Clinical Flashcards
7 cards from real ASWB practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Clinical flashcards as text
A social worker notices a client is consistently arriving late, forgetting appointments, and avoiding emotionally charged topics. This pattern is best understood as:
Answer: Resistance
Resistance refers to conscious or unconscious behaviors that impede therapeutic progress, such as avoidance, lateness, or topic deflection.
Which eating disorder is characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating without compensatory behaviors, occurring at least once a week for 3 months?
Answer: Binge Eating Disorder
Binge Eating Disorder involves recurrent binge eating episodes without the purging or compensatory behaviors seen in Bulimia Nervosa.
A client on lithium therapy complains of tremor, nausea, and confusion. The social worker's most appropriate first action is to:
Answer: Refer the client to their prescribing physician immediately
These symptoms may indicate lithium toxicity, a medical emergency requiring immediate evaluation by the prescribing physician.
In family therapy, the concept of 'triangulation' refers to:
Answer: A third party being pulled into tension between two others to reduce anxiety
Triangulation occurs when a dyadic conflict is stabilized by involving a third person, diverting tension away from the original pair.
A client with Borderline Personality Disorder idealized the social worker last week but is now expressing intense anger and calling the worker incompetent. This shift exemplifies:
Answer: Splitting
Splitting is a hallmark defense mechanism in BPD where others are viewed as all good or all bad, with sudden shifts between the two extremes.
According to Kübler-Ross, a terminally ill client who refuses to believe the diagnosis and continues planning a 5-year business expansion is in which stage of grief?
Answer: Denial
In Kübler-Ross's model, denial is the initial stage where the individual refuses to accept the reality of the diagnosis.
A social worker is conducting a mental status examination. Which element assesses whether a client can perform serial sevens or spell 'world' backwards?
Answer: Concentration and attention
Serial sevens and spelling 'world' backwards are standard tasks used to evaluate concentration and attention during a mental status examination.