Counseling & Helping Relationships Flashcards

A client consistently arrives late and frequently cancels sessions. From a psychodynamic perspective, this behavior is best understood as:

Answer: Resistance or avoidance of therapeutic work

In psychodynamic theory, patterns like lateness and cancellation often reflect resistance—unconscious avoidance of the anxiety-provoking work of therapy.

Which of the following best describes the concept of 'countertransference' in a helping relationship?

Answer: The counselor's emotional reactions to the client influenced by the counselor's own unresolved issues

Countertransference refers to the counselor's emotional responses to the client that are rooted in the counselor's own past experiences and unresolved conflicts.

A counselor using motivational interviewing would MOST likely respond to a client's ambivalence about change by:

Answer: Exploring and amplifying the client's own arguments for change

Motivational interviewing uses techniques like developing discrepancy and rolling with resistance to elicit the client's own motivation for change.

In the context of the therapeutic relationship, 'rupture and repair' refers to:

Answer: Breaches in the therapeutic alliance followed by successful resolution

Rupture and repair describes moments when the therapeutic alliance is strained or broken and the subsequent process of addressing and resolving these breaches.

Which stage of the helping relationship is characterized by the counselor and client collaboratively identifying goals and developing a treatment plan?

Answer: Action stage

The action stage involves translating insight into concrete goals and strategies, with counselor and client working together to plan interventions.

A client says, 'I know I should exercise more, but I just can't seem to make myself do it.' Using the transtheoretical model, this client is MOST likely in the:

Answer: Contemplation stage

The contemplation stage is characterized by awareness of the problem and consideration of change but without commitment to action.

The concept of 'unconditional positive regard' as described by Carl Rogers means the counselor:

Answer: Accepts and values the client without conditions or judgments

Unconditional positive regard involves the counselor's warm acceptance of the client as a person of worth regardless of their behavior or statements.