Test Bank

Chapter 4: Observing Family Dynamics

Multiple Choice

1. In working with a family dealing with a member with an eating disorder, a family therapist joins the family during mealtime. What may be the effect of this strategy?

a. The dynamics in the family system are not changed by this observing strategy.

b. Much more may be observed and learned about subtle family dynamics in their own home than in a counseling office.

c. The eating disorder will stop.

d. The family therapist takes control of the family interactions to bring about change.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define observer effect and analyze its impact when we try to observe dynamic interactions.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Observing Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Which of these contributes to becoming a competent family therapist?

a. growing up in an abusive family

b. relying on your intuition and your strong desire to protect people

c. integrating your interpersonal strengths with training and supervised experience

d. achieving licensure as a mental health professional

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define observer effect and analyze its impact when we try to observe dynamic interactions.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Observing Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

3. How do individuals and family often respond when they are in family therapy?

a. They embrace change to relieve the pain of the hurtful interactions.

b. They set goals that they can realistically achieve within a few therapy sessions.

c. The readily find new stability by integrating the therapist’s suggestions.

d. They may be reluctant to make changes because they are comfortable with their family behaviors.

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define observer effect and analyze its impact when we try to observe dynamic interactions.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Observing Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. What is an example of a method that family therapists use to assess the interrelatedness of interactions in the early stage of working with a family?

a. paradoxical interventions

b. family genograms

c. psychological testing

d. warmth and empathy

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify various approaches that make family dynamics somewhat visible or overt.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Assessment

Difficulty Level: Easy

5. Which one of these strategies would reveal the most information about family members’ roles, closeness to each other, and attitudes about family members?

a. developing a genogram

b. circular questioning

c. family metaphors

d. family sculpting

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify various approaches that make family dynamics somewhat visible or overt.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Sculpting

Difficulty Level: Easy

6. ______ emphasized the importance of joining with the family, such as dining with a family where one member has an eating disorder.

a. Salvador Minuchin

b. Murray Bowen

c. Monica McGoldrick

d. Carl Rogers

Learning Objective: 4.1: Define observer effect and analyze its impact when we try to observe dynamic interactions.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Observing Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

7. What are two therapeutic strategies that family therapists use to learn about a family’s identity and culture?

a. closed questions and circular questions

b. family photographs and metaphors

c. play therapy and family sculpting

d. psychological testing and paradoxical interventions

Learning Objective: 4.3: Explain some of the cultural constructions pertaining to family units.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Cultural Constructions of the Family

Difficulty Level: Medium

8. Dr. Hugo is counseling a family with 5 children, 2 parents, and a maternal grandmother living in the home. There have been cut-offs in the maternal family of origin. She asked them to select family pictures to bring to the next session. What might Dr. Hugo have the members focus on when viewing the pictures that will help in understanding family relationships?

a. the clothing each member is wearing

b. whether the picture is in black or white or color

c. who members are standing next to and gestures

d. genetic similarities

Learning Objective: 4.3: Explain some of the cultural constructions pertaining to family units.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Cultural Constructions of the Family

Difficulty Level: Medium

9. Which type of therapy gives children a way to express their feelings and perceptions about family dynamics and relationships?

a. bibliotherapy

b. family narratives

c. using humor

d. play therapy

Learning Objective: 4.3: Explain some of the cultural constructions pertaining to family units.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Dynamics and Children

Difficulty Level: Easy

10. What should a counselor do before an intervention?

a. Use psychological assessments to determine the extent of any pathology.

b. Conduct an intake evaluation using a variety of questions to gather background information.

c. Develop a rapport that facilitates a working relationship and counseling alliance.

d. Use humor to help the client or family feel at ease.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

11. What are the necessary components in forming a counseling alliance according to Carl Rogers?

a. empathy, warmth, and congruence

b. understanding, soothing, and consistency

c. sympathy, attending, and listening

d. humor, empathy, and sincerity

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Easy

12. When a counselor relies on a series of questions to develop a counseling relationship with family members, they may feel that they are ______.

a. understood by the counselor

b. being interrogated by the counselor

c. being helped to solve their presenting problem

d. trusted by the counselor

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

13. What is a key assumption by family therapists who use a narrative therapy approach with families?

a. Family therapists recognize only the objective aspects of the story the family tells.

