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Couples Therapy: Striving for Excellence - Test
by Enrico Gnaulati, Ph.D.

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1. It is important for the couples therapist to show a readiness to be more directive than is typically the case in individual therapy because:	Help
Unproductive conflict can monopolize the therapy. Premature drop-out is a risk factor. The urgency of the presenting problems often requires it. All of the above.

2. A "marriage affirming" stance might be considered early on in treatment:	Help
With the 30 percent of cases where one partner wants to remain married and the other is disinclined to. In cases of spousal abuse. As a universal way of initiating couple therapy. Because happily married couples live longer.

3. Unproductive conflictual exchanges between members of a couple can be addressed by:	Help
Exhorting them to stop talking and hold hands. Having loud and boisterous clients "own their tone." Letting them "vent" uninterrupted. Advising both to seek individual therapy.

4. A common disarming rationale to coax couples to listen and recognize each other's divergent perspective is:	Help
"The truth lies somewhere in the middle." "You get what you give in relationships." "Acknowledging is not the same as agreeing." "Take the higher ground."

5. Suggesting to clients that they "benignly ignore" provocative and inflammatory reactions by a partner can be thought of as:	Help
Always indicative of masochistic self-denial. A dignified expression of personal agency. A set up for protracted conflict. A gesture of religious-moral duty.

6. The most effective way to deal with a client's hyperbolic or totalistic attributions is:	Help
Avoid invalidating a client by challenging his or her word choices. To mirror back the implied rage. To challenge the implied grandiosity. To prompt the use of "I-Statements" and more measured word choices.

7. The Gottman method for addressing any member of a couple's susceptibility to be overly critical is to:	Help
Counsel him or her to reword the issue as a complaint or wish. Counsel him or her to reframe the issue in terms of family-of-origin psychological injuries. Advise him or her to seek positivity training. Advise him or her to seek individual therapy.

8. Therapist actions geared toward maintaining a balanced alliance in couple therapy involve:	Help
Keeping a time log to ensure equal duration of responses. Ensuring equal distributions of positive affirmations. Keeping a mental balance sheet of equitable support. Tracking smiling responses to clients.

9. Insofar as a therapist engages in therapeutic multi-directed partiality they shift client alliances based on in-the-moment determinations as to:	Help
Whose conscientious positive efforts are deserving of recognition. Whose actions merit recognition of trustworthiness. Who has been harmed the most and is owed support. All of the above

10. The clinical rationale behind using "therapeutic guilt inducement" to curate responsibility taking and apology rendering for conflict remediation is:\|	Help
Guilt is a primal affective motivator of virtuous behavior. Guilt is a primal affective motivator of character strength. Guilt is considered a "social emotion" signaling wrongdoing and the need for relational repair. None of the above.

11. According to Harriet Lerner, a true apology:	Help
Is contingent upon the injured party also apologizing. Involves remaining curious about the injured person's hurt feelings and not acting defensively. Involves a detailed accounting of all transgressive actions. Is contingent upon expectable forgiveness.

12. Tannen's research indicates that males typically adhere to a "_____" communicative style:	Help
Rapport talk Report talk Loquacious talk Mansplain talk

13. The therapist's use of humor can bolster the alliance in couple therapy insofar as:	Help
It can dissolve any problematic power imbalances. It can add an extra quotient of compatibility. Laughter implies the therapist is not discouraged by protracted client problems. All of the above

14. Failing to treat a cisgender man (or transgender man, for that matter) who is comfortable with many of the social expectations associated with what it means to be traditionally masculine can be a:	Help
Multicultural competence concern. Countertransference concern. Multidirected partiality concern. Transference concern.

15. Rendering couples therapy more male-friendly counters the potential for bias in the form of:	Help
Validating toxic masculinity. Reinforcing atypical gender stereotypes. Superimposing onto cisgender men behavioral expectations more normative for cisgender women. None of the above.

16. The therapeutic stance adopted by the practitioner when working with those adhering to traditional masculine gender norms may need to carefully monitor excessive displays of:	Help
Problem solving. Nurturance and empathy. Role playing. None of the above

17. Death anxiety can potentiate a couple being more intentional in their desire to make relational improvements because it can:	Help
Add a sense of urgency to the change process. Sharpen an awareness of superior life priorities. Mitigate death bed regrets. All of the above

18. A research based relational legacy to hand down to children that breaks intergenerational patterns of dysfunctionality involves being motivated to reduce:	Help
Jealousy, domineering tendencies, moodiness, and critical responses. Greed, sloth, and pride. Vanity, withdrawal, and hopelessness. Underproductivity and poverty.

Couples Therapy: Striving for Excellence - Test by Enrico Gnaulati, Ph.D.

Couples Therapy: Striving for Excellence - Test
by Enrico Gnaulati, Ph.D.