Thriving in Middle Adulthood
81. Which of the following statements regarding the benefits of group psychotherapy is false?
A. Group psychotherapy tends to raise each client's expectations for improvement.
B. The group experience makes clients more willing to share their feelings.
C. Participants in group therapy deal with their problems without the aid of therapists.
D. Group psychotherapy allows clients to try out new skills in a supportive environment.
82. The Robinson family has been experiencing family conflicts for the past two years. The parents attribute many of the conflicts to their son, Thom. Thom is fourteen and has been getting into trouble at school since the age of twelve. They seek help from a clinician renowned for her work in family therapy. Ultimately, the _____ become(s) the client and treatment will focus on _____.
A. child; helping Thom adjust to the pressures of adolescence
B. parents; creating a more structured environment for Thom
C. family; family interaction patterns
D. parents; helping them understand Thom
83. Henry is fourteen years old and an alcoholic. His parents take him and his younger brother to a family therapist. Which of the following statements would that therapist most likely make to Henry's family?
A. “Problems like this do not occur in a vacuum. I believe the parents are responsible for Henry's condition and are the ones with the true problem.”
B. “No single person has a problem here. The entire family has a problem. Here we are going to learn how to communicate with and support each other better.”
C. “Henry has a problem. In order to make this therapy work, Henry must first repay each family member for the grief he has caused.”
D. “Henry must stop drinking before any other family member will talk, eat, or in any way interact with him. The family must be strong in the commitment or the therapy will fail.”
84. Alex and Tricia have been married for two years. Recently they have felt as though they are growing apart. Alex and Tricia plan to attend couples therapy because they know that its main goal is to
A. teach them to keep their emotions bottled up.
B. determine who is most responsible.
C. improve their communication.
D. eliminate “rules” in the relationship.
85. In couples therapy, Tom and Geraldine hope to salvage their difficult marriage. Tom and Geraldine should expect all of the following from couples therapy except
A. learning to abide by rules of talking.
B. recovering from fights by expressing more positive statements.
C. discussing best practices with other couples in the group sessions.
D. identifying miscommunication or lack of communication.
86. Eysenck's controversial research findings highlight the difficulty in scientifically determining whether psychotherapy works. All of the following are mentioned as concerns with determining the effectiveness of psychotherapy except:
A. Placebo and experimenter bias effects
B. Figuring out how to measure a client's improvement
C. The nature and quality of the therapist-client relationship
D. The client's motivation to change
87. Which of the following best summarizes the research on the effectiveness of psychotherapy?
A. Behavior therapy is more effective than psychoanalysis in all cases.
B. There are no clinically significant differences between individuals who have undergone psychotherapy and those who have not.
C. Psychoanalysis is best for treating people with long-standing personality disorders.
D. There are no significant differences in the overall effectiveness of behavior therapy, humanistic therapy, and psychodynamic therapy.
88. Mary has a mental disorder and wants to see a therapist. She wants to make sure to choose the best type of therapy for the most effective treatment. What type of therapy should she choose?
A. Behavioral
B. Rational-emotive behavior
C. Phenomenological
D. No single type of therapy has been proven to work better than all others for all types of disorders.
89. Which of the following is not a criticism of empirically supported therapies (ESTs)?
A. The widespread use of ESTs might suppress the development of new treatment methods.
B. ESTs overemphasize the importance of developing a therapeutic relationship between client and therapist.
C. Research on ESTs may not be valid because clients and therapists are not paired up at random in the real world.
D. The studies supporting ESTs were limited by the fact that therapists were not allowed to adapt treatment methods to the needs of particular clients.
90. A friend asks your advice about what is most important in evaluating a therapist. You answer:
A. “Don't even bother with therapy! Studies have shown that people in therapy recover more slowly than people not in therapy.”
B. “Check out a therapist's track record of clinically significant success in treating problems similar to yours.”
C. “Make sure that the therapist adheres to the techniques of her or his approach, as the therapist probably is not trained in the techniques of other approaches.”
D. “Make sure the therapist uses psychoanalysis, because it has been proven the most effective approach.”
