CASAC Counseling Theories and Practice 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client repeatedly arrives late, forgets assignments, and dismisses the counselor's feedback. A psychodynamically-oriented counselor would MOST likely interpret this pattern as:
- Antisocial personality traits
- Resistance (Correct answer)
- Low intelligence
- Poor therapeutic fit
Correct answer: Resistance
In psychodynamic theory, resistance refers to unconscious behaviors that protect the client from painful awareness and impede therapeutic progress.
Question 2: When using Motivational Interviewing, a counselor responds to a client's ambivalence by saying, 'Part of you wants to quit using, and part of you isn't sure you can.' This technique is called:
- Affirmation
- Double-sided reflection (Correct answer)
- Summary
- Open-ended question
Correct answer: Double-sided reflection
A double-sided reflection acknowledges both sides of the client's ambivalence simultaneously, validating the internal conflict without taking sides.
Question 3: Which stage of William Miller and Carlo DiClemente's Stages of Change model involves a client actively taking steps to modify their addictive behavior within the last six months?
- Contemplation
- Preparation
- Action (Correct answer)
- Maintenance
Correct answer: Action
The Action stage is characterized by the client making observable behavioral changes within the past six months to address their problem.
Question 4: A counselor notices they feel unusually protective of a client who reminds them of their younger sibling. This reaction is best described as:
- Transference
- Countertransference (Correct answer)
- Parataxic distortion
- Empathic resonance
Correct answer: Countertransference
Countertransference refers to the counselor's emotional reactions to the client that stem from the counselor's own unresolved issues or past relationships.
Question 5: In Gestalt therapy, the 'empty chair' technique is primarily used to:
- Practice future coping scenarios
- Process unfinished business with significant others (Correct answer)
- Identify cognitive distortions
- Explore childhood memories through regression
Correct answer: Process unfinished business with significant others
The empty chair technique allows clients to have an imaginary dialogue with someone (living or deceased) to resolve unfinished emotional business.
Question 6: A CASAC counselor asks a client to keep a daily log tracking cravings, triggers, and mood before each craving episode. This intervention is most consistent with which approach?
- Psychoanalytic therapy
- Cognitive-behavioral therapy (Correct answer)
- Solution-focused therapy
- Existential therapy
Correct answer: Cognitive-behavioral therapy
Self-monitoring records are a core CBT technique used to identify patterns linking thoughts, feelings, triggers, and behaviors.
Question 7: The concept of 'locus of control' is MOST relevant to which counseling theory when applied to addiction recovery?
- Psychoanalytic theory
- Reality therapy (Correct answer)
- Existential therapy
- Adlerian therapy
Correct answer: Reality therapy
Reality therapy emphasizes personal responsibility and internal locus of control, teaching clients that they choose their behaviors and can choose recovery.
CASAC Counseling Theories and Practice 5
A client repeatedly arrives late, forgets assignments, and dismisses the counselor's feedback.
A psychodynamically-oriented counselor would MOST likely interpret this pattern as: