Therapeutic Interventions & Treatment Planning Flashcards

A therapist using behavioral activation with a depressed client asks the client to track daily activities and rate pleasure and mastery. The PRIMARY purpose of this monitoring is to:

Answer: Establish a baseline and identify reinforcing activities to schedule

Activity monitoring in behavioral activation identifies which activities provide mastery and pleasure, informing the scheduling of reinforcing behaviors to counter depression.

A psychologist is treating a client with panic disorder using CBT. Interoceptive exposure involves:

Answer: Deliberately inducing feared bodily sensations to reduce anxiety about them

Interoceptive exposure deliberately produces bodily sensations that trigger panic (e.g., spinning, hyperventilating) so clients habituate to feared internal cues.

Which principle of ethical treatment planning requires that interventions be matched to the client's cultural background and values?

Answer: Cultural responsiveness

Cultural responsiveness requires adapting assessment and treatment to be congruent with the client's cultural values, beliefs, and practices.

A client with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) is taught to schedule a specific 20-minute daily 'worry time.' The rationale for this intervention is to:

Answer: Disrupt avoidance and reduce worry's intrusiveness throughout the day

Worry postponement disrupts the automatic habit of worrying throughout the day, reducing its pervasive impact while building a sense of control.

A therapist identifies that a client's treatment has stalled despite multiple evidence-based interventions. The MOST appropriate next clinical step is to:

Answer: Conduct a functional analysis to identify maintaining factors not yet addressed

A functional analysis examines antecedents, behaviors, and consequences to identify what is maintaining the problem when standard interventions are insufficient.

Group therapy for social anxiety typically incorporates behavioral rehearsal. The PRIMARY therapeutic mechanism is:

Answer: In vivo exposure to feared social situations with corrective feedback

Behavioral rehearsal in group therapy provides real-time exposure to social evaluation with corrective feedback, directly targeting avoidance.

A psychologist working in an inpatient psychiatric unit is completing discharge planning. Which factor is MOST critical to address to reduce 30-day readmission risk?

Answer: Establishing outpatient follow-up appointments and medication continuity before discharge

Continuity of care — particularly outpatient follow-up and uninterrupted medication access — is the strongest predictor of reducing psychiatric readmission.