b. Family therapists accept that families are the experts in knowing and telling their story.

c. Family therapists consider the family’s story to be missing important aspects of reality.

d. Family therapists realize that closed questions effectively elicit the important elements of the family’s story.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

14. ______ emphasized that matching the therapeutic approach to the personality of the therapist and the client is essential in achieving desired outcomes in therapy.

a. Carl Whitaker

b. Murray Bowen

c. Carl Rogers

d. Clara Gerhardt

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

15. What are two important pillars of the ethical code of The American Counseling Association (2014?

a. multicultural competence and no dual relationships

b. confidentiality and professional boundaries

c. beneficence and non-maleficence

d. licensure and training

Learning Objective: 4.5: Identify some of the responsibilities professionals have when working with families.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Working With Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

16. Ms. Smith only uses closed questions with a family who is dealing with concerns about a member who has an opioid addiction. What is a problem in her counseling with this family?

a. too much focus on the content rather than the process

b. the ethical issue of “do no harm”

c. not respecting the family’s privacy

d. becoming over involved with the family

Learning Objective: 4.5: Identify some of the responsibilities professionals have when working with families.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Working With Families

Difficulty Level: Medium

17. Which of these is an example of an open question in a counseling session?

a. Who reacted strongly to your recent behavior?

b. How many times has your sister treated you this way?

c. What is your understanding about your sister’s reaction to your recent behavior?

d. How long has it been since you have spoken to your sister?

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

18. Family therapists have found that using ______ in therapy and in teaching helps people step away from difficult situations and gain another perspective about presenting problems.

a. paradoxical interventions

b. suggestions

c. a variety of questions

d. humor

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Easy

19. What is an example of a reciprocal interaction that Bowen described in his family systems theory?

a. As a husband pursues his wife for more closeness, the wife pulls away from him.

b. Both the spouses seek out closeness with each other.

c. Both spouses want some time away from each other.

d. The wife devotes time to their daughter and the husband supports her parenting.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Describe the eight concepts of natural systems theory (also called Bowen theory).

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Spotlight on Theories: Natural Systems Theory (Bowen Theory)

Difficulty Level: Medium

20. According to Murray Bowen, what hinders a family member in becoming autonomous and developing a healthy sense of self?

a. living in the same community as family members

b. “emotional fusion” with family members

c. repeating the communication patterns of the family of origin

d. extricating oneself from family triangulation

Learning Objective: 4.6: Describe the eight concepts of natural systems theory (also called Bowen theory).

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Spotlight on Theories: Natural Systems Theory (Bowen Theory)

Difficulty Level: Medium

True/False

1. The techniques involved in Bowen therapy are relatively simple and new family therapists can easily integrate them in their counseling with families.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Describe the eight concepts of natural systems theory (also called Bowen theory).

Cognitive Domain: Comprehension

Answer Location: Spotlight on Theories: Natural Systems Theory

Difficulty Level: Medium

2. Ms. Sinclair shows empathy with her client, a victim of sexual assault, through her response, “I know exactly how you feel; the same thing happened to me and I was so angry.”

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

3. Because “reverse psychology” is relatively common in everyday interactions, the use of paradoxical interventions by family therapists, regardless of their level of experience, is very effective in achieving desired outcomes for family members.

Learning Objective: 4.4: Summarize some of the interventions developed to improve family functioning.

Cognitive Domain: Application

Answer Location: Family Interventions

Difficulty Level: Medium

4. Family sculpting has been used by family therapists and in training other healthcare professionals to enhance awareness of family dynamics.

Learning Objective: 4.2: Identify various approaches that make family dynamics somewhat visible or overt.

Cognitive Domain: Knowledge

Answer Location: Observing Families

Difficulty Level: Easy

Short Answer

1. Identify three of the Bowen’s core concepts in his family systems therapy and give an example of one of these.

Learning Objective: 4.6: Describe the eight concepts of natural system theory (also known as Bowen theory).

Cognitive Domain: Analysis

Answer Location: Spotlight on Theories: Natural Systems Theory (Bowen Theory)

Difficulty Level: Hard