In the 1700s, what was the chief aim of most asylums that housed people with psychological disorders?
Keeping them apart from society
✓
Curing disorders with medication
Training doctors in psychoanalysis
Returning them to work quickly
Correct Answer
Keeping them apart from society
Asylums of the 1700s mostly confined people with psychological disorders to separate them from the rest of society, offering little real treatment in often harsh conditions. Curing disorders with medication was not possible then, because antipsychotic drugs did not arrive until the 1950s. Training doctors in psychoanalysis could not have been the aim, since Freud developed psychoanalysis in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Returning them to work quickly was not the goal either, because many people stayed confined for years.
Category: History of Treatment
Question 2
Which French physician is known for removing the chains from asylum patients in the 1790s and calling for humane treatment?
Sigmund Freud
Philippe Pinel
✓
Joseph Wolpe
Jean-Martin Charcot
Correct Answer
Philippe Pinel
Philippe Pinel unchained patients in Paris asylums and argued that people with mental illness should be treated with kindness and talked with. Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist, developed psychoanalysis about a century later. Joseph Wolpe was a 20th-century behavior therapist who developed systematic desensitization. Jean-Martin Charcot was a 19th-century French neurologist known for studying hysteria and hypnosis, not for unchaining patients.
Category: History of Treatment
Question 3
Beginning in the 1960s, many large state psychiatric hospitals closed and people were treated in community settings instead. What is this shift called?
Involuntary commitment
Moral treatment
Deinstitutionalization
✓
Managed care
Correct Answer
Deinstitutionalization
Deinstitutionalization was the movement to close large asylums and provide care in local communities, supported by 1963 federal legislation and the arrival of antipsychotic medication. Involuntary commitment is placing a person in treatment against his or her will. Moral treatment was an earlier 19th-century approach emphasizing humane care inside institutions. Managed care is a system for controlling health insurance costs, not a shift away from hospitals.
Category: History of Treatment
Question 4
A patient lies on a couch and says whatever comes to mind, without censoring anything, while the analyst listens. Which psychoanalytic technique is this?
Transference
Dream analysis
Active listening
Free association
✓
Correct Answer
Free association
Free association asks the patient to report thoughts freely so that unconscious material can surface, and it was a core technique of Freud's psychoanalysis. Transference is the patient's redirecting of feelings about important people onto the therapist. Dream analysis is the interpretation of the hidden meaning of dreams. Active listening is a client-centered technique in which the therapist restates and clarifies what the client says.
Category: Psychodynamic and Humanistic
Question 5
During psychoanalysis, a woman begins reacting to her analyst with the same resentment she has long felt toward her father. Which term describes this?
Transference
✓
Resistance
Countertransference
Sublimation
Correct Answer
Transference
Transference occurs when a patient redirects feelings from another relationship, often with a parent, onto the therapist, and analysts use it to explore unresolved conflicts. Resistance is the patient's unconscious blocking of painful material, such as changing the subject. Countertransference is the therapist's own emotional reaction to the patient. Sublimation is a defense mechanism that channels unacceptable impulses into socially acceptable activities.
Category: Psychodynamic and Humanistic
Question 6
A therapist accepts a client completely and without judgment, no matter what the client reveals. Which condition of client-centered therapy is this?
Genuineness
Unconditional positive regard
✓
Empathy
Active listening
Correct Answer
Unconditional positive regard
Unconditional positive regard is the therapist's full, nonjudgmental acceptance of the client, which Carl Rogers believed helps clients accept themselves. Genuineness means the therapist is authentic and open with the client. Empathy is understanding the client's feelings from the client's point of view. Active listening is a technique of acknowledging, restating, and clarifying what the client says.
Category: Psychodynamic and Humanistic
Question 7
A counselor helps a young child who witnessed a frightening event by letting the child act out feelings with dolls, toys, and art supplies. Which approach is this?
Aversion therapy
Token economy
Play therapy
✓
Psychoanalysis
Correct Answer
Play therapy
Play therapy uses play, the natural way children communicate, to help them express feelings and work through difficulties. Aversion therapy pairs an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant stimulus. A token economy rewards desired behaviors with tokens that can be exchanged for privileges. Psychoanalysis is an intensive talk therapy that relies on techniques such as free association and dream analysis.
Category: Psychodynamic and Humanistic
Question 8
A client who fears flying learns deep relaxation, ranks feared situations from looking at a photo of a plane to boarding a flight, and works up the list one step at a time while staying relaxed. Which technique is this?
Aversive conditioning
Flooding
Token economy
Systematic desensitization
✓
Correct Answer
Systematic desensitization
Systematic desensitization, developed by Joseph Wolpe, pairs relaxation with gradual exposure along an anxiety hierarchy, since a person cannot be relaxed and anxious at the same time. Aversive conditioning pairs an unwanted behavior with something unpleasant. Flooding exposes a person to the most feared situation all at once rather than in steps. A token economy uses tokens to reinforce desired behavior.
Category: Behavior Therapy
Question 9
A person in treatment for alcohol use disorder takes a medication that causes nausea and vomiting whenever alcohol is consumed. Which behavioral technique does this use?
Aversive conditioning
✓
Systematic desensitization
Token economy
Exposure therapy
Correct Answer
Aversive conditioning
Aversive conditioning pairs an unwanted behavior with an unpleasant stimulus so the behavior becomes linked with discomfort, as with the drug Antabuse for drinking. Systematic desensitization reduces fear by pairing relaxation with gradual exposure. A token economy reinforces desired behaviors with exchangeable tokens. Exposure therapy confronts a person with a feared object or situation until the fear fades.
Category: Behavior Therapy
Question 10
On a psychiatric unit, patients earn points for making their beds and attending group sessions, then trade the points for privileges. What is this system called?
Counterconditioning
Token economy
✓
Aversion therapy
Exposure hierarchy
Correct Answer
Token economy
A token economy is based on operant conditioning: desired behaviors earn tokens, which are exchanged for rewards, so those behaviors are reinforced. Counterconditioning is a classical conditioning technique that teaches a new response to a stimulus. Aversion therapy pairs an unwanted behavior with something unpleasant. An exposure hierarchy is the ranked list of feared situations used in exposure-based treatment.
Category: Behavior Therapy
Question 11
Which researcher reduced a young boy's fear of rabbits in 1924 by gradually bringing a rabbit closer while he ate a favorite snack?
Joseph Wolpe
B. F. Skinner
Mary Cover Jones
✓
Albert Bandura
Correct Answer
Mary Cover Jones
Mary Cover Jones treated a boy named Peter by pairing a rabbit with something pleasant and moving it closer over time, an early example of using conditioning to remove a fear. Joseph Wolpe built on this kind of work decades later when he developed systematic desensitization. B. F. Skinner studied operant conditioning with animals. Albert Bandura is known for social learning theory and observational learning.
Category: Behavior Therapy
Question 12
After earning a B-plus on an exam, a student thinks, "If I am not perfect, I am a total failure." Which cognitive distortion is this?
Overgeneralization
Jumping to conclusions
Emotional reasoning
All-or-nothing thinking
✓
Correct Answer
All-or-nothing thinking
All-or-nothing thinking sees situations in only two extreme categories, such as perfect or worthless, with nothing in between. Overgeneralization draws a sweeping conclusion from a single negative event. Jumping to conclusions assumes something negative, such as what others think, without evidence. Emotional reasoning treats a feeling as proof that something is true.
Category: Cognitive Therapies
Question 13
In Albert Ellis's ABC model, what does the letter B stand for?
Belief about the event
✓
Behavior that follows
Bodily arousal
Basic need
Correct Answer
Belief about the event
In the ABC model, A is the activating event, B is the person's belief about that event, and C is the emotional or behavioral consequence, so changing irrational beliefs changes the consequences. Behavior that follows is part of C, the consequence. Bodily arousal is not one of the three elements. Basic need is not part of the model either.
Category: Cognitive Therapies
Question 14
Unlike psychoanalysis, cognitive-behavioral therapy concentrates on which of these?
