Counseling Test 1 (Set 1)

Front 1

What does helping do for clients?

Back 1

Helps them:

-Gain insights
-Making positive changes in their lives
-Relief from emotional pain
-Discover a direction for their lives
-Receive feedback that can facilitate change
-Enables clients to experience healthy relationships
-Work toward personal growth
-Address existential concerns
-Learn valuable skills

Front 2

What are some verbal and nonverbal communications used in helping?

Back 2

-Attending and listening behaviors
-Closed and open questions
-Restatements
-Reflections of feelings
-Challenges
-Interpretations
-Self-disclosures
-Approval and reassurance
-Immediacy
-Information
-Direct guidance

Front 3

How do helpers differ from therapists?

Back 3

-Helpers listen, promote growth, assist with transitions while counselors & therapists remedy personal problems, facilitate personality change, intervene with severe psych. malfunctioning
-Helpers work best with the relatively psychologically healthy
-Helpers aren't professional with advanced training

Front 4

What are some common problems with helping?

Back 4

-Sometimes just enough relief to stay maladaptive
-Can create dependency in clients (support, advice)
-Sometimes helpers have personal issues that create problems
-Imposing personal or societal values on to clients

Front 5

When do people seek help?

Back 5

-When they become aware of pain or difficulty and that help is warranted.
-When pain must be greater than perceived barriers to seeking help (embarrassed, ashamed, not understood, punitive, expensive, being labeled, etc.).

Front 6

What does Eysenck think about whether helping is effective?

Back 6

Eysenck (1952) didn't think so, but he was proven wrong. It works, we’re still figuring out how.

Front 7

What does Wompold think about whether helping is effective?

Back 7

Wampold summarizes by concluding no one type of therapy is more effective than others. "Dodo Bird" hypothesis, "everyone has won and all must have prizes".

Front 8

What does the book say about the stages of effective helping?

Back 8

Book says 3 phases; initial, where they rapidly change and feel better, second slower phase remediating sx’s (depression, anxiety), 3rd rehab of longstanding issues (slow).

Front 9

What does data say about effective helping statistics?

Back 9

Data suggests 75% of positive change occurs in first 20 sessions, clients with minimal distress improve more quickly.

Front 10

What is the definition of culture?

Back 10

Customs, values, attitudes, beliefs, characteristics, behaviors shared by a group of people

Front 11

What are some examples of different culture styles?

Back 11

Race/ethnicity, gender, age, ideology, religion, SES, sexual orientation, disability status, occupation, dietary preferences, etc.

Front 12

True or false we all have multiple cultural influences/identities?

Back 12

True.

Front 13

True or false general info on culture can be useful stereotypes, but won’t fit for all “members”?

Back 13

True.

Front 14

What are some examples of healthy helper motivations?

Back 14

-Altruism, making a difference
-Recognition of talent
-Tolerance for ambiguity, ability to reflect
-Own therapy helpful (if done well, limited empirical support for this)
-Working with motivated others, collegial support
-Work for social change

Front 15

What are some examples of some unhealthy helper motivations?

Back 15

-Savior complex
-Own neediness, “safe” route to intimacy
-Feel superior or more fortunate than others
-Work through unresolved personal issues
-Promote ideology

Front 16

What is the definition of the helping process?

Back 16

taking clients "down and into" understanding themselves more, and then "up and out" into the world better able to cope with problems.

Front 17

What are the three main ways that individuals can be effected psychologically?

Back 17

Birth, environment, and early experiences

Front 18

How can one assume that birth can effect you psychologically?

Back 18

Born with varied potential in psychological, intellectual, physical, and interpersonal domains.

Front 19

How does one assume that the enivironment effects you psychologically?

Back 19

The environment can enhance or thwart the innate movement toward survival and development. Either too much gratification or too much deprivation stunts children's growth.

Front 20

How does one assume that early experiences effect you psychologically?

Back 20

Early experiences (attachment, self-esteem) are crucial in laying the foundation for personality. People continue to change, though, within limits of biology and experiences.

Front 21

Why do people develop defense mechanisms and when can it be beneficial/harmful?

Back 21

People develop defenses to cope with anxiety. Are adaptive in moderation, but maladaptive when no longer effective.

