MFT National Licensing Exam-Questions with
Correct solutions
All of the following are considered communication theorists EXCEPT:
A: Watzlawick
B: Satir
C: White
D: Haley
C: White
White focused on meaning where communication therapists focused on behavior.
During a session with a couple a husband states to the therapist that his wife often nags and
belittles him. The therapist's intervention is to give the wife homework in which she is to
only say positive things to her husband and abstain from any negative comments. When
she appears to be negative or belittling to her husband he is to put his hand up and say
"Stop". A feminist therapist would be critical of the above technique because it:
A: Gives the husband more power
B: Appears to be hierarchical
C: Is therapist driven
D: All of the above
D: All of the above
Feminists draw techniques from other schools of family therapy such as the Narrative approach,
with a sensitivity to those that are especially empowering and client driven. In this case, the
therapist would work together to question imbalances of power between members and the effects
,these imbalances have on all family members. A feminist therapist might then work with the
couple to develop new stories using a collaborative approach.
Jose and Maria bring their son, Joe, to counseling because of poor academic performance
and behavior.
A: externalize the problem
B: rearrange family members to imply alliance shifts.
C: use genogram construction to help the family identify family-of-origins patterns
consciously.
D: coach the family on improving its problem-solving skills
D: Coach the family on improving its problem solving skills.
The strategic family therapist defines the focus of treatment as the family and its interactive
process, paying particular attention to the family's process of problem solving.
During the process of treatment, Mr. Medieros recognizes how he was victimized by his
parents, and that past generations were also victimized by their parents. In recognizing this
he began to see his parents less as monsters and more as struggling human beings,
themselves acting out invisible loyalties. Therefore, he was able to block the trans-
generational pattern of destructive entitlement and allowed the positive transmission of
relational resources. The process by which he earned entitlement by dealing with his own
issues with his own parents is called:
A: A family projection process
B: relational ethics
C: societal regression
D: exoneration
,D: exoneration
Exoneration is a process by which the therapist attempts to help the client see the positive intent
and inter-generational loyalty issues that motivate the behavior of members of previous
generations.
Harmonious relationships are more difficult to achieve for gay and lesbian couples
because:
A: they are more inherently pathological than straight couples
B: of shame
C: our society presents them with far more obstacles
D: they have more individual problems.
C: our society presents them with far more obstacles
Mary feels threatened by the arrival of her baby sister so she pouts and becomes
temperamental. When Mary acts out this way, her father thinks she is regressing and tries
to get her to act her age by punishing and criticizing her. Father's harshness confirms
Mary's belief that her sister is displacing her. The therapist suggests that when Mary
behaves this way, the father should ignore her. If this suggestion worked, it would be a
good example of:
A: positive feedback
B: first-order change
C: second-order change
D: negative feedback
, B: first order change
when only the behaviors or interactions when a system change, this is first order change, as
opposed to second order change, where the rule governing the behavior must change.
A couple comes to therapy because their three-year-old daughter is "out of control".
During the session the wife begins complaining that her husband is never homes and she is
left to deal with her daughter's behavior.
An initial goal that a Structural Family Therapist working with this family might set is to:
A: inquire about inter-generational themes.
B: help the couple function together as a cohesive executive subsystem
C: hypothesize as to why the daughter is so "out of control".
D: look for disabling international sequences.
B: help the couple function together as a cohesive executive subsystem.
Minuchin believes that the most important of all the general goals for families is the creation of
an effective hierarchical structure. Inquiring about intergenerational themes is Trans-
generational, look for disabling interactional sequences is Strategic, and hypothesize as to why
the daughter is so "out of control" is Milan systemic.
A Milan-Systemic therapist would define the purpose of circular questioning as:
A: Learning more about differences in family members' perceptions of their relationships.
B: expanding on the notion of a reframe.
C: disrupting the multiple interactional sequences existing in the family.
D: an individualized prescription of an action or series of actions designed to alter the
family's roles.
