NSG527/ NSG 527 Midterm Exam (Latest 2026/2027 Update) | Complete Questions and Answers with Detailed Rationales | Psychopathology Theories & Advanced Clinical Modalities | A+ Graded | Wilkes University

INSTANT PDF DOWNLOAD. This comprehensive EXAM resource covers the NSG 527 Midterm Exam (Wilkes University) for the 2026/2027 academic year. It features 200+ exam-style questions with verified answers and detailed rationales across all key therapy modalities and clinical concepts. EXISTENTIAL PSYCHOTHERAPY Existential psychotherapy is defined as "a phenomenological-personal psychotherapy with the aim of enabling a person to experience his or her life freely at the spiritual and emotional levels, to arrive at authentic decisions, and to come to a responsible way of dealing with himself or herself and the world around them". Founders: Leading figures include Rollo May, Irvin Yalom, and Viktor Frankl. Yalom's Four "Givens" of Existence: Death Freedom Isolation Meaninglessness Three Modes of the World ("Being-in-the-World"): Umwelt - the biological world, environment Mitwelt - "with world" - relationship with others in society and culture Eigenwelt - "own world" - self-awareness and self-relatedness Überwelt - connection to abstract and absolute aspects of living (ideological beliefs about life, death, and existence) Key Themes and Principles: Choice - free to choose Freedom - free to shape their destiny Responsibility - responsible for their own actions or inactions Awareness - through self-awareness, people can choose their actions and create their own destiny Aloneness - part of the human condition that people enter and depart the world alone Meaning - part of the human condition is the struggle for a sense of meaning Anxiety - is a condition of living and is inevitable Death - the fear of death must be faced before one can truly live Anxiety in existential therapy arises from our personal need to survive, preserve our being, and assert our being. It can be neurotic or normal. Dysfunction occurs when existential themes are unresolved, leading to a meaningless life and feelings of guilt. The therapeutic stance of the existential therapist is as a "fellow traveler". GESTALT THERAPY Founders: Frederick (Fritz) Perls and Laura Perls. Key Concepts: The basic goal is to move the client from environmental support to self-support through awareness and self-regulation. Focus on the "here and now" - NOT on the why of behavior, but rather on the what and how of behavior & the here and now Gestalt therapists are sensitive to how the here and now includes residues from the past, such as body posture, habits, and beliefs Impasse: The point where a client does not progress in self-support maturity but continues manipulation of environment (including people) to survive (e.g., playing helpless, crazy, angry) Empty Chair Technique: Used for empty chair dialogue, dreamwork, fantasy games, top dog/under-dog techniques Dialogue: Inclusion, presence, commitment to dialogue, no exploitation, dialogue is lived Gestalt Therapy highlights process (what is taking place) and not the content (what is said about it). The stress is on what is happening, considered, and felt right now rather than on what took place, might, could, or should happen. DYADIC DEVELOPMENTAL PSYCHOTHERAPY (DDP) Founder: Daniel Hughes. Key Concepts: Involves the child and parents working together with the therapist The child gains relationship experience which helps them grow and heal emotionally Family members develop healthy patterns of relating and communicating Focuses on Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs Focuses on safety and security PACE (Ways caregivers can respond to a child that helps them feel safe and loved; helps with self-regulation): Playfulness Acceptance Curiosity Empathy RELATIONAL-CULTURAL THEORY (RCT) Founder: Jean Baker Miller (along with Irene Stiver, Janet Surrey, and Judith Jordan) in the late 1970s. Key Concepts: