NR605 MIDTERM COMPREHENSIVE
STUDY GUIDE 2026 FULL QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
◍ What is displacement?.
Answer: occurs when a person expresses an emotion, such as anger or
frustration, towards a "safe" person rather than towards the cause of the
emotion.
◍ What is denial?.
Answer: occurs when a person refuses to admit to reality or an obvious fact
◍ What is repression?.
Answer: occurs when painful memories are "forgotten." The memories
become subconscious and continue to impact behavior.
◍ What is sublimation?.
Answer: occurs when a person transfers unacceptable impulses into socially
acceptable forms
◍ What is projection?.
Answer: involves ascribing one's feelings to another person
◍ What is intellectualization?.
Answer: occurs when a person uses intellectual thought or learning to
suppress an emotional aspect of a situation.
◍ What is rationalization?.
Answer: involves creating rational explanations to avoid the emotional
consequences of a situation.
◍ What is regression?.
Answer: occurs when a person reverts to early developmental coping
, mechanisms based on Freud's stages of psychosexual development
◍ Tell me about supportive psychodynamic therapy.
Answer: therapy is focused on stabilization through anxiety reduction,
defense stabilization, and improved problem-solving
◍ Tell me about psychoanalytic psychodynamic therapy.
Answer: therapy is directed at interpreting unconscious conflict and gaining
insight
◍ Tell me about expressive psychodynamic therapy.
Answer: focused on emotional processing
◍ Who is psychoanalysis commonly used for?.
Answer: clients who experience anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, depressive disorders, personality disorders, and sexual dysfunction.
may also be helpful for clients whose personality traits are interfering in
their relationships
◍ What's the goal of psychoanalysis?.
Answer: the development of a deeper understanding of self and a desire to
create change.
◍ Which clients are likely to benefit from psychoanalysis?.
Answer: reality-oriented clients with mature defenses and a strong sense of
self and clients with neurotic to healthy personality organization should be
able to think in the abstract and be self-motivated
◍ What are contraindications to psychoanalytic therapy?.
Answer: clients who are not motivated, those who have poor impulse
control, clients who are concrete thinkers, and those amid a major physical
or emotional crisis.
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of recollection?.
Answer: reconstructing the memory of past events
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of repetition?.
Answer: using transference to replay emotions and interactions in a safe
, space
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of working through?.
Answer: integrating repressed memories into current consciousness
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of free association?.
Answer: client talks spontaneously about anything that comes to mind which
allows for thoughts and feelings to surface more easily
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of transference?.
Answer: client redirects feelings for a significant person in their lives,
typically a figure from childhood, onto the psychotherapist, then explores
the relationship to resolve conflict
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of interpretation?.
Answer: the psychotherapist interprets the client's discussions to identify
unconscious feelings and learn new behavior patterns
◍ What are questions to assess belief systems?.
Answer: -What helps you cope with adversity?•What gives you a sense of
meaning and purpose in life?•What matters most to you in life?•What are
your beliefs about health/illness/therapy/seeking help?•To what extent do
your spiritual/religious beliefs comfort you?•What enables you to stay
healthy/get better/find comfort/continue living?•What do those
spiritual/religious practices bring to your life?
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the be a good parent strategy.
Answer: [T]o the extent that the patient is functioning at a childlike level in
significant domains of life, the supportive therapist assumes a parental role"
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the formulate the case strategy.
Answer: Serves as a roadmap for future interventions; why does this person
have this problem now; evolves as more information becomes available;
involves a developmental assessment
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the foster and protect the therapeutic
alliance strategy.
, Answer: First and primary goal throughout the therapy; respect the patient
with compassion, empathy, and commitment; align with the healthy parts of
the person; collaboratively set goals and strategies to attain these;
interpersonally active, treating the patient as the therapist would want to be
treated
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the manage the transference strategy.
Answer: Do need to explore the childhood experiences that underlie
negative transference feelings but they must be corrected or the person may
leave treatment; therapist acknowledges openly, explicitly, and
nondefensively and/or apologizes
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the hold and contain strategy.
Answer: Provide empathy, understanding, soothing, helping the person to
modulate affect, set limits when necessary, restrict acting out and
impulsivity; may require medication and/or hospitalization, securing social
services and so on while protecting the person's autonomy
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the lend psychic structure strategy.
Answer: Help as needed with reality testing, problem-solving, impulse
control, affect modulation, interpersonal awareness, social skills, and
empathy
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the maximize adaptive coping
mechanisms strategy.
Answer: Support high level of defenses such as humor, altruism,
sublimation, rationalization, and intellectualization and decrease use of
denial, splitting, projection, and acting out; enhance coping skills such as
mindfulness, dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral strategies
to build distress tolerance skills and emotional regulation
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the provide a role model for
identification strategy.
Answer: Use judicious self-disclosure; be present, available, and real
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the decrease alexithymia strategy.
