ASWB Social Work Exam Prep (LSW) 2025/2026:
Developmental Theories, DSM-5 Symptoms,
Interventions & Research-Based Questions
Abuse Types - correct answer Physical, sexual, psychological, and neglect
Reduce Dynamic Risk Factors - correct answer - Pharmacological
interventions
- Substance use treatment
- Psychosocial interventions
Dynamic risk factors - correct answer Potentially changeable factors
Static risk factors - correct answer Risk factors that are not amenable to
intervention, such as prior hx of offenses
Cognitive distortions - correct answer Filtering - focus on negative and
ignore positive Polarized thinking - black or white thinking Overgeneralization -
come to conclusions based on a single event Catastrophizing - expecting
disaster Personalization - thinking everything is about you or caused by you
Blaming - blaming others for our emotions Shoulds - holding others to our
personal standards of how we believe they should act Emotional Reasoning -
what we feel is the truth Reward Fallacy - expecting a reward for altruistic
behavior Minimizing & Magnifying
Self-actualization - correct answer realization or fulfillment of one's potential
Egocentric - correct answer Piaget (assumes other's see things exactly how
they do)
,Ego-syntonic - correct answer behaviors, values, feeling in sync with the
Ego.
Ego-dystonic - correct answer beliefs, values, feelings that are in contrast to
the Ego, self-image.
Mental Health Parity - correct answer recognizes mental health illnesses as
the same as physical illnesses.
Sexual Orientation - correct answer An individual's pattern of physical and
emotional arousal toward other persons.
Gender Identity - correct answer The knowledge of oneself as being male
or female. Gender identity usually conforms to anatomic/biological sex.
Psychosocial approach - correct answer Focuses on intrapsychic and
interpersonal change
Task Centered approach - correct answer Focuses on completing tasks to
strengthen self-esteem and restore usual capacity for coping.
Problem Solving Approach assumption about human behavior - correct
answer individual's cognitive processes can be engaged to solve problems,
achieve, and to grow emotionally
Theoretical bases for Cognitive approach - correct answer Rational-emotive
behavior therapy
, Ecological Model - correct answer - Problems occur in life transitions,
environmental pressures, or maladaptive fit between individual and larger
entity (family or community)
- Each individual system depends on other systems
Bowenian Family Therapy - correct answer - the goal of this approach is not
symptom reduction rather it is interested in improving the intergenerational
transmission process
Bowen Emotional Triangle - correct answer 3 person system, smallest
stable relationship, forms when two people experience tension
Family Systems Theory - correct answer Minuchin - Structure should be
hierarchical w/ parents at top
Strategic Family Therapy - correct answer Haley & Madanes
- Symptoms have a "payoff" for the family
- Helplessness, illness provide power positions within family, child uses
symptoms to change parent behavior.
Types of therapy groups - correct answer Groups centered on a shared
problem
Counseling groups
Activity groups
Action groups
Self-help groups
Natural groups
Closed vs open groups
Structured groups
Developmental Theories, DSM-5 Symptoms,
Interventions & Research-Based Questions
Abuse Types - correct answer Physical, sexual, psychological, and neglect
Reduce Dynamic Risk Factors - correct answer - Pharmacological
interventions
- Substance use treatment
- Psychosocial interventions
Dynamic risk factors - correct answer Potentially changeable factors
Static risk factors - correct answer Risk factors that are not amenable to
intervention, such as prior hx of offenses
Cognitive distortions - correct answer Filtering - focus on negative and
ignore positive Polarized thinking - black or white thinking Overgeneralization -
come to conclusions based on a single event Catastrophizing - expecting
disaster Personalization - thinking everything is about you or caused by you
Blaming - blaming others for our emotions Shoulds - holding others to our
personal standards of how we believe they should act Emotional Reasoning -
what we feel is the truth Reward Fallacy - expecting a reward for altruistic
behavior Minimizing & Magnifying
Self-actualization - correct answer realization or fulfillment of one's potential
Egocentric - correct answer Piaget (assumes other's see things exactly how
they do)
,Ego-syntonic - correct answer behaviors, values, feeling in sync with the
Ego.
Ego-dystonic - correct answer beliefs, values, feelings that are in contrast to
the Ego, self-image.
Mental Health Parity - correct answer recognizes mental health illnesses as
the same as physical illnesses.
Sexual Orientation - correct answer An individual's pattern of physical and
emotional arousal toward other persons.
Gender Identity - correct answer The knowledge of oneself as being male
or female. Gender identity usually conforms to anatomic/biological sex.
Psychosocial approach - correct answer Focuses on intrapsychic and
interpersonal change
Task Centered approach - correct answer Focuses on completing tasks to
strengthen self-esteem and restore usual capacity for coping.
Problem Solving Approach assumption about human behavior - correct
answer individual's cognitive processes can be engaged to solve problems,
achieve, and to grow emotionally
Theoretical bases for Cognitive approach - correct answer Rational-emotive
behavior therapy
, Ecological Model - correct answer - Problems occur in life transitions,
environmental pressures, or maladaptive fit between individual and larger
entity (family or community)
- Each individual system depends on other systems
Bowenian Family Therapy - correct answer - the goal of this approach is not
symptom reduction rather it is interested in improving the intergenerational
transmission process
Bowen Emotional Triangle - correct answer 3 person system, smallest
stable relationship, forms when two people experience tension
Family Systems Theory - correct answer Minuchin - Structure should be
hierarchical w/ parents at top
Strategic Family Therapy - correct answer Haley & Madanes
- Symptoms have a "payoff" for the family
- Helplessness, illness provide power positions within family, child uses
symptoms to change parent behavior.
Types of therapy groups - correct answer Groups centered on a shared
problem
Counseling groups
Activity groups
Action groups
Self-help groups
Natural groups
Closed vs open groups
Structured groups
