LMSW LMSW Treatment and Intervention Planning Questions and Answers 4 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A client who is grieving the death of a spouse reports she has been feeling sad for 14 months and cannot return to work. According to the DSM-5, this presentation may meet criteria for:
- Adjustment Disorder with Depressed Mood
- Prolonged Grief Disorder (Correct answer)
- Major Depressive Disorder, Single Episode
- Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia)
Correct answer: Prolonged Grief Disorder
Prolonged Grief Disorder (added in DSM-5-TR) describes grief that persists beyond 12 months and significantly impairs functioning.
Question 2: Which statement best describes the role of psychoeducation in a treatment plan for a client with bipolar disorder?
- It replaces medication management when clients prefer non-pharmacological care
- It helps clients recognize early warning signs of mood episodes to prevent relapse (Correct answer)
- It is only appropriate during the acute phase of illness
- It is contraindicated because it increases anxiety about the diagnosis
Correct answer: It helps clients recognize early warning signs of mood episodes to prevent relapse
Psychoeducation teaches clients to identify prodromal symptoms, improving self-monitoring and reducing hospitalizations.
Question 3: A social worker is treating a veteran with PTSD who avoids driving due to a combat-related IED incident. Which intervention directly targets avoidance behavior?
- Supportive listening and validation
- Systematic desensitization or prolonged exposure (Correct answer)
- Mindfulness-based stress reduction alone
- Psychodynamic exploration of childhood attachment
Correct answer: Systematic desensitization or prolonged exposure
Systematic desensitization and prolonged exposure directly address avoidance by gradually confronting feared stimuli, reducing PTSD symptoms.
Question 4: When setting treatment goals for a client with severe and persistent mental illness (SPMI), the social worker should PRIMARILY focus on:
- Full symptom remission as the primary benchmark
- Functional recovery, community integration, and quality of life (Correct answer)
- Medication compliance as the sole indicator of progress
- Short-term crisis stabilization only
Correct answer: Functional recovery, community integration, and quality of life
Recovery-oriented care for SPMI clients emphasizes functional gains, autonomy, and quality of life rather than symptom elimination alone.
Question 5: A school social worker develops an intervention plan for a student with ADHD who struggles in the classroom. Which intervention falls within the school social worker's scope?
- Prescribing stimulant medication
- Collaborating with teachers to implement a behavior management plan with structured routines (Correct answer)
- Conducting a neuropsychological evaluation
- Performing an EEG to rule out seizure disorder
Correct answer: Collaborating with teachers to implement a behavior management plan with structured routines
School social workers coordinate behavioral and environmental supports, including collaborating with educators on structured classroom strategies.
Question 6: A client states: 'I don't see the point in making goals — nothing ever works out for me.' This reflects which cognitive distortion?
- Personalization
- All-or-nothing thinking
- Overgeneralization (Correct answer)
- Mind reading
Correct answer: Overgeneralization
Overgeneralization involves drawing a broad negative conclusion from a single event, such as concluding nothing will ever work based on past failures.
Question 7: Which approach to treatment planning is MOST consistent with a strengths-based perspective?
- Identifying and listing all client deficits before setting goals
- Collaboratively identifying what is working and building on existing client capacities (Correct answer)
- Prescribing treatment goals based solely on clinical assessment
- Focusing on the diagnosis to guide all intervention decisions
Correct answer: Collaboratively identifying what is working and building on existing client capacities
A strengths-based approach centers client resilience, existing resources, and capabilities rather than pathology to drive goal-setting.
LMSW LMSW Treatment and Intervention Planning Questions and Answers 4
A client who is grieving the death of a spouse reports she has been feeling sad for 14 months and cannot return to work.
According to the DSM-5, this presentation may meet criteria for: