CPCE Counseling & Helping Relationships 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client consistently arrives late and frequently cancels sessions. From a psychodynamic perspective, this behavior is best understood as:
- Poor time management skills
- Resistance or avoidance of therapeutic work (Correct answer)
- A scheduling conflict that needs practical resolution
- Disrespect toward the counselor
Correct 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.
Question 2: Which of the following best describes the concept of 'countertransference' in a helping relationship?
- The client's emotional reactions to the counselor based on past relationships
- The counselor's emotional reactions to the client influenced by the counselor's own unresolved issues (Correct answer)
- A technique for reflecting the client's feelings back to them
- The process of setting therapeutic goals collaboratively
Correct 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.
Question 3: A counselor using motivational interviewing would MOST likely respond to a client's ambivalence about change by:
- Confronting the client directly about the consequences of their behavior
- Exploring and amplifying the client's own arguments for change (Correct answer)
- Prescribing specific steps the client must take
- Reassuring the client that change is not necessary
Correct 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.
Question 4: In the context of the therapeutic relationship, 'rupture and repair' refers to:
- Ending and restarting therapy after a break
- Breaches in the therapeutic alliance followed by successful resolution (Correct answer)
- A client's relapse followed by renewed commitment to goals
- Disagreements about treatment approach that lead to termination
Correct 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.
Question 5: Which stage of the helping relationship is characterized by the counselor and client collaboratively identifying goals and developing a treatment plan?
- Exploration stage
- Understanding/insight stage
- Action stage (Correct answer)
- Termination stage
Correct answer: Action stage
The action stage involves translating insight into concrete goals and strategies, with counselor and client working together to plan interventions.
Question 6: 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:
- Precontemplation stage
- Contemplation stage (Correct answer)
- Preparation stage
- Maintenance stage
Correct answer: Contemplation stage
The contemplation stage is characterized by awareness of the problem and consideration of change but without commitment to action.
Question 7: The concept of 'unconditional positive regard' as described by Carl Rogers means the counselor:
- Agrees with everything the client says
- Accepts and values the client without conditions or judgments (Correct answer)
- Avoids challenging the client's maladaptive beliefs
- Maintains a strictly neutral stance toward the client
Correct 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.
CPCE Counseling & Helping Relationships 2
A client consistently arrives late and frequently cancels sessions.
From a psychodynamic perspective, this behavior is best understood as: