Family Systems Flashcards
7 cards from real SSW practice questions. Tap to flip, then mark Knew It or Still Learning — missed cards come back until you master them.
Read the first 7 Family Systems flashcards as text
Which concept from strategic family therapy refers to a therapist assigning a symptom as a deliberate task to reduce resistance?
Answer: Paradoxical directive
A paradoxical directive prescribes the symptom or resistance, which can disrupt the family's pattern and create change through the resulting reaction.
A school social worker observes that whenever a child acts out, the parents stop fighting and unite to address the child. This pattern illustrates:
Answer: Homeostasis maintained through the child's behavior
The child's acting out maintains family homeostasis by redirecting parental conflict, a common function of the identified patient in family systems.
In contextual family therapy (Boszormenyi-Nagy), 'relational ethics' centers on which concept?
Answer: Fair balance of give and take (ledger of entitlements and obligations) across generations
Contextual therapy emphasizes the relational ledger — the sense of fairness, trust, and reciprocal obligation between family members across generations.
A school social worker is meeting with a single-mother family where grandparents frequently override the mother's parenting decisions. This reflects a problem with:
Answer: Hierarchical boundaries and executive subsystem clarity
When grandparents undermine the parent, the parental subsystem's authority (executive hierarchy) is compromised, causing structural dysfunction.
Which term describes a family's tendency to resist change and return to its previous patterns of functioning?
Answer: Homeostasis
Homeostasis refers to the family system's tendency to maintain stability and resist change, even when the existing pattern is dysfunctional.
During a family session, the social worker asks each member how they think their behavior affects others in the family. This technique is consistent with:
Answer: Circular questioning
Circular questioning explores how each family member perceives the relationships and behaviors of others, revealing the systemic nature of interactions.
A child with a chronic illness in a family where siblings feel neglected is an example of:
Answer: Disequilibrium challenging family resource allocation
A child's chronic illness creates stress on the family system, often straining resources and attention in ways that affect all subsystems including siblings.