STUDY GUIDE 2026 FULL QUESTIONS
AND SOLUTIONS GRADED A+
◍ What is displacement?.
Answer: occurs when a person expresses an emotion, such as anger or
frustration, towards a "safe" person rather than towards the cause of the
emotion.
◍ What is denial?.
Answer: occurs when a person refuses to admit to reality or an obvious fact
◍ What is repression?.
Answer: occurs when painful memories are "forgotten." The memories
become subconscious and continue to impact behavior.
◍ What is sublimation?.
Answer: occurs when a person transfers unacceptable impulses into socially
acceptable forms
◍ What is projection?.
Answer: involves ascribing one's feelings to another person
◍ What is intellectualization?.
Answer: occurs when a person uses intellectual thought or learning to
suppress an emotional aspect of a situation.
◍ What is rationalization?.
Answer: involves creating rational explanations to avoid the emotional
consequences of a situation.
◍ What is regression?.
Answer: occurs when a person reverts to early developmental coping
, mechanisms based on Freud's stages of psychosexual development
◍ Tell me about supportive psychodynamic therapy.
Answer: therapy is focused on stabilization through anxiety reduction,
defense stabilization, and improved problem-solving
◍ Tell me about psychoanalytic psychodynamic therapy.
Answer: therapy is directed at interpreting unconscious conflict and gaining
insight
◍ Tell me about expressive psychodynamic therapy.
Answer: focused on emotional processing
◍ Who is psychoanalysis commonly used for?.
Answer: clients who experience anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive
disorder, depressive disorders, personality disorders, and sexual dysfunction.
may also be helpful for clients whose personality traits are interfering in
their relationships
◍ What's the goal of psychoanalysis?.
Answer: the development of a deeper understanding of self and a desire to
create change.
◍ Which clients are likely to benefit from psychoanalysis?.
Answer: reality-oriented clients with mature defenses and a strong sense of
self and clients with neurotic to healthy personality organization should be
able to think in the abstract and be self-motivated
◍ What are contraindications to psychoanalytic therapy?.
Answer: clients who are not motivated, those who have poor impulse
control, clients who are concrete thinkers, and those amid a major physical
or emotional crisis.
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of recollection?.
Answer: reconstructing the memory of past events
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of repetition?.
Answer: using transference to replay emotions and interactions in a safe
, space
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of working through?.
Answer: integrating repressed memories into current consciousness
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of free association?.
Answer: client talks spontaneously about anything that comes to mind which
allows for thoughts and feelings to surface more easily
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of transference?.
Answer: client redirects feelings for a significant person in their lives,
typically a figure from childhood, onto the psychotherapist, then explores
the relationship to resolve conflict
◍ What is the therapeutic technique of interpretation?.
Answer: the psychotherapist interprets the client's discussions to identify
unconscious feelings and learn new behavior patterns
◍ What are questions to assess belief systems?.
Answer: -What helps you cope with adversity?•What gives you a sense of
meaning and purpose in life?•What matters most to you in life?•What are
your beliefs about health/illness/therapy/seeking help?•To what extent do
your spiritual/religious beliefs comfort you?•What enables you to stay
healthy/get better/find comfort/continue living?•What do those
spiritual/religious practices bring to your life?
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the be a good parent strategy.
Answer: [T]o the extent that the patient is functioning at a childlike level in
significant domains of life, the supportive therapist assumes a parental role"
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the formulate the case strategy.
Answer: Serves as a roadmap for future interventions; why does this person
have this problem now; evolves as more information becomes available;
involves a developmental assessment
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the foster and protect the therapeutic
alliance strategy.
, Answer: First and primary goal throughout the therapy; respect the patient
with compassion, empathy, and commitment; align with the healthy parts of
the person; collaboratively set goals and strategies to attain these;
interpersonally active, treating the patient as the therapist would want to be
treated
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the manage the transference strategy.
Answer: Do need to explore the childhood experiences that underlie
negative transference feelings but they must be corrected or the person may
leave treatment; therapist acknowledges openly, explicitly, and
nondefensively and/or apologizes
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the hold and contain strategy.
Answer: Provide empathy, understanding, soothing, helping the person to
modulate affect, set limits when necessary, restrict acting out and
impulsivity; may require medication and/or hospitalization, securing social
services and so on while protecting the person's autonomy
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the lend psychic structure strategy.
Answer: Help as needed with reality testing, problem-solving, impulse
control, affect modulation, interpersonal awareness, social skills, and
empathy
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the maximize adaptive coping
mechanisms strategy.
Answer: Support high level of defenses such as humor, altruism,
sublimation, rationalization, and intellectualization and decrease use of
denial, splitting, projection, and acting out; enhance coping skills such as
mindfulness, dialectical behavior therapy and cognitive behavioral strategies
to build distress tolerance skills and emotional regulation
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the provide a role model for
identification strategy.
Answer: Use judicious self-disclosure; be present, available, and real
◍ In supportive therapy tell me about the decrease alexithymia strategy.
