CPCE Counseling & Helping Relationships 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A counselor notices that a client who was sexually abused as a child begins to idealize the counselor and seeks excessive reassurance. This is BEST explained by:
- Positive transference rooted in attachment needs (Correct answer)
- The client developing genuine affection for the counselor
- Resistance to exploring difficult emotions
- A boundary violation initiated by the counselor
Correct answer: Positive transference rooted in attachment needs
Idealization and reassurance-seeking often reflect positive transference, where the client projects onto the counselor the role of a wished-for protective figure.
Question 2: Which of the following is the PRIMARY purpose of using minimal encouragers during a counseling session?
- To signal agreement with the client's perspective
- To communicate attentiveness and encourage the client to continue (Correct answer)
- To summarize the main themes of what the client has shared
- To redirect the client to more productive topics
Correct answer: To communicate attentiveness and encourage the client to continue
Minimal encouragers such as 'mm-hmm,' 'go on,' or nodding signal that the counselor is listening and invite the client to elaborate.
Question 3: A counselor who practices 'immediacy' in session would MOST likely:
- Provide immediate feedback on the client's homework assignments
- Address the here-and-now dynamics occurring between counselor and client (Correct answer)
- Respond to crisis situations without delay
- Use brief, direct statements rather than lengthy explanations
Correct answer: Address the here-and-now dynamics occurring between counselor and client
Immediacy involves the counselor drawing attention to what is happening in the therapeutic relationship at that moment in order to illuminate relational patterns.
Question 4: According to Gelso and Carter's tripartite model, the three components of the therapeutic relationship are:
- Transference, countertransference, and real relationship
- Working alliance, transference configuration, and real relationship (Correct answer)
- Empathy, positive regard, and congruence
- Rapport, trust, and collaboration
Correct answer: Working alliance, transference configuration, and real relationship
Gelso and Carter identify the working alliance, the transference/countertransference configuration, and the real relationship as the three key components.
Question 5: When a counselor uses a 'here-and-now' focus in Gestalt therapy, the primary goal is to:
- Help the client process past traumas by reliving them
- Increase the client's awareness of present experience and contact (Correct answer)
- Plan future behavioral changes with the client
- Analyze the symbolic meaning of the client's dreams
Correct answer: Increase the client's awareness of present experience and contact
Gestalt therapy emphasizes present-moment awareness and the quality of contact between the person and their environment as the vehicle for change.
Question 6: A client from a collectivist cultural background repeatedly defers to the counselor's opinion and avoids self-disclosure. The MOST culturally sensitive response is to:
- Interpret this as resistance and confront it directly
- Recognize this may reflect cultural norms around hierarchy and adjust expectations accordingly (Correct answer)
- Refer the client to a counselor from the same cultural background
- Educate the client about Western norms of self-disclosure
Correct answer: Recognize this may reflect cultural norms around hierarchy and adjust expectations accordingly
Culturally competent practice requires recognizing that deference to authority and limited self-disclosure may be culturally normative rather than pathological.
Question 7: The 'working alliance' as conceptualized by Bordin consists of which three elements?
- Empathy, warmth, and genuineness
- Goals, tasks, and bond (Correct answer)
- Rapport, trust, and respect
- Assessment, intervention, and evaluation
Correct answer: Goals, tasks, and bond
Bordin's pantheoretical model of the working alliance includes agreement on goals, agreement on tasks, and the quality of the relational bond.
CPCE Counseling & Helping Relationships 3
A counselor notices that a client who was sexually abused as a child begins to idealize the counselor and seeks excessive reassurance.
This is BEST explained by: