated resistance
Correct answer: Having the client intentionally wish for or exaggerate the feared symptom
In paradoxical intention, the client is encouraged to intend or wish for the very thing they fear, which often reduces anticipatory anxiety by removing the fear-of-fear cycle.
Question 3: According to Carl Rogers, which condition occurs when a person's self-concept is inconsistent with their actual experience?
- Projection
- Incongruence (Correct answer)
- Conditions of worth
- Conditional positive regard
Correct answer: Incongruence
Incongruence in Rogers's theory refers to the gap between the self-concept (who one believes they are) and organismic experience (what one actually feels), which leads to psychological distress.
Question 4: In Structural Family Therapy (Minuchin), an 'enmeshed' family subsystem is characterized by:
- Rigid boundaries that allow little contact or communication between members
- Diffuse boundaries with excessive closeness and poor individual autonomy (Correct answer)
- Disengaged members who operate independently without emotional connection
- Triangulated relationships that deflect conflict onto a third member
Correct answer: Diffuse boundaries with excessive closeness and poor individual autonomy
Enmeshment describes diffuse, blurred boundaries where family members are overly involved, limiting individual autonomy and differentiation.
Question 5: A client reports feeling anxious whenever they board a plane, despite knowing rationally that air travel is safe. A behaviorist would most likely attribute this to:
- An unresolved Oedipal conflict symbolized by the flight
- Classical conditioning linking planes to a previously experienced fearful event (Correct answer)
- A core belief that the world is inherently dangerous
- Social modeling of fear responses observed in caregivers
Correct answer: Classical conditioning linking planes to a previously experienced fearful event
From a behavioral perspective, phobias typically result from classical conditioning in which a neutral stimulus (airplane) becomes associated with a fear-producing unconditioned stimulus.
Question 6: Which of the following is the PRIMARY goal of reality therapy as developed by William Glasser?
- Helping clients gain insight into unconscious motivations
- Assisting clients in meeting their basic needs through responsible choices (Correct answer)
- Eliminating irrational beliefs that cause emotional distress
- Increasing awareness of moment-to-moment experience in the present
Correct answer: Assisting clients in meeting their basic needs through responsible choices
Reality therapy focuses on helping clients identify their needs, evaluate whether their current behaviors are meeting those needs, and make more responsible choices.
Question 7: In object relations theory, 'splitting' is a defense mechanism where the client:
- Divides their personality into observing and experiencing ego states
- Views people and situations as all good or all bad without integrating both (Correct answer)
- Projects unacceptable impulses onto others to avoid internal conflict
- Represses threatening memories and denies their emotional significance
Correct answer: Views people and situations as all good or all bad without integrating both
Splitting is a primitive defense in which the person fails to integrate positive and negative qualities of self and others, resulting in black-and-white thinking.
NCE Counseling Theory 4
In Existential therapy, 'existential anxiety' (Angst) is best understood as: