CPCE Counseling & Helping Relationships 4 ā Questions and Answers
Question 1: In solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), the 'miracle question' is used primarily to:
- Assess the severity of the client's problem
- Help the client envision a future where the problem is absent and identify exceptions (Correct answer)
- Explore the historical origins of the presenting problem
- Challenge the client's irrational beliefs about the future
Correct answer: Help the client envision a future where the problem is absent and identify exceptions
The miracle question invites clients to describe what life would look like if the problem disappeared overnight, helping to construct a vision of desired change.
Question 2: A counselor who consistently finishes the client's sentences and assumes they understand what the client means is demonstrating a lack of:
- Positive regard
- Empathic attunement (Correct answer)
- Congruence
- Multicultural competence
Correct answer: Empathic attunement
Empathic attunement requires staying closely attuned to the client's actual experience rather than projecting one's own assumptions onto what they mean.
Question 3: Which of the following counselor behaviors is MOST likely to facilitate self-disclosure in a reluctant client?
- Asking probing closed-ended questions to gather information efficiently
- Creating a non-judgmental atmosphere through active listening and reflective responses (Correct answer)
- Explaining the theoretical rationale for self-disclosure in therapy
- Directly reassuring the client that everything shared is confidential
Correct answer: Creating a non-judgmental atmosphere through active listening and reflective responses
A non-judgmental, warm, and attentive counselor stance is the most effective foundation for encouraging client self-disclosure.
Question 4: Motivational interviewing's OARS skills stand for:
- Openness, Authenticity, Reflection, Summarizing
- Open questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summarizing (Correct answer)
- Observation, Awareness, Rapport, Support
- Open dialogue, Ambivalence, Readiness, Strengths
Correct answer: Open questions, Affirmations, Reflective listening, Summarizing
OARS is the foundational skill set in motivational interviewing: open questions, affirmations, reflective listening, and summarizing.
Question 5: A new counselor feels an overwhelming urge to rescue a client who describes a chaotic home environment. This reaction is BEST described as:
- Appropriate empathic concern that should guide the intervention
- Countertransference that may impair professional judgment (Correct answer)
- Evidence of a strong working alliance
- A normative response requiring no further attention
Correct answer: Countertransference that may impair professional judgment
The urge to rescue often signals countertransference, potentially rooted in the counselor's own needs or unresolved experiences, which can distort clinical judgment.
Question 6: In person-centered therapy, 'congruence' refers to the counselor being:
- In agreement with the client's self-assessment
- Genuine and transparent, with internal experience matching outward expression (Correct answer)
- Consistent in applying therapeutic techniques across sessions
- Culturally aligned with the client's worldview
Correct answer: Genuine and transparent, with internal experience matching outward expression
Congruence (or genuineness) means the counselor's inner experience and outer communication are aligned, making the counselor authentic rather than presenting a professional facade.
Question 7: Which of the following is the BEST example of an advanced empathy response?
- 'It sounds like you are feeling sad about your divorce.'
- 'You seem angry, but underneath that anger I sense a deep fear of being alone.' (Correct answer)
- 'I understandādivorces are very difficult for most people.'
- 'Have you considered speaking with a divorce attorney about your options?'
Correct answer: 'You seem angry, but underneath that anger I sense a deep fear of being alone.'
Advanced empathy goes beyond reflecting surface feelings to tentatively naming deeper, less explicitly stated emotions or themes the client may not have articulated.
CPCE Counseling & Helping Relationships 4
In solution-focused brief therapy (SFBT), the 'miracle question' is used primarily to: