MFT Couples Therapy 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: In Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), what is the primary goal of Stage 2 (Restructuring)?
- Identify negative interaction cycles
- Create new bonding events and secure attachment moments (Correct answer)
- Consolidate gains and terminate therapy
- Assess relationship history and attachment patterns
Correct answer: Create new bonding events and secure attachment moments
Stage 2 of EFT focuses on restructuring the attachment bond by creating new corrective emotional experiences and positive bonding events.
Question 2: A couple presents with one partner who pursues and escalates during conflict while the other withdraws. According to Gottman's research, which intervention best addresses this pattern?
- Encouraging the pursuer to increase emotional expression
- Teaching the withdrawer to stonewall less by sharing more facts
- Coaching the couple to self-soothe and take physiological breaks (Correct answer)
- Reframing the pattern as a sign of deep emotional investment
Correct answer: Coaching the couple to self-soothe and take physiological breaks
Gottman recommends physiological self-soothing and structured breaks (20+ minutes) when flooding occurs, as the body cannot engage in productive dialogue while in fight-or-flight.
Question 3: Which concept describes a partner's negative belief about a spouse's character that is triggered by a specific behavior and leads to contemptuous responses?
- Negative sentiment override (Correct answer)
- Diffuse physiological arousal
- Harsh startup
- Bids and turning away
Correct answer: Negative sentiment override
Negative sentiment override occurs when neutral or positive acts are interpreted through a negative lens due to accumulated resentment, causing disproportionate negative reactions.
Question 4: In Imago Relationship Therapy, the 'Imago' refers to:
- An unconscious composite image of early caretakers that shapes partner selection (Correct answer)
- A structured dialogue technique used during conflict
- The couple's shared vision for the future
- A genogram of intergenerational relationship patterns
Correct answer: An unconscious composite image of early caretakers that shapes partner selection
The Imago is an unconscious blueprint formed from early childhood caretakers; people are unconsciously drawn to partners who match this image.
Question 5: A therapist working from a narrative therapy perspective with a couple would most likely:
- Track circular interaction patterns and interrupt negative cycles
- Help the couple externalize the problem and reauthor their relationship story (Correct answer)
- Assess attachment styles and provide psychoeducation about needs
- Use enactments to shift in-session communication patterns
Correct answer: Help the couple externalize the problem and reauthor their relationship story
Narrative therapy externalizes the problem (the problem is the problem, not the person) and helps clients reauthor new, preferred narratives about their relationship.
Question 6: When using the Couples Dialogue (mirroring, validating, empathizing) in Imago Therapy, which step comes LAST?
- Mirroring
- Validating
- Empathizing (Correct answer)
- Summarizing
Correct answer: Empathizing
The Imago Dialogue sequence is: Mirroring → Validation → Empathy, with empathizing being the deepest level of connection where one partner imagines the other's emotional experience.
Question 7: Which of the following best describes 'pursuer-distancer' dynamics according to Bowen Family Systems Theory?
- One partner seeks closeness while the other maintains distance to regulate their shared anxiety (Correct answer)
- A power struggle in which both partners pursue dominance
- An enmeshed pattern where both partners lose individuality
- A conflict style rooted in insecure anxious attachment in both partners
Correct answer: One partner seeks closeness while the other maintains distance to regulate their shared anxiety
In Bowen's framework, pursuer-distancer is a common couple pattern driven by anxiety, where one partner seeks fusion and the other distances to manage the same anxiety.
MFT Couples Therapy 2
In Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), what is the primary goal of Stage 2 (Restructuring)?