CPCE Exam Questions and Answers
Already Passed
When beginning a counseling relationship, you are ethically required to ✔✔Inform the patient of
the limits of confidentiality
As you begin a counseling relationship, it is important to ✔✔jointly decide, between patient and
counselor, how the counseling process will proceed
A client arrives for counseling with the presenting complaint of relationship difficulties. She
goes on to describe that she has had multiple abortions, and seems to use abortion as a birth
control method. You are personally opposed to abortion. How should your personal beliefs
impact the therapeutic relationship? ✔✔Your personal belief system should not have any bearing
on the therapeutic relationship
You have been involved in a counseling relationship with a client for six months, when he
presents you with a small gift. What should you do? ✔✔Accept or decline depending on the
circumstances
,You are court-ordered to disclose confidential information about a client you are counseling.
What do you do? ✔✔Limit, as much as possible, any possibly damaging personal information
and obtain written permission from your client to share confidential information
What should you do if your client requests to see his confidential file? ✔✔Accept or decline
depending upon circumstances
You are a counselor with several clients, and at the same time you are adjusting to a difficult
divorce. You aren't sleeping or eating well, find you are highly distractible, and generally are less
in-touch with your emotional state. You should... ✔✔Be alert to your mental status, and be able
to determine if continuing with your clients poses any threat of being detrimental to the
counseling process
A former client of yours has been arrested for a crime. As his former counselor, you are called to
perform a forensic evaluation. What is your responsibility in this case? ✔✔It is not considered
ethical to perform a forensic evaluation on a current or past client, so you should decline
You are the supervisor for a new counselor, and are asked to attend her wedding. Would it be
ethical to do so? ✔✔Yes, you should be able to attend her wedding without a breach of ethics
,While involved with a research study, you learn that several of your students are using
confidential material in an unethical manner. You had no prior knowledge of this, and all of your
safeguards for professional practice were appropriate. Are you, as the principal researcher,
responsible for the student's behavior ✔✔Yes, you are ultimately responsible
When publishing research, it is important to ✔✔Give credit to other contributors or sources, not
plagiarize, and submit material to only one journal at a time
When a conflict arises between the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics and
a governing authority, which takes precedence? ✔✔Ultimately the law may be adhered to over
the Code of Ethics
An ethics violation should NOT be reported when ✔✔A counselor has been retained to review
another counselor who is in question; and when confidentiality rights would be violated
What does multicultural/diversity counseling refer to? ✔✔Counseling that recognizes diversity
and approaches beneficial to specific groups and an approach that all counselors should ethically
be aware of
Most ethical issues are related to ✔✔Confidentiality
, Only one psychoanalyst's developmental theory covers the entire lifespan. Who is he? ✔✔Erik
Erikson
The Id, Ego, Superego are attributed to which psychoanalyst? ✔✔Sigmund Freud
What is the fourth stage of Jean Piaget's four stages ✔✔Formal Operations
Identity Crisis ✔✔Erik Erikson
Positive Psychology ✔✔processes that contribute to optimal functioning/ not focusing on
abnormalities
Smoking habit to Sigmund Freud ✔✔Oral Fixation
Most mental health professionals believe ✔✔no one theory of development completely explains
the process
Already Passed
When beginning a counseling relationship, you are ethically required to ✔✔Inform the patient of
the limits of confidentiality
As you begin a counseling relationship, it is important to ✔✔jointly decide, between patient and
counselor, how the counseling process will proceed
A client arrives for counseling with the presenting complaint of relationship difficulties. She
goes on to describe that she has had multiple abortions, and seems to use abortion as a birth
control method. You are personally opposed to abortion. How should your personal beliefs
impact the therapeutic relationship? ✔✔Your personal belief system should not have any bearing
on the therapeutic relationship
You have been involved in a counseling relationship with a client for six months, when he
presents you with a small gift. What should you do? ✔✔Accept or decline depending on the
circumstances
,You are court-ordered to disclose confidential information about a client you are counseling.
What do you do? ✔✔Limit, as much as possible, any possibly damaging personal information
and obtain written permission from your client to share confidential information
What should you do if your client requests to see his confidential file? ✔✔Accept or decline
depending upon circumstances
You are a counselor with several clients, and at the same time you are adjusting to a difficult
divorce. You aren't sleeping or eating well, find you are highly distractible, and generally are less
in-touch with your emotional state. You should... ✔✔Be alert to your mental status, and be able
to determine if continuing with your clients poses any threat of being detrimental to the
counseling process
A former client of yours has been arrested for a crime. As his former counselor, you are called to
perform a forensic evaluation. What is your responsibility in this case? ✔✔It is not considered
ethical to perform a forensic evaluation on a current or past client, so you should decline
You are the supervisor for a new counselor, and are asked to attend her wedding. Would it be
ethical to do so? ✔✔Yes, you should be able to attend her wedding without a breach of ethics
,While involved with a research study, you learn that several of your students are using
confidential material in an unethical manner. You had no prior knowledge of this, and all of your
safeguards for professional practice were appropriate. Are you, as the principal researcher,
responsible for the student's behavior ✔✔Yes, you are ultimately responsible
When publishing research, it is important to ✔✔Give credit to other contributors or sources, not
plagiarize, and submit material to only one journal at a time
When a conflict arises between the American Counseling Association (ACA) Code of Ethics and
a governing authority, which takes precedence? ✔✔Ultimately the law may be adhered to over
the Code of Ethics
An ethics violation should NOT be reported when ✔✔A counselor has been retained to review
another counselor who is in question; and when confidentiality rights would be violated
What does multicultural/diversity counseling refer to? ✔✔Counseling that recognizes diversity
and approaches beneficial to specific groups and an approach that all counselors should ethically
be aware of
Most ethical issues are related to ✔✔Confidentiality
, Only one psychoanalyst's developmental theory covers the entire lifespan. Who is he? ✔✔Erik
Erikson
The Id, Ego, Superego are attributed to which psychoanalyst? ✔✔Sigmund Freud
What is the fourth stage of Jean Piaget's four stages ✔✔Formal Operations
Identity Crisis ✔✔Erik Erikson
Positive Psychology ✔✔processes that contribute to optimal functioning/ not focusing on
abnormalities
Smoking habit to Sigmund Freud ✔✔Oral Fixation
Most mental health professionals believe ✔✔no one theory of development completely explains
the process
