Counseling Theories and Techniques Flashcards
6 cards from real NCE practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 6 Counseling Theories and Techniques flashcards as text
In Adlerian therapy, the concept of 'life style' (or lifestyle) refers to:
Answer: The unique, self-consistent pattern of beliefs, goals, and behaviors developed in early childhood
In Adlerian Individual Psychology, lifestyle (or life style) is the unique movement pattern each person develops in childhood to achieve their goals and compensate for feelings of inferiority. It becomes the lens through which all experience is interpreted.
Motivational Interviewing (MI), developed by Miller and Rollnick, is BEST described as:
Answer: A collaborative, person-centered approach to eliciting and strengthening motivation for change
MI is a collaborative, goal-oriented style of communication designed to strengthen a person's own motivation and commitment to change by evoking their own reasons and values. It explicitly avoids confrontation.
Narrative therapy, developed by Michael White and David Epston, uses the technique of 'externalizing' to:
Answer: Separate the person from the problem, treating the problem as an external entity
Externalizing is a fundamental narrative therapy technique that linguistically separates the person from the problem ('the problem is the problem, not the person'). This reduces shame and opens space for the person to relate differently to their problem.
Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT), developed by Steven Hayes, targets which process as central to psychological inflexibility?
Answer: Cognitive fusion
Cognitive fusion -- becoming entangled with and dominated by thoughts as if they are literal truths -- is identified by Hayes as a key process creating psychological inflexibility. Defusion techniques help clients observe thoughts without being controlled by them.
A counselor using Structural Family Therapy (SFT), developed by Salvador Minuchin, would focus PRIMARILY on:
Answer: The organization of family subsystems, boundaries, and hierarchies
Minuchin's Structural Family Therapy analyzes the underlying structure of the family system -- subsystems (parental, sibling, spousal), boundaries (enmeshed, diffuse, rigid, clear), hierarchies, and alliances -- then uses active techniques to restructure dysfunctional patterns.
A counselor begins a session by asking: 'What would you say is a recent exception -- a time in the past week when the problem you described was less severe?' This question is MOST consistent with which therapeutic approach?
Answer: Solution-Focused Brief Therapy
Exception questions are a hallmark SFBT technique. They invite clients to identify times when the problem is absent or less severe, revealing existing strengths and solutions that can be amplified.