Answers and Explanations to the Therapy Quiz

1. The elements involved in _____ are a helping relationship between 1) a professional trained in psychological therapy, and 2) a person in need of help.

clinical counseling
psychotherapy
co-counseling
rehabilitation

Correct Answer = psychotherapy

Explanation = psychotherapy is a large umbrella for therapies, but they all contain the same fundamental elements; they require someone who needs help and someone who is trained to provide the appropriate help. In addition, it is not enough to just have both parties, it is important that the two have a relationship that is based on a desire to help and to be helped. It is like the old saying about leading a horse to water...if a person does not want to be helped, then even the best therapy and therapist will be ineffective.

2. Talk therapies are conducted to help solve personal problems by gaining insight into the causes of those problems. However, ______ therapies are more concerned with modifying the abnormal behavior than with gaining insight into motivation.

insight
drug
behavior
psychotherapy

Correct Answer = behavior

Explanations = many other therapeutic approaches attempt to find the underlying causes of maladaptive behaviors and psychological problems. However, behavior therapy does not. Instead, behavior therapists work on changing a person's current maladaptive behaviors regardless of the underlying causes. Behavior therapists are not so concerned with why you smoke (it doesn't matter if you had bad childhood and have an oral fixation to them), but more with ways in teaching you new behavior patterns to replace the smoking.

3. The therapy developed by Carl Rogers in which the therapist provides a nonthreatening atmosphere of warmth and acceptance is called:

client-centered (or person centered)
psychoanalysis
gestalt
behavior modification

Correct Answer = client-centered (or person centered)

Explanation = Carl Rogers was a Humanistic psychologists who believed that, since each person was the only one experiencing their own problems, then they are the ones who also have the answers and solutions to their own problems. He did not believe that the therapist should try to give the client answers, but should help the client understand his or her own current state, thinking, perspective, etc. By doing this, the therapist helps the client solve his or her own problems instead of having the therapist simply give advice or tell the client what is best for them. Thus, Rogers' therapeutic approach focused on the client, and only the client. The client is the one with the issues, the solutions, everything.

4. In client-centered therapy, the therapist must develop an understanding of the client's world from the client's point of view; a technique called:

genuineness
sympathy
unconditional positive regard
empathy

Correct Answer = empathy

Explanation = the therapist in client-centered therapy does not feel sorry for the client, does not express unconditional acceptance of the client, or pretend to understand things that they really do not understand (yes, we know all therapists should do this). However, they do try to demonstrate empathy, which is to say that they attempt to understand the client's point of view, regardless and irrespective of whether they agree with the client's point of view. For example, a therapist might try to understand a male sexual offenders views on women and sex in order to help the client overcome his problems. This helps the client understand that the therapist is not judging him but is trying to help overcome the problems.

5. In ________ , a patient overcomes their anxieties (i.e., fear of heights, agoraphobia, etc.) by learning to relax in the presence of stimuli that once made him/her unbearably nervous and afraid. For example, someone who is afraid of snakes might learn to use a relaxation technique while looking at a picture of a snake, then while being in the presence of a rubber hose, then a phony snake, and so on until they can relax while in the presence of a real snake.

gestalt therapy
drug therapy
systematic desensitization
psychoanalysis

Correct Answer = systematic desensitization

Explanation = the question above gives a good description of this form of therapy. Systematic desensitization was developed by Wolpe into an effective form of behavioral therapy that helps a person replace feelings of anxiety when confronted with some stimulus with feelings of relaxation. Using a relaxation technique such as progressive muscle relaxation, people learn to replace feelings of anxiety with states of relaxation. Systematic desensitization is very effective at helping people overcome many types of fears, but obviously does not work in all cases.

6. In Psychoanalysis, a therapist might make use of all of the following techniques EXCEPT:

dream analysis
repression
free association
dream interpretation

Correct Answer = repression

Explanation = dream analysis, free association, and dream interpretation are techniques developed by Freud and used by psychoanalysts to help people uncover the hidden meanings and causes of their problems. However, repression is a defense mechanism that people use to avoid dealing with painful situations, memory, and events. According to psychoanalysts, events that are repressed may surface and produce problems. When this occurs, any and/or all of these three techniques may help the therapist and client identify and alleviate the problems.

7. Heather does not like her father. During psychoanalysis, Heather projects the negative feelings she has toward her father onto the therapist. Heather does this because it is easier to express anger she feels toward her father at her therapist, and easier to work through her hostile feelings toward her father by way of the therapist. This is known as:

associations
repression
insight
transference

Correct Answer = transference

Explanation = although it may seem counterintuitive, transference does make sense once you understand it. Transference is one of many defense mechanisms that occurs because the therapist and client are making progress toward uncovering events that have been repressed. These events were repressed because they were too painful to deal with in the first place. Thus, transference is a way of the mind protecting itself from being confronted with painful issues again. By taking emotions felt toward one person and placing them onto the therapist, the client attempts, unconsciously, to hinder the progress of the therapy and prevent having to deal with painful emotions again.

8. Dr. Seymour Butts is a psychiatrist who often prescribes drugs such as Valium and Xanax to relieve his patient's stress, tensions, apprehensions, and nervousness. These drugs belong to a class of drugs called:

antipsychotic drugs
antianxiety drugs
lithium
serotonins

Correct Answer = antianxiety

Explanation = antianxiety drugs suppress central nervous system activity and reduce feelings of tension and anxiety. In addition, these drugs do not cause drowsiness which is one reason that they have been prescribed so often. In fact, antianxiety drugs are prescribed so often that they have become one of the most abused and overused class of drugs.

9. Before an appropriate therapy can be chosen and started for any client in need of help, the therapist must first diagnose the problem(s) at hand. The tool that is used to define and identify psychological problems is the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-IV). The DSM uses a multiaxial system in which axes I and II are used for:

supplemental information.
diagnosis of anxiety disorders only.
diagnosis of major disorders, and personality disorders, and developmental disorders.
personality disorders only.

Correct Answer = diagnosis of major disorders, and personality disorders, and developmental disorders.

Explanation = there are many disorders, many symptoms, and many disorders that share symptoms. As a result, it is often difficult to make accurate diagnoses. One way of improving the chances of making a correct diagnosis is to examine several different components of each situation and make a diagnosis based on all of these components and not just on the presence of one or two observable symptoms. For example, before the use of the DSM, a person who felt sad quite often may have been diagnosed with a chemical imbalance and given drugs. However, using the DSM, a therapist looks at multiple aspects of the situation before making a diagnosis - they look at the person's history, current symptoms and whether several of the symptoms (not just one or two) match those found in specific disorders, and several other components. Each of these different components is called an axis and together they help make more accurate diagnoses. Axes I and II contain categories for, descriptions of, and symptoms found within major disorders, personality disorders, and developmental disorders.

10. Which type of insight therapy emphasizes the recovery of unconscious conflicts, motives, and defenses?

psychoanalysis
gestalt
Rogerian
client-centered

Correct Answer = psychoanalytic

Explanation = Rogerian therapy and client-centered therapy are the same thing, so you should have ruled those out immediately. Psychoanalysis was developed by Freud who, as you are familiar, developed our understanding of the unconscious and recovery of unconscious thoughts, emotions, and motives. According to Freud, unconscious conflicts are manifested in conscious problems. When a person is having an emotional problem, for example, the therapist must uncover the underlying, unconscious cause of the problem. Once this is done and the person recognizes the unconscious conflict, thus bringing the conflict to the conscious mind, the problem will diminish.

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