Front 22

How are people effected by genetics?

Back 22

People are influenced by genetics, past learning and external circumstances, but have some degree of control over their lives and how they behave. People have choices.

Front 23

What is believed to be the holy triad in psychology and what does it effect?

Back 23

The triad - emotions, cognitions, and behavior are all key components of personality.

Front 24

What is the definition of exploration?

Back 24

Exploration: establish rapport, develop therapeutic relationship, encourage telling story, explore thoughts/feelings, arouse emotions, learn about clients

Front 25

What are the three stages of the three stage model theory?

Back 25

Exploration, insight, action

Front 26

What is the definition of insight?

Back 26

Insight: collaboratively achieve new understandings, thoughts, feelings, behaviors, new awareness of roles in problems, allows clients to see things from new perspective, take appropriate responsibility and control over problems

Front 27

What is the definition of action?

Back 27

Action: think about changes reflecting new understandings, explore idea of changing, explore desire and meaning of change in client’s life, brainstorm possible changes, help clients decide what to change, develop strategies for trying changes & evaluating them

Front 28

What are the three essential components of all three stages of the three stage model theory?

Back 28

Emphatic collaboration ,Schematic change, and covert processes,

Front 29

What does emphatic collaboration mean?

Back 29

understanding clients at both a cognitive and affective level. (thoughts and emotions)

Front 30

What does empathy require?

Back 30

Empathy requires we recognize that emotions belong to the client and not the helper.

Front 31

What are Cal's biases?

Back 31

Cal’s bias - as helpers, our emotions (and cognitions) can reflect (1) general emotional reactions to the client (that most people might have), (2) specific emotional reactions to the client (as a function of our personal histories, etc.), or (3) empathy (feeling what the client is feeling).

Front 32

What is something crucial that counselors can do and something crucial that they cannot do?

Back 32

Helpers can't tell clients how to live their lives, but can help them explore feelings and values, achieve understanding, make choices and changes.

Front 33

What is the definition of a schema?

Back 33

Schema - an abstract structure that comprises and/or generates patterns or themes of experience; is a cluster of related thoughts, feelings, sensations, memories, and actions.

Front 34

What is something important to know about schemas?

Back 34

We store everything we experience or learn in schemata (schemas). But not always stored accurately, and only events/information used regularly remains prominent. Can be distorted or changed over time.

Front 35

How are individual elements connected with schemata?

Back 35

Individual elements are interconnected within schemata, and linked to other elements in other schemata. Closely linked elements have positive or excitatory connections, whereas others are minimally related or unrelated with negative or inhibitory connections. The connections also change with use or disuse.

Front 36

True or false Schemata are idiosyncratic for different individuals?

Back 36

True.

Front 37

True or false the helping process is not reorganizing and reframing thinking into more adaptive patterns.

Back 37

False. Helping process IS reorganizing and reframing thinking into more adaptive patterns.

Front 38

When are schemata brought to the surface?

Back 38

Schemata are brought to the surface during exploration and changed during the insight stage.
They are consolidated in the action stage.

Front 39

What is the difference between overt and covert in the counseling world?

Back 39

Overt is what we show to the world, covert is what we keep inside. Clients will often hide covert for various reasons.

Front 40

Why is it important for counselors to be covert in their actions?

Back 40

Helpers need to monitor each intervention for their own covert processes (Where am I now and what am I trying to accomplish?). Need to monitor client's reactions

Front 41

What are some situations where a counselor cannot work with a client?

Back 41

-Helpers can’t work with ALL clients (seriously impaired).
-Sometimes it’s helper limitations (background, personal problems).
-Sometimes poor gender matching or lack of similarities.

Front 42

In terms of a clients readiness for change what is the precontemplation stage?

Back 42

Precontemplation stage -unaware or no desire to change, lack information about problems, engage in denial, blame others or society, behaviors bother others more than self.

Front 43

In terms of a clients readiness for change what is the contemplation stage?

Back 43

Contemplation stage - aware of and accept responsibility for problems, beginning to think about change but haven't decided, fear of failure.

Front 44

In terms of a clients readiness for change what is the preparation stage?

