Counseling Theories & Helping Relationships Flashcards

In behavior therapy, 'flooding' differs from systematic desensitization primarily because flooding:

Answer: Involves full-intensity exposure to the feared stimulus without relaxation pairing

Flooding exposes the client immediately to the full-intensity feared stimulus (in vivo or imaginal) until anxiety extinguishes, without the graduated hierarchy or relaxation of systematic desensitization.

According to Bowen's family systems theory, 'differentiation of self' refers to:

Answer: The degree to which a person can maintain a separate identity while remaining emotionally connected to the family

Bowen described differentiation as the capacity to maintain one's individuality while staying in emotional contact with the family system, avoiding both fusion and emotional cutoff.

The therapeutic technique of 'paradoxical intention,' developed by Viktor Frankl, instructs clients to:

Answer: Deliberately intend or wish for the very symptom they fear

In logotherapy, paradoxical intention asks clients to intend or wish for the symptom they dread, which interrupts anticipatory anxiety and often eliminates the symptom.

A counselor operating from a feminist therapy framework would most likely emphasize which of the following in case conceptualization?

Answer: The role of societal power structures and gender socialization in shaping presenting problems

Feminist therapy examines how systemic oppression, patriarchy, and socialized gender roles contribute to clients' psychological distress, framing personal problems as political issues.

In cognitive therapy, a client who concludes 'Everyone at the party hates me because one person frowned at me' is demonstrating which cognitive distortion?

Answer: Overgeneralization

Overgeneralization involves drawing a broad, sweeping conclusion (everyone hates me) from a single incident or piece of evidence (one person frowning).

Which stage of Prochaska and DiClemente's Transtheoretical Model is characterized by a person acknowledging a problem exists but having no intention to change within the next six months?

Answer: Contemplation

In the Contemplation stage, individuals are aware of a problem and are thinking about changing but have not yet committed to action within six months.

Satir's communication stances (placating, blaming, computing, distracting) were developed within which theoretical framework?

Answer: Experiential/humanistic family therapy

Virginia Satir's experiential family therapy identified four dysfunctional communication stances people adopt under stress, emphasizing emotional experience and self-worth in family interactions.