AMFTRB Exam 4 Questions And Answers With
Complete Solutions
A therapist works with a family in which he hypothesizes that a scapegoated child's behavior may be
his or her means of loyally acting out his or her parents' need for expressing rage and that this is a
cycle that may have connections to behavioral sequences begun generations before. This therapist is
most likely assessing from: ANS a contextual model
Hint: "loyally acting out"
A therapist is working with a single-parent family, Jane, age 27, and her two children, ages 5 and 3.
Jane has just lost her job, and the family has moved back in with her parents for financial reasons.
They have come in to receive help because Jane is feeling overwhelmed and depressed. If the
therapist is working from a systemic perspective, what would be the best structure for treatment?
ANS Jane, her parents, and the children, because they are currently living together
A Strategic therapist's view of the family is: ANS circular.
Hint: Circular causality symptoms are not caused by any specific event, but are maintained as a part
of a vicious circle of interaction.
A five-year-old child is referred to you by his PCP. The parents have been concerned that he seems
anxious at home, and has wet his pants several times during the day. You diagnosed him as having
functional enuresis. Which of the following is the treatment of choice? ANS Behavioral
applications
A young couple has been referred to you by a physician for treatment of a sexual dysfunction. They
have no medical problems. What is your primary responsibility in this case? ANS To be a
catalyst for communication
Hint: As a marital and family therapist, this would be your primary responsibility.
&
,When a case involves sexual dysfunction with no evidence of a medical condition or other
physiological cause (i.e., when a medical exam has already been sought by the couple), your first
intervention should be to encourage the couple to communicate.
A wornan ignores ner nusvanas gestures o anecuon, ana unen
complains that he is not loving toward her. What is this an example of? ANS A double-bind
Hint: two conflicting messages, one
nonverbal and one verbal.
A woman is recently separated from her husband and having a lot of difficulty coping. She uses "we"
language a lot. What communication style is this? ANS Mind-reading
Hint: takes place when a person makes assumptions about what another person is thinking, or speaks
for another person.
A woman and her husband come into a first session for marital therapy. You notice that the woman is
hugging herself and glancing at the thermostat on the wall. To further communication, you should:
ANS ask her husband to interpret her posturing.
Hint: the goal of your intervention is "to further communication. Remember that this is a first session
and assessing how they communicate will be necessary before you can "further communication."
A therapist is seeing a family for a variety of behavioral problems with the children. Instead of
exploring the problems in detail, the therapist asks, "When is this problem not a problem?" What is
the purpose of this intervention? ANS Identify exceptions as a resource for positive change
Hint: therapy. If the clients can identify and describe fully those times or situations in which their
problem is less severe or non-existent, this can suggest certain things that the clients can do to create
more of these "non-problem" experiences.
, Brian, a 6 year old, was placed in a children's rehabilitation center approximately three months ago.
His mother has a history of mental illness and has been in and out of the county mental health center
for the past five ears. A psychiatrist at CMH has diagnosed the mother as having Paranoid Personality
Disorder and Major Depressive Disorder, recurrent. Brian's father shows no overt signs of mental
illness. Brian's parents have been separated for several months, and the father is currently in therapy
to learn how to deal with the mother's episodes. What is your priority in dealing with Brian? ANS
To work with the system he is currently living in, for example, by using the center and his family to
create a safe and supportive environment
A woman, married for ten years, calls a shelter hotline afraid for her own life. Her husband has
beaten her many times over the years, and, earlier that
evening, he hit her repeatedly with his fists and threw objects at her. He then left the house, and the
woman is alone at the time of the call. She says she has a car, wants to come to the shelter, and asks
how to get there. The shelter staff member directs her to drive immediately to a public pay phone and
call the shelter back, at which time she will be given directions to the shelter. The woman calls back
two hours later and says she has changed her mind and will not be coming to the shelter after all. The
woman's change of mind is MOST likely attributable to which of the following: ANS during the
initial phone call, the shelter worker should have been more directive, giving the woman the
directions.
A therapist tells a client who wants to quit smoking that he should keep his only pack of cigarettes in
a place that is accessible only by walking for more than one mile. This is an example of which of the
following paradoxical techniques? ANS Ordeal
Hint: Haley (1984) described several types of ordeals. One type involves having the individual
perform an unpleasant or inconvenient act in order to engage in the target behavior
Brief therapy is a time-limited, pragmatic, non-historical strategic approach to difficulties in a
person's life. Brief therapy models focus primarily on: ANS First order change.
Hint: are symptomatic, not changes to the fundamental dynamics of the family system.
Ben, a successful stockbroker, has recently taken early retirement from his company. At age 45, he
"still feels young" and wants to be more involved with his children, ages 4 and 6. His wife, Laura, at
first appreciates the help, but now feels that Ben has completely taken over the house, supervising all
the chores, grocery shopping, and cooking. He has even begun meeting with the children's teachers to