Correct solutions
All of the following are considered communication theorists EXCEPT:
A: Watzlawick
B: Satir
C: White
D: Haley
C: White
White focused on meaning where communication therapists focused on behavior.
During a session with a couple a husband states to the therapist that his wife often nags and
belittles him. The therapist's intervention is to give the wife homework in which she is to
only say positive things to her husband and abstain from any negative comments. When
she appears to be negative or belittling to her husband he is to put his hand up and say
"Stop". A feminist therapist would be critical of the above technique because it:
A: Gives the husband more power
B: Appears to be hierarchical
C: Is therapist driven
D: All of the above
D: All of the above
Feminists draw techniques from other schools of family therapy such as the Narrative approach,
with a sensitivity to those that are especially empowering and client driven. In this case, the
therapist would work together to question imbalances of power between members and the effects
,these imbalances have on all family members. A feminist therapist might then work with the
couple to develop new stories using a collaborative approach.
Jose and Maria bring their son, Joe, to counseling because of poor academic performance
and behavior.
A: externalize the problem
B: rearrange family members to imply alliance shifts.
C: use genogram construction to help the family identify family-of-origins patterns
consciously.
D: coach the family on improving its problem-solving skills
D: Coach the family on improving its problem solving skills.
The strategic family therapist defines the focus of treatment as the family and its interactive
process, paying particular attention to the family's process of problem solving.
During the process of treatment, Mr. Medieros recognizes how he was victimized by his
parents, and that past generations were also victimized by their parents. In recognizing this
he began to see his parents less as monsters and more as struggling human beings,
themselves acting out invisible loyalties. Therefore, he was able to block the trans-
generational pattern of destructive entitlement and allowed the positive transmission of
relational resources. The process by which he earned entitlement by dealing with his own
issues with his own parents is called:
A: A family projection process
B: relational ethics
C: societal regression
D: exoneration
,D: exoneration
Exoneration is a process by which the therapist attempts to help the client see the positive intent
and inter-generational loyalty issues that motivate the behavior of members of previous
generations.
Harmonious relationships are more difficult to achieve for gay and lesbian couples
because:
A: they are more inherently pathological than straight couples
B: of shame
C: our society presents them with far more obstacles
D: they have more individual problems.
C: our society presents them with far more obstacles
Mary feels threatened by the arrival of her baby sister so she pouts and becomes
temperamental. When Mary acts out this way, her father thinks she is regressing and tries
to get her to act her age by punishing and criticizing her. Father's harshness confirms
Mary's belief that her sister is displacing her. The therapist suggests that when Mary
behaves this way, the father should ignore her. If this suggestion worked, it would be a
good example of:
A: positive feedback
B: first-order change
C: second-order change
D: negative feedback
, B: first order change
when only the behaviors or interactions when a system change, this is first order change, as
opposed to second order change, where the rule governing the behavior must change.
A couple comes to therapy because their three-year-old daughter is "out of control".
During the session the wife begins complaining that her husband is never homes and she is
left to deal with her daughter's behavior.
An initial goal that a Structural Family Therapist working with this family might set is to:
A: inquire about inter-generational themes.
B: help the couple function together as a cohesive executive subsystem
C: hypothesize as to why the daughter is so "out of control".
D: look for disabling international sequences.
B: help the couple function together as a cohesive executive subsystem.
Minuchin believes that the most important of all the general goals for families is the creation of
an effective hierarchical structure. Inquiring about intergenerational themes is Trans-
generational, look for disabling interactional sequences is Strategic, and hypothesize as to why
the daughter is so "out of control" is Milan systemic.
A Milan-Systemic therapist would define the purpose of circular questioning as:
A: Learning more about differences in family members' perceptions of their relationships.
B: expanding on the notion of a reframe.
C: disrupting the multiple interactional sequences existing in the family.
D: an individualized prescription of an action or series of actions designed to alter the
family's roles.
