LMSW FREE LMSW Questions and Answers 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A social worker discovers that a client's 8-year-old child has unexplained bruising and the client offers inconsistent explanations. What is the social worker's FIRST obligation?
- Consult with a supervisor before taking any action
- Report the suspicion to child protective services immediately (Correct answer)
- Confront the client directly about the abuse
- Document findings and schedule a follow-up visit
Correct answer: Report the suspicion to child protective services immediately
Mandated reporters must report reasonable suspicion of child abuse immediately, without waiting for confirmation or supervisor approval.
Question 2: Which defense mechanism involves attributing one's own unacceptable feelings or impulses to another person?
- Reaction formation
- Displacement
- Projection (Correct answer)
- Sublimation
Correct answer: Projection
Projection involves unconsciously attributing one's own unacceptable thoughts or feelings to someone else.
Question 3: A client with Borderline Personality Disorder suddenly shifts from idealizing the social worker to expressing intense anger and devaluation. This pattern is best described as:
- Transference neurosis
- Splitting (Correct answer)
- Projective identification
- Countertransference
Correct answer: Splitting
Splitting is a hallmark of BPD in which people are viewed as all-good or all-bad with rapid shifts between these extremes.
Question 4: Under the NASW Code of Ethics, when a social worker's personal values conflict with a client's legal but morally objectionable behavior, the worker should FIRST:
- Refer the client to another provider immediately
- Explore the conflict in supervision and manage personal reactions (Correct answer)
- Disclose personal values to set appropriate boundaries
- Terminate services to avoid dual relationship concerns
Correct answer: Explore the conflict in supervision and manage personal reactions
Social workers must use supervision to process value conflicts and ensure client self-determination is not compromised.
Question 5: Which stage of Erikson's psychosocial development involves the conflict between generativity and stagnation?
- Young adulthood
- Middle adulthood (Correct answer)
- Late adulthood
- Adolescence
Correct answer: Middle adulthood
Generativity vs. stagnation occurs in middle adulthood (roughly ages 40–65) and centers on contributing to the next generation.
Question 6: A social worker is meeting with a family experiencing conflict. The worker deliberately asks each member to speak only to the therapist rather than to each other. This structural family therapy technique is called:
- Reframing
- Enactment
- Blocking (Correct answer)
- Joining
Correct answer: Blocking
Blocking is a structural family therapy technique used to interrupt dysfunctional communication patterns by redirecting interaction through the therapist.
Question 7: A client discloses they are experiencing auditory hallucinations telling them to harm their neighbor. The social worker has a duty to warn under Tarasoff if:
- The client has a history of violence only
- There is a specific, identifiable, and imminent threat to an identified person (Correct answer)
- The client expresses any violent ideation regardless of specificity
- The client refuses medication that could control symptoms
Correct answer: There is a specific, identifiable, and imminent threat to an identified person
The Tarasoff duty to warn applies when there is a serious, imminent, and specific threat to an identifiable third party.
LMSW FREE LMSW Questions and Answers 3
A social worker discovers that a client's 8-year-old child has unexplained bruising and the client offers inconsistent explanations.
What is the social worker's FIRST obligation?