Back 44

Preparation stage - made commitment to change, preparing selves to begin change process, may make public announcements, prepare for life to be different.

Front 45

In terms of the clients readiness to change what is the action stage?

Back 45

Action stage - actively begin to modify behaviors and surroundings, prior stages enable success in this stage

Front 46

In terms of the clients readiness to change, what is the maintenance stage?

Back 46

Maintenance stage - change has occurred, trying to consolidate changes, deal with relapses, takes 21 days or more for changes to become incorporated.

Front 47

In terms of the clients readiness to change, what is the termination stage?

Back 47

Termination stage - no longer threatened by original temptations, problem behaviors don't return, have confidence in no relapse.

Front 48

What are some general facts about the readiness for change stages?

Back 48

-Can be at different stages for different problems.
-Our goal is to help them through stages.
-For precontemplation, contemplation, and preparation stages, helpers spend more time in exploration and insight stages.
-For action, maintenance, and termination stages, helpers focus more on action stage.

Front 49

Why is it important to create a good therapeutic relationship?

Back 49

-“Real relationship” –connection between helper & client
-Transference and countertransference-distortions in relationship.
-Working alliance - the bond, agreement on goals, agreement on tasks. Best predictor of outcome of therapy (except for Wampold’s work on therapist variables).
-Process - client feels no one listens or cares
-Helper pays full attention, communicates understanding
-Empathic, nonjudgmental
-Client feels safe to express hurt and pain

Front 50

When the therapeutic relationship is formed what positive things happen?

Back 50

-Client feels accepted, OK
-Different from significant others (problems)
-Helps reduce anxiety, can face problems better
-Build self-esteem, foundation for change
-Feel safe to explore thoughts & feelings
-New understandings, make changes.
-For some, relationship alone is “curative”, most need other skills from helper.

Front 51

What are some different helper intentions?

Back 51

-Guide selection of verbal/nonverbal interventions
-May be several intentions for any one intervention
-May not be aware of intentions at the time (review videos)
-Matching intentions & interventions important, can only use what we know; different for various orientations.

Front 52

What are some good examples of possible client reactions?

Back 52

-May match helpers intention and intervention
-If not, may feel not understood.
-Can be conscious or unaware of reactions (affected by needs, goals, transference).
-Sometimes covert.
Influenced by 1) needs at the time, 2) therapeutic relationship, 3) impressions of helper's intentions
-Helper may not be aware of client reactions due to client hiding them, or lack of helper picking up on negative reactions.

Front 53

What are some examples of potential client behavior?

Back 53

-Resist, agree, make appropriate request, recount, engage in exploration, come to insight, discuss therapeutic changes.
-Affected by communication ability, awareness of needs, level of pathology, personality structure.

Front 54

What are some assessments a helper might come to?

Back 54

-Client feels supported? Understood? Confused? Misunderstood?
-Helper may not assess reactions accurately, or reluctant to recognize negative reactions.
-May be distorted by countertransference (eg., anger).

Front 55

How does the helper reevaluation process go and what does it require?

Back 55

-Based on client reactions, overt behaviors, devise new intentions and skills for interventions.
-Requires openness to feedback, skills, adequate relationship.
-Supervision and review of video assists in this process.

Front 56

What are some ways that the client/therapist relationship can end?

Back 56

-Client can “take therapist” with him/her as “internal representation” and work on issues throughout week.
-Reality constraints can frustrate client attempts to change.

Front 57

What is remoralization?

Back 57

Remoralization – enhancement of well-being (happens first)

Front 58

What is remediation?

Back 58

Remediation – achievement of symptomatic relief (follows a bit more slowly)

Front 59

What is rehabilitation?

Back 59

Rehabilitation – reduction of troublesome, maladaptive behaviors (takes the longest time)

Front 60

What does intrapersonal mean?

Back 60

Intrapersonal – within the client

Front 61

What does interpersonal mean?

Back 61

Interpersonal – changes in intimate relationships

Front 62

What is social role performance?

Back 62

Social role performance – changes in community behavior (Goleman addresses this)

Front 63

What is something important to remember about outcomes at the end of therapy?

Back 63

Helpers, clients, and significant others may have different views of outcomes.