MFT LICENSING EXAM EXAM SCRIPT 2026
TEST PAPER QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
◉ Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Answer: Neither the
individual nor the system can be fully understood without
understanding the other
◉ Building relationships. Answer: Therapist models empathy,
compassion, and ability to hold multiple viewpoints at once.
Important for therapist to have relationships with each individual
and the therapist as a whole
◉ Movement from linear to circular causality. Answer: Everything in
a system impacts everything in the system.
◉ Triangles. Answer: A third party brought in to help individuals
manage anxiety stemming from a relationship
◉ Process versus content. Answer: More important on the HOW
(emotional experience) rather than the WHAT (surface content)
,◉ The meaning (function) of symptoms. Answer: Concept that
symptoms play a larger role in the family; indicate larger, deeper
problems
◉ The family life cycle. Answer: 1) Leaving home - single young
adults
2) The joining of families through marriage - a new couple
3) Families with young children
4) Families with adolescents
5) Launching children and moving on
6) Families in later life
◉ Resistance. Answer: Families are naturally resistant to change
(homeostasis)
◉ Gender. Answer: Family therapists acknowledge the role this plays
in the inequality of the family
◉ Culture. Answer: It is essential to be sensitive to the client's
backgrounds and manage therapy in a way that doesn't undermine
or offend.
,◉ Murray Bowen. Answer: This theorist was psychodynamically
trained and a part of the race to cure schizophrenia. He developed a
theory rather than focusing on clinical interventions.
◉ Feminist Bowenian Therapists. Answer: Monica McGoldrick; Betty
Cater
◉ Essential themes of Bowenian Therapy. Answer: 1) Identification
of the inevitable and dialectical conflict between individuality and
togetherness
2) Interaction of cognitive and affective capacity
◉ Cognitive capacity. Answer: Realization of our creative, individual
potential to objectively accomplish tasks necessary for survival and
enhancement
◉ Affective capacity. Answer: Driven toward expanding our ability to
communicate and connect to others
◉ Self-differentiation. Answer: Capacity to balance thinking with
feeling and thereby individuality with togetherness.
◉ Bowen's Triangles. Answer: 3 person system, which is the
smallest stable unit of human interaction. 2 people will bring in a
, third to help manage stress. 3+ will form a series of interlocking
triangles
◉ Nuclear Family Emotional System. Answer: The dynamics that
nuclear families use to manage stress. Made up of symptoms in one
partner, conflict, distancing, or triangling.
◉ Undifferentiated Ego Mass. Answer: A situation in which the
family members are not able to distinguish their own feelings and
thoughts from other family members'.
◉ Family Projection Process. Answer: Concept identifies that
individuals with limited emotional resources are likely to project
their needs onto others in the family. Think replicating the pattern,
an individual reacting to the parenting style they had.
◉ Individuality and Togetherness. Answer: The two
counterbalancing forces that drive human relationships
◉ Multigenerational Transmission Process. Answer: The idea that as
one branch of a family tree reproduces more differentiated
individuals, the other branches will produce less and less
differentiated individuals.
TEST PAPER QUESTIONS AND SOLUTIONS
GRADED A+
◉ Whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Answer: Neither the
individual nor the system can be fully understood without
understanding the other
◉ Building relationships. Answer: Therapist models empathy,
compassion, and ability to hold multiple viewpoints at once.
Important for therapist to have relationships with each individual
and the therapist as a whole
◉ Movement from linear to circular causality. Answer: Everything in
a system impacts everything in the system.
◉ Triangles. Answer: A third party brought in to help individuals
manage anxiety stemming from a relationship
◉ Process versus content. Answer: More important on the HOW
(emotional experience) rather than the WHAT (surface content)
,◉ The meaning (function) of symptoms. Answer: Concept that
symptoms play a larger role in the family; indicate larger, deeper
problems
◉ The family life cycle. Answer: 1) Leaving home - single young
adults
2) The joining of families through marriage - a new couple
3) Families with young children
4) Families with adolescents
5) Launching children and moving on
6) Families in later life
◉ Resistance. Answer: Families are naturally resistant to change
(homeostasis)
◉ Gender. Answer: Family therapists acknowledge the role this plays
in the inequality of the family
◉ Culture. Answer: It is essential to be sensitive to the client's
backgrounds and manage therapy in a way that doesn't undermine
or offend.
,◉ Murray Bowen. Answer: This theorist was psychodynamically
trained and a part of the race to cure schizophrenia. He developed a
theory rather than focusing on clinical interventions.
◉ Feminist Bowenian Therapists. Answer: Monica McGoldrick; Betty
Cater
◉ Essential themes of Bowenian Therapy. Answer: 1) Identification
of the inevitable and dialectical conflict between individuality and
togetherness
2) Interaction of cognitive and affective capacity
◉ Cognitive capacity. Answer: Realization of our creative, individual
potential to objectively accomplish tasks necessary for survival and
enhancement
◉ Affective capacity. Answer: Driven toward expanding our ability to
communicate and connect to others
◉ Self-differentiation. Answer: Capacity to balance thinking with
feeling and thereby individuality with togetherness.
◉ Bowen's Triangles. Answer: 3 person system, which is the
smallest stable unit of human interaction. 2 people will bring in a
, third to help manage stress. 3+ will form a series of interlocking
triangles
◉ Nuclear Family Emotional System. Answer: The dynamics that
nuclear families use to manage stress. Made up of symptoms in one
partner, conflict, distancing, or triangling.
◉ Undifferentiated Ego Mass. Answer: A situation in which the
family members are not able to distinguish their own feelings and
thoughts from other family members'.
◉ Family Projection Process. Answer: Concept identifies that
individuals with limited emotional resources are likely to project
their needs onto others in the family. Think replicating the pattern,
an individual reacting to the parenting style they had.
◉ Individuality and Togetherness. Answer: The two
counterbalancing forces that drive human relationships
◉ Multigenerational Transmission Process. Answer: The idea that as
one branch of a family tree reproduces more differentiated
individuals, the other branches will produce less and less
differentiated individuals.
