Counseling Theories & Helping Relationships Flashcards

In Adlerian therapy, the concept of 'gemeinschaftsgefühl' refers to which core human motivation?

Answer: Social interest and belonging to the community

Alfred Adler used gemeinschaftsgefühl (social interest) to describe humans' innate desire to belong to and contribute to the community as a measure of psychological health.

A counselor using Gestalt therapy asks a client to speak directly to an empty chair as if their estranged father were sitting in it. This technique is called:

Answer: The empty chair technique

The empty chair technique in Gestalt therapy allows clients to externalize and dialogue with significant others or unresolved feelings to promote awareness and integration.

Which theoretical assumption best describes the existential counseling stance toward human anxiety?

Answer: Normal anxiety is an inevitable part of confronting life's ultimate concerns

Existential counselors distinguish between normal (existential) anxiety—arising from confronting death, freedom, isolation, and meaninglessness—and neurotic anxiety, viewing the former as inherent to human existence.

In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), the 'B' in the ABC model stands for:

Answer: Beliefs the client holds about the activating event

Ellis's ABC model identifies A (Activating event), B (Beliefs—rational or irrational), and C (Consequences), arguing that beliefs, not events, cause emotional disturbance.

A client in person-centered therapy makes significant progress only when the counselor demonstrates unconditional positive regard. This means the counselor:

Answer: Accepts the client fully without imposing conditions of worth

Unconditional positive regard means the counselor accepts and prizes the client as a person regardless of behavior, without placing conditions on that acceptance.

Structural family therapy, associated with Salvador Minuchin, primarily focuses on:

Answer: Modifying dysfunctional patterns of family organization and boundaries

Minuchin's structural family therapy examines and reshapes the family's organizational structure, including subsystems and boundaries, to improve functioning.

Which of the following best describes the 'miracle question' technique used in Solution-Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT)?

Answer: The client imagines their life after the problem has been solved to identify goals

The miracle question ('Suppose a miracle happened overnight and your problem was solved—what would be different?') helps clients envision preferred futures and identify concrete goals.