CBT Treatment Planning & Goal Setting 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which of the following BEST describes the role of psychoeducation at the treatment planning stage?
- It replaces the need for a formal diagnosis
- It helps clients understand the CBT model and rationale, increasing goal commitment (Correct answer)
- It is only used in group therapy
- It is delivered after termination to prevent relapse
Correct answer: It helps clients understand the CBT model and rationale, increasing goal commitment
Early psychoeducation about the CBT model increases client buy-in and strengthens commitment to collaboratively set treatment goals.
Question 2: A client's treatment goal is: 'Reduce OCD compulsions from 4 hours/day to under 30 minutes/day within 12 weeks.' This goal is best characterized as:
- Vague and unmeasurable
- Specific, measurable, and time-bound (Correct answer)
- Unrealistically ambitious
- Focused on thoughts rather than behavior
Correct answer: Specific, measurable, and time-bound
The goal specifies the behavior, quantifies baseline and target, and includes a clear timeframe, meeting SMART criteria.
Question 3: Safety planning in CBT treatment planning is MOST critical when:
- The client has a history of substance use
- The client presents with suicidal ideation or self-harm behaviors (Correct answer)
- The client misses more than two sessions
- The client resists homework assignments
Correct answer: The client presents with suicidal ideation or self-harm behaviors
Suicidal ideation or self-harm requires a safety plan as the first treatment priority before other CBT goals are addressed.
Question 4: When using a case conceptualization to guide the treatment plan, the 'maintaining factors' section is important because it:
- Documents the client's childhood history
- Identifies the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms keeping the problem active (Correct answer)
- Lists the DSM diagnostic criteria met
- Summarizes session attendance
Correct answer: Identifies the cognitive and behavioral mechanisms keeping the problem active
Maintaining factors (e.g., avoidance, safety behaviors, rumination) are the proximal targets of CBT interventions.
Question 5: A therapist revises a client's treatment plan after session 6 because progress is stalled. This reflects which core CBT principle?
- Transference interpretation
- Empirical evaluation and plan adjustment based on outcome data (Correct answer)
- Motivational enhancement
- Unconditional positive regard
Correct answer: Empirical evaluation and plan adjustment based on outcome data
CBT's scientist-practitioner model requires ongoing monitoring of outcome data and willingness to revise the plan when progress is insufficient.
Question 6: Which of the following is an example of a PROCESS goal in a CBT treatment plan?
- Decrease PHQ-9 score below 10 within 8 weeks
- Client will learn to identify cognitive distortions by session 4 (Correct answer)
- Reduce panic attacks to zero frequency
- Achieve full remission of PTSD symptoms
Correct answer: Client will learn to identify cognitive distortions by session 4
Process goals target skill acquisition or within-therapy milestones (e.g., identifying distortions), while outcome goals target symptom reduction.
Question 7: Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques are sometimes integrated into the CBT treatment planning phase primarily to:
- Replace cognitive restructuring
- Resolve ambivalence and enhance readiness for change (Correct answer)
- Establish diagnostic clarity
- Reduce session frequency
Correct answer: Resolve ambivalence and enhance readiness for change
MI strategies like decisional balancing and exploring change talk reduce ambivalence and increase commitment to CBT goals.
CBT Treatment Planning & Goal Setting 3
Which of the following BEST describes the role of psychoeducation at the treatment planning stage?