Counseling Skills Flashcards

When a counselor summarizes a client's statements, the primary purpose is to:

Answer: Collect and link key themes, demonstrate understanding, and transition the conversation

Summaries are a strategic MI skill used to consolidate change talk, highlight discrepancies, and shift conversational direction.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) is particularly useful for clients with substance use disorders who also experience:

Answer: Emotional dysregulation and impulsive behaviors

DBT was developed to address emotional dysregulation and impulsivity and has strong evidence for clients with co-occurring BPD and substance use disorders.

A client who believes they can have one drink without losing control is exhibiting which type of cognitive distortion?

Answer: Permission-giving thought (seemingly irrelevant decision)

Permission-giving thoughts are rationalizations that give the client 'permission' to use, often minimizing consequences by focusing on perceived control.

The FRAMES model for brief intervention stands for:

Answer: Feedback, Responsibility, Advice, Menu, Empathy, Self-efficacy

FRAMES identifies the six components of effective brief interventions for alcohol and substance use problems.

Harm reduction as a counseling philosophy is best described as:

Answer: A pragmatic approach that aims to minimize the negative consequences of drug use without requiring immediate abstinence

Harm reduction meets clients where they are, supporting incremental changes that reduce risk even when abstinence is not the immediate goal.

When a client discloses that they relapsed over the weekend, the most therapeutic initial response is to:

Answer: Explore the relapse non-judgmentally to identify triggers and learning opportunities

Non-judgmental exploration of a relapse preserves the therapeutic alliance and treats the event as useful clinical information rather than failure.