CART Cognitive Restructuring for Anger 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client insists their coworker 'always' ignores their ideas. Which cognitive distortion does this reflect?
- Personalization
- Overgeneralization (Correct answer)
- Magnification
- Mind reading
Correct answer: Overgeneralization
Using absolute terms like 'always' or 'never' is the hallmark of overgeneralization, which distorts reality and fuels anger.
Question 2: In cognitive restructuring, what is the primary purpose of a thought record?
- To document angry outbursts for legal purposes
- To identify and challenge automatic negative thoughts (Correct answer)
- To track medication side effects
- To schedule therapy appointments
Correct answer: To identify and challenge automatic negative thoughts
Thought records help clients capture automatic thoughts, evaluate their accuracy, and develop more balanced alternatives.
Question 3: A therapist uses Socratic questioning with an angry client. What is the goal?
- To prove the client's beliefs are wrong
- To guide the client to examine evidence for and against their beliefs (Correct answer)
- To distract the client from anger triggers
- To teach relaxation breathing techniques
Correct answer: To guide the client to examine evidence for and against their beliefs
Socratic questioning uses guided discovery so clients independently evaluate the validity of their anger-driving beliefs.
Question 4: Which technique involves helping a client replace 'I must be respected at all times' with 'I prefer respect but can cope when it's absent'?
- Exposure therapy
- Disputing irrational beliefs (REBT) (Correct answer)
- Behavioral activation
- Systematic desensitization
Correct answer: Disputing irrational beliefs (REBT)
REBT's disputing process targets absolutistic 'musts' and 'shoulds,' replacing them with flexible preferences to reduce anger.
Question 5: A client catastrophizes that a traffic jam will 'ruin their entire day.' The therapist helps them rate the actual impact on a scale of 0–100. This technique is called:
- Decatastrophizing (Correct answer)
- Cognitive defusion
- Behavioral experiment
- Graded exposure
Correct answer: Decatastrophizing
Decatastrophizing helps clients realistically appraise how bad a situation actually is, reducing anger-amplifying exaggeration.
Question 6: When a client says 'He did that to make me angry on purpose,' which distortion is operating?
- Emotional reasoning
- Mind reading (Correct answer)
- Labeling
- Fortune telling
Correct answer: Mind reading
Mind reading is assuming knowledge of another person's intentions without sufficient evidence, which often intensifies anger.
Question 7: A CART therapist introduces 'perspective-taking' exercises with an angry client. The primary benefit is:
- Reducing physiological arousal immediately
- Expanding the client's interpretive framework to consider alternative explanations (Correct answer)
- Increasing assertive communication skills
- Eliminating anger triggers from the environment
Correct answer: Expanding the client's interpretive framework to consider alternative explanations
Perspective-taking broadens cognitive appraisal by helping clients consider others' viewpoints, reducing rigid anger-fueling interpretations.
CART Cognitive Restructuring for Anger 2
A client insists their coworker 'always' ignores their ideas.
Which cognitive distortion does this reflect?