Repressed childhood conflicts
Current thoughts and behaviors
✓
Hidden meanings in dreams
Unconscious sexual drives
Correct Answer
Current thoughts and behaviors
Cognitive-behavioral therapy works on present thinking patterns and self-defeating behaviors, helping clients spot distorted thoughts and replace them with more realistic ones. Repressed childhood conflicts are a central focus of psychoanalysis. Hidden meanings in dreams are explored through psychoanalytic dream analysis. Unconscious sexual drives are part of Freud's theory, not the focus of CBT.
Category: Cognitive Therapies
Question 15
Long-term use of older antipsychotic drugs can cause tardive dyskinesia. What is this side effect?
Severe and permanent loss of memory
Rapid and dangerous weight loss
Involuntary movements of the face, tongue, and limbs
✓
Extreme thirst and frequent urination
Correct Answer
Involuntary movements of the face, tongue, and limbs
Tardive dyskinesia is a movement disorder involving involuntary movements of the face, tongue, arms, and legs, and it can develop after long-term use of traditional antipsychotics that block dopamine. Severe and permanent loss of memory is not this side effect. Rapid and dangerous weight loss is not typical of antipsychotics, several of which instead cause weight gain. Extreme thirst and frequent urination are side effects associated with lithium.
Category: Biomedical Therapies
Question 16
Prozac and Zoloft are SSRIs. They increase the availability of which neurotransmitter at the synapse?
Dopamine
GABA
Acetylcholine
Serotonin
✓
Correct Answer
Serotonin
SSRIs block the reuptake of serotonin, leaving more of it available at the synapse, and they are widely prescribed for depression and anxiety. Dopamine is the main target of antipsychotic drugs. GABA activity is enhanced by benzodiazepines, the anti-anxiety drugs. Acetylcholine is involved in muscle movement and memory and is not the target of SSRIs.
Category: Biomedical Therapies
Question 17
Lithium is a mood stabilizer prescribed to treat which disorder?
Bipolar disorder
✓
Schizophrenia
ADHD
Panic disorder
Correct Answer
Bipolar disorder
Lithium helps control both the manic highs and the depressive lows of bipolar disorder. Schizophrenia is treated with antipsychotic medications. ADHD is commonly treated with stimulants such as Ritalin and Adderall. Panic disorder is treated with antidepressants, anti-anxiety drugs, and cognitive-behavioral therapy rather than lithium.
Category: Biomedical Therapies
Question 18
A family therapist examines who makes the rules, how decisions are made, and how roles are divided among family members. Which approach is this?
Strategic family therapy
Structural family therapy
✓
Psychodynamic therapy
Rational emotive therapy
Correct Answer
Structural family therapy
Structural family therapy looks at the organization of the family, including its boundaries, rules, and division of roles. Strategic family therapy targets specific problems that can be solved in a short time, with the therapist directing a detailed plan. Psychodynamic therapy explores unconscious conflicts in individuals. Rational emotive therapy, developed by Albert Ellis, challenges an individual's irrational beliefs.
Category: Modalities and Culture
Question 19
What is the first meeting between a therapist and a new client, used to learn about the presenting problem and build a treatment plan, called?
Termination
Debriefing
Intake
✓
Referral
Correct Answer
Intake
The intake is the opening session in which the therapist gathers information about the client's concerns, history, and support system, explains confidentiality and fees, and sets goals. Termination is the planned end of therapy. Debriefing is an explanation given after an experience such as a research study. A referral is sending a client to another professional or service.
Category: Modalities and Culture
Question 20
A therapist learns how a client's ethnic and religious background shapes the client's views of mental illness and family roles, and adapts treatment to fit. What does this demonstrate?
Ethnocentrism
Acculturation
Assimilation
Cultural competence
✓
Correct Answer
Cultural competence
Cultural competence is a professional's ability to understand and address issues of race, culture, and ethnicity and to tailor therapy to a client's values. Ethnocentrism is judging other cultures by the standards of one's own, the opposite of this skill. Acculturation is the process by which a person adopts features of a new culture. Assimilation is the absorption of a minority group into the dominant culture.
Category: Modalities and Culture