MAC Master Addiction Counselor Exam 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A counselor is working with a Native American client who incorporates traditional healing ceremonies into recovery. The MOST culturally competent response is to:
- Discourage practices not supported by Western evidence-based research
- Integrate traditional healing into the individualized treatment plan (Correct answer)
- Refer the client solely to a tribal elder for treatment
- Remain neutral and avoid discussing cultural practices
Correct answer: Integrate traditional healing into the individualized treatment plan
Cultural competence requires integrating clients' cultural healing practices into treatment planning when clinically appropriate.
Question 2: Which withdrawal syndrome carries the HIGHEST risk of life-threatening complications if untreated?
- Opioid withdrawal
- Cannabis withdrawal
- Alcohol withdrawal (Correct answer)
- Stimulant withdrawal
Correct answer: Alcohol withdrawal
Alcohol withdrawal can progress to delirium tremens with seizures and cardiovascular instability, making it the most medically dangerous untreated withdrawal.
Question 3: A client discloses during a group session that they intend to seriously harm a specific coworker. The counselor's legal and ethical obligation under the Tarasoff ruling is to:
- Maintain confidentiality because the disclosure occurred in group
- Warn the identifiable potential victim and notify authorities (Correct answer)
- Consult only with a supervisor and take no further action
- Document the threat and revisit it in the next individual session
Correct answer: Warn the identifiable potential victim and notify authorities
The Tarasoff duty to warn requires counselors to take reasonable steps to protect identifiable third parties from serious credible threats.
Question 4: In Motivational Interviewing, 'rolling with resistance' means the counselor should:
- Confront the client directly until ambivalence is resolved
- Avoid argumentation and reflect the client's perspective back to them (Correct answer)
- Terminate the session when a client becomes defensive
- Increase psychoeducation to overcome denial
Correct answer: Avoid argumentation and reflect the client's perspective back to them
Rolling with resistance involves not arguing or challenging but instead reflecting and reframing to reduce defensiveness and sustain the therapeutic alliance.
Question 5: When calculating a standard drink in the United States, which amount of beer (at 5% ABV) equals one standard drink?
- 8 oz
- 10 oz
- 12 oz (Correct answer)
- 16 oz
Correct answer: 12 oz
One standard US drink contains 0.6 oz of pure alcohol, equivalent to 12 oz of regular 5% ABV beer.
Question 6: Which therapeutic approach is the empirically validated treatment of choice for PTSD co-occurring with substance use disorder?
- Psychodynamic therapy focusing on early childhood
- Seeking Safety, an integrated trauma and substance abuse treatment (Correct answer)
- 12-step facilitation alone
- Long-term residential treatment without trauma focus
Correct answer: Seeking Safety, an integrated trauma and substance abuse treatment
Seeking Safety is an evidence-based integrated treatment specifically designed to address co-occurring PTSD and substance use disorder simultaneously.
Question 7: A client asks the counselor to write a letter to their employer stating they have 'recovered' from addiction. The counselor should:
- Write the letter immediately to support the client's employment
- Refuse and explain that recovery is an ongoing process not a cured state (Correct answer)
- Ask the supervisor to write the letter instead
- Write the letter only if the client has been sober for one year
Correct answer: Refuse and explain that recovery is an ongoing process not a cured state
Describing addiction as 'cured' is clinically inaccurate and could misrepresent the client's condition; counselors must maintain accuracy and avoid misleading documentation.
MAC Master Addiction Counselor Exam 3
A counselor is working with a Native American client who incorporates traditional healing ceremonies into recovery.
The MOST culturally competent response is to: