MFT National Licensing Exam Questions
and answers | Latest 2024/25 RATED A+
'Conversational questions come from a position of not knowing and are the therapist's ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll
primary tool.' This statement would most likely be made by a:
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A: Milan systemic
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B: Collaborative therapist
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C: Structural therapist
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D: Behavioral therapist - Correct Answers B: Collaborative therapist
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'Not knowing' refers to the Collaborative therapist's position, attitude, and belief, that the
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therapist does not have access to privileged information and that people can never fully
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understand each other. From this perspective, the therapist always needs to be in the state
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of 'being informed' by the client and needs to learn more about what has been said and not
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yet said.
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'Conversationtional questions come from a position of not knowing and are the therapist's
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primary tool.' This statement would most likely be made by a:
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A: Collaborative therapist
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B: Behavioral therapist
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C: Milan systemic
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D: Structural therapist - Correct Answers A: Collaborative therapist
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'Not knowing' refers to the collabortive therapist's position, an attitude and beleif, that the
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therapist does not have access to privileged information and that people can never fully
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understand each other. From this perspective, the therapist always neds to be in a state of
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'being informed' by the client, and needs to learn more about what has been said or not-
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yet-said.
'John, we are impressed with your selfless gifts to your family and are inclined to suggest
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no changes at this time. Your soiled pants give your father a reason to be involved in your
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family.' This message might be one given by:
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A: Maria Selvini Palazzoli
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B: Tom Anderson
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C: Cloe Madones
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D: Paul Watzlawick - Correct Answers D: Paul Watzlawick
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This is not a positive connotation (Palazzoli), as only one member of the family systems
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behavior is being reframed. Anderson would likely use a reflecting team, Madanes an
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ordeal or hierarchy-fixing intervention, hence Watzlawick from the MRI school would
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emphasize 2ndorder change and this reframe is an example of such.
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'Normal families have an evolutionary sense of time with an emphasis on the process of
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becoming'. This statement regarding normal family functioning is descriptive of which
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model of family therapy?
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A: Psychodynamic
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,B: Experiential
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C: Structural
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D: Strategic - Correct Answers B: Experiential
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This is a comment by Carl Whitaker on the concept of normality within the Experiential
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model.
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'The goals of family therapy are to establish the members' sense of belongingness and
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simultaneously to provide freedom to individuate. In our system of therapy, social adaption
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is not a goal: we seek to increase the creativity (what we call craziness) of the family and of
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the individual members.' This statement was made by:
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A: Whitaker.
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B: Nagy.
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C: de Shazer.
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D: Bowen. - Correct Answers A: Whitaker.
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Whitaker is known for his therapeutic use use of 'his craziness' in the Experiential model.
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A 12-year-old boy was brought to therapy because he wet the bed almost every night. The
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mother had been hospitalized at one time for depression. The father worked long house,
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and the mother complained about his lack of interest in her and his attraction to other
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women. The expression of the father's improper behavior and an attempt to help the
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parents by eliciting their concern and distracting them from their other problems. This
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assessment of the problem is associated with:
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A: Structural
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B: Strategic
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C: Solution-Focused
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D: Object-relations - Correct Answers B: Strategic
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In Protection, Paradox, and Pretending, Madanes proposed that psychopathology in
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children can be the result of an incongruity in the hierarchical organization of the family.
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The parents are in superior position to the child by the fact of being parents, and yet the
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problem child assumes a superior position to the parents by protecting them through
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symptomatic behavior that often metaphorically expresses the parents' difficulties.
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A case presentation in a peer supervision group addressed a family with multiple incidents
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of domestic violence presented by an MFT member. The husband was repeatedly violent
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in his efforts to control his wife's criticism of him. The wife frequently slapped the couple's 6
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year old son, and the husband also used severe 'corporal punishment' with their 11 year
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old daughter. The peer group was very concerned about this family. They took the family
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on as a group endeavor, with the goals of finding a safe and effective approach to helping
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them. Which of the following statements is correct?
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A: The group concluded that their ethical obligations was to provide the best available
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treatment, as indicated by current research. Current research recommends relationship-
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based treatment in situations of complex domestic violence. Outcomes for individual anger
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management and parent counseling were not as good.
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B: The group recommende - Correct Answers C: The group recommended that the first
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step was filing a mandated report of abuse and neglect with the state social services
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department. A program of intensive family therapy was then put in place consistent with
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,research findings which indicated that complex combinations of intimate terrorism, mutual
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violent control an violent resistance in families that can achieve safety and want to stay
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together, provides best potential benefit.
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Discussion: This is the best answer. It includes legal and ethical obligations, and applies ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll
treatment based upon the best available outcome research. It addresses both safety and
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relationship dynamics. The use of the peer group as an ongoing consultation group adds
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an important support and advice element for the MFT.
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A client reports, 'When I feel vulnerable, I find myself grasping for ways to dull the degree
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to which I feel pain. All I care about is not feeling the pain!' This client might be describing
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the role of the:
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A: parentified child.
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B: distractor
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C: firefighter
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D: undifferentiated ego mass - Correct Answers C: firefighter
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The Internal Family Systems model sees the nature of the mind is to be subdivided into an
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indeterminate number of sub-personalities or 'parts'. The firefighter is the part that
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attempts to numb pain through behaviors that are often addictive in nature.
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A client was unhappy when he discovered that his therapist had disclosed his town of
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residence to a colleague during a peer supervision meeting. The meeting included an
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administrative assistant who was not a licensed mental health professional and lived in the
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same town as the client. The therapist's response to the client was to engage him in a
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conversation about his concerns and then proposed a clinical hypothesis suggesting the
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client was excessively fearful. The client did not accept this and instead insisted that he did
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not want this kind of information disclosed to anybody without his written authorization. He
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claimed the therapist had violated his confidentiality under the HIPAA policies given to him
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at the beginning of his treatment. Referring to the above vignette, in this situation:
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A: The client is correct because the Privacy Rule protects all information that can identify a
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specific client without regard - Correct Answers D: The therapist's disclosure is allowed if
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he can demonstrate that it falls under the guidelines of 'Permitted Disclosures' clause of
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the Privacy Rule.
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Discussion: All disclosures of PHI are not prohibited under the Privacy Rule and also not ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll
always prohibited in most state-specific confidentiality rules. Also, it is not always
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necessary to obtain a written authorization to release information, so long as the therapist
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provided a thorough and accurate disclosure of how he handles PHI at the onset of
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therapy. The 'Permitted Uses and Disclosures' clause of the Privacy Rule allows the
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therapist to use his own judgement in disclosing identifying information if it is either a
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normal or necessary part of 'treatment, payment or health care operations'. In this case,
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the therapist would have to demonstrate that there was a need to disclose the client's town
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of residence as part of the peer supervision discussion. Some acceptable purposes would
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be if the peer group used town of residence to differentiate this particular client form
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another (thereby avoiding even greater identification that would occur names were used),
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or if the peer group were assisting with insurance billing and the forms were being
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completed in the meeting. however, the principle of 'minimum discourse stipulates
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clinicians should not disclose names or residence in supervision unless there is a good
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, reason to do so, and then the reason should be documented. If the disclosure were casual
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and not for a good treatment or health care operations reasons, then the disclosure is not
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allowed under the Privacy Rule without written authorization. If the clinician was not a
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'covered entity' according to the Privacy Rule, then HIPAA guidelines would not apply, and
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the state-specific confidentiality statues would determine the legitimacy of the disclosure.
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Where conflict
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A client was unhappy when he discovered that his therapist had disclosed his town of
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residence to a colleague during a peer supervision meeting. The meeting included an
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administrative assistant who was not a licensed mental health professional and lived in the
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same town as the client. The therapist's response to the client was to engage him in a
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conversation about his concerns and then proposed a clinical hypothesis suggesting the
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client was excessively fearful. The client did not accept this and instead insisted that he did
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not want this kind of information disclosed to anybody without his written authorization. He
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claimed the therapist has violated his confidentiality under the HIPAA policies given to him
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at the beginning of his treatment.
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Referring to the above vignette, the client claimed that the therapist acted unprofessionally
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by attempting to 'explain away' his privacy concerns with a clinical interpretation - Correct
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Answers B: the client is wrong because the therapist showed sufficient respect for the
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client's privacy when he gave the client a reasonable response to his privacy concerns. It's
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okay to add a clinical interpretation.
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Discussion: Every client's privacy rights are protected by HIPAA. Neither the client's ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll ll
diagnosis nor the therapist's interpretation of his behavior affects his privacy rights. The
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therapist must show respect for any privacy claim separate from clinical interpretation.
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However, after a clear discussion of privacy in which the therapist believes the client has
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understood the decisions he made, the therapist is then free to engage in a separate
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clinical discussion consistent with his treatment of the client, as long as he avoids
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undermining the client's understanding his rights. The client does not have to agree, but
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does have to agree, but does have to achieve an understanding of the therapist's
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explanation. If the client does not agree, the therapist would do well to thoroughly discuss
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his disagreement and then document the conversation. Central to this point is that the
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therapist must be sure that the clinical interpretation is in the interest of the client's ongoing
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treatment and is in no way intended to cover up an improper release of PHI.
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A COntextual family therapist interviews a family and discovers that Mr. Medieros, the
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father, comes from a family in which his father was irresponsible and unavailable. Mr.
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Medieros reports that as the eldest son, he took responsibility along with his mother for the
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well-being of the family. Mrs. Medieros smirks and states how ironic it is that her husband
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withdraws from her and her children. In obtaining this information, the therapist is able to
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see:
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A: the transgenerational issues and destructive entitlement.
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B: the disloyalty Mr. Medieros felt toward his family of origin.
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C: the triangulation of Mr. Medieros by his mother.
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D: the level of differentiation from both his family or origin and his nucleus family. - Correct
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Answers A: the transgenerational issues and destructive entitlement.
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