BAPSY Therapeutic Techniques & Counseling 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In play therapy, when a therapist reflects a child's feelings by saying 'You really wanted to win that game,' they are using:
- Limit setting
- Empathic reflection (Correct answer)
- Interpretation
- Tracking
Correct answer: Empathic reflection
Empathic reflection in play therapy mirrors the child's underlying emotional experience, building the therapeutic relationship.
Question 2: Which of the following ethical principles is MOST directly violated when a therapist begins a romantic relationship with a former client?
- Autonomy
- Fidelity
- Non-maleficence (Correct answer)
- Justice
Correct answer: Non-maleficence
Non-maleficence (do no harm) is most at stake, as the power differential and emotional vulnerability of therapy persist after termination.
Question 3: A therapist practicing 'motivational interviewing' would avoid which of the following responses?
- Affirmations
- Confrontation and direct persuasion (Correct answer)
- Reflective listening
- Summarizing
Correct answer: Confrontation and direct persuasion
MI explicitly avoids confrontation and argumentation, relying instead on empathy and evoking the client's own reasons for change.
Question 4: In structural family therapy, a therapist who joins a family system to understand its patterns before restructuring them is engaging in:
- Enactment
- Joining (Correct answer)
- Reframing
- Boundary making
Correct answer: Joining
Joining is the process by which Salvador Minuchin's structural therapist accommodates to the family's style to build therapeutic alliance.
Question 5: A client in grief therapy says, 'I keep expecting him to walk through the door.' According to the dual process model of grief (Stroebe & Schut), this reflects:
- Complicated grief disorder
- Loss-orientation (Correct answer)
- Restoration-orientation
- Avoidant coping
Correct answer: Loss-orientation
The dual process model identifies loss-oriented coping as focusing on the deceased and the pain of loss, versus restoration-oriented coping focused on life changes.
Question 6: Which of the following best describes the technique of 'role reversal' in psychodrama?
- The therapist takes on the client's role to model new behaviors
- The client switches roles with another person in the drama to gain perspective (Correct answer)
- Group members reverse their typical supportive and challenging roles
- The director reverses the dramatic action to explore alternative outcomes
Correct answer: The client switches roles with another person in the drama to gain perspective
In psychodrama, role reversal has the protagonist trade places with a significant other, fostering empathy and new perspective-taking.
Question 7: A counselor who helps a client identify their personal strengths, community resources, and previous successes is applying which theoretical orientation?
- Psychodynamic therapy
- Strengths-based / solution-focused approach (Correct answer)
- Rational emotive behavior therapy
- Behavioral therapy
Correct answer: Strengths-based / solution-focused approach
Strengths-based counseling (aligned with SFBT) focuses on assets, exceptions to problems, and existing competencies rather than deficits.
BAPSY Therapeutic Techniques & Counseling 5
In play therapy, when a therapist reflects a child's feelings by saying 'You really wanted to win that game,' they are using: