AMFTRB Exam Terms
Questions and Correct Graded
A+
A Learning Process - Answer-Milan Family Therapists viewed the use of interventions
as nothing more than a learning process in which the therapist tests hypotheses and
interventions through trial and error as they learn about the family.
A System - Answer-Cybernetics - A unit bounded by a set of interrelated elements
which exhibits coherent behaviors
Activating Constructive Anxiety - Answer-A Symbolic-Experiential Therapist's effort to
reframe symptoms as efforts toward building competence by focusing on the positive
attributes of anxiety as a means toward self-growth.
Affective Intensity - Answer-Structural - increasing the emotional intensity of the system
to encourage structural change
Aligning with Parental Generation - Answer-Strategic & Structural - A technique directed
at strengthening the parental hierarchy and reinforcing that parents are in charge of the
children. The therapist will break neutrality and intentionally align with the parental
subsystem
Amplifying or Positive Feedback Loops - Answer-Cybernetics - These increase change
in a family's homeostasis (morphogenesis).
Analogic Communication - Answer-Communications Theory - Has little structure but is
rich in content such as a child's kinetic family drawing.
Analogical Message - Answer-milan - metaphorical or symbolic message (process)
Attachment - Answer-EFT - The individual's basic need for trust and security.
Developed in infancy/early childhood and influences relationships in adulthood.
Attenuating or Negative Feedback Loops - Answer-Cybernetics - These reduce change
in an existing homeostasis.
Battle for Initiative - Answer-Symbolic-Experiential Therapy: Therapists communicates
responsibility for treatment belongs to the family. Family must win the battle for initiative
,Battle for Structure - Answer-In Symbolic-Experiential Therapy, if the family is not willing
to meet these expectations set by the therapist, they are not prepared to invest in the
growth process and change would be unlikely.
Beginner's Mind - Answer-Solution-focused - The therapist maintains an open mind
which lends itself to possibilities, while being careful not to exert expertise, which limits
possibilities.
Bilateral Pseudo-Therapy - Answer-Occurs when family members attempt to play
therapist to one another, this is avoided.
symbolic-experiential therapy
Bilateral Transference - Answer-Symbolic-experiential - A therapists' intentional
maneuver to adapt to the language, accent, rhythm, or posture of the family.
Blamers - Answer-one of Satir's four dysfunctional communication styles. often disagree
with others and hold others responsible for things not going their way. blamers often feel
insecure and powerless, and feel that they must go to extreme measures - verbal and/or
physical aggression - for anyone to really listen to them. here, the self and the context
are acknowledged, while the other is not.
Body, Mind, and Feelings - Answer-Satir's belief that the mind, body, and feelings
interact and influence communication processes at both the verbal and nonverbal level.
Bonding - Answer-EFT - Attachment theory's term for the process in which individuals
form a connection in a relationship that satisfies the primary need for attachment
Boundaries - Answer-Structural - Individuals, subsystems, and families are separated
from one another by boundaries, which can be clear, diffuse, or rigid.
Cybernetics - Theoretical lines of demarcation that define a system as an entity and
separate subsystems.
Boundary interface - Answer-Cybernetics - The regions between each subsystem of the
family and between the family and the suprasystem. In family systems therapy this
interface is referred to as the familial boundary.
Boundary Making - Answer-Structural - An intervention in which therapists reinforce
appropriate boundaries and diffuse inappropriate boundaries by adapting the
interactional patterns of the family's structure.
Bridge Maneuver - Answer-This intervention calls for the manual stimulation of the
female in an effort to produce orgasm. This would gradually decrease as treatment
progresses as partners begin to fill that role. (Sex Therapy)
, Case Research (Case Studies) - Answer-An in-depth investigation of a problem in one
or more real-life settings over an extended period of time.
Centrifugal - Answer-A measure on the Timberlaw Model suggesting that family
members look to get their needs met OUTSIDE of the family system.
Centripetal - Answer-A measure on the Timberlawn Model suggesting that family
members look to get their needs met WITHIN the family system.
Challenging Family Assumptions - Answer-Structural - Offers the family alternative
perspectives and views on how they interact with one another.
Challenging the Symptom - Answer-Structural - Offers the family alternative ways of
perceiving the role of the symptom in relation to the family's structure.
Change is Constant - Answer-Solution-Focused Therapies view that change is
inevitable and constant, that the client's situation is always in flux although these
changes often go overlooked.
Circular Causality - Answer-in determining the origins of problems, general systems
theory departs radically from traditional, linear causality. This is different than linear
causality and acknowledged that two things do, say, or feel mutually influence on one
another in a recursive, circular relationship
cybernetics
Circular Questioning - Answer-Milan - The therapist asks one family member to
comment on the interactions of two other family members to create circularity within the
system and help the therapist build a more elaborate hypothesis.
The Circumplex Model - Answer-An objective assessment tool measuring levels of
cohesion, flexibility, and communication within family systems. (Assessment in Family
Therapy)
Clear Boundary - Answer-Structural - A clear boundary between the parental subsystem
and the children establishes the parents in leadership positions. It allows the parents
and children to interact, but supports the couple in a separate relationship, with time to
enjoy the mature activities of recreation and pleasure. Healthy families have clear
generational, hierarchical boundaries that allow parents to maintain parental roles and
children to maintain child roles.
Clients as Consultants - Answer-In Narrative Therapy, after clients had discharged the
therapist would welcome them back to serve as consultants on current cases. This
would reinforce their growth and maintain the collaborative stance of the therapist.
Questions and Correct Graded
A+
A Learning Process - Answer-Milan Family Therapists viewed the use of interventions
as nothing more than a learning process in which the therapist tests hypotheses and
interventions through trial and error as they learn about the family.
A System - Answer-Cybernetics - A unit bounded by a set of interrelated elements
which exhibits coherent behaviors
Activating Constructive Anxiety - Answer-A Symbolic-Experiential Therapist's effort to
reframe symptoms as efforts toward building competence by focusing on the positive
attributes of anxiety as a means toward self-growth.
Affective Intensity - Answer-Structural - increasing the emotional intensity of the system
to encourage structural change
Aligning with Parental Generation - Answer-Strategic & Structural - A technique directed
at strengthening the parental hierarchy and reinforcing that parents are in charge of the
children. The therapist will break neutrality and intentionally align with the parental
subsystem
Amplifying or Positive Feedback Loops - Answer-Cybernetics - These increase change
in a family's homeostasis (morphogenesis).
Analogic Communication - Answer-Communications Theory - Has little structure but is
rich in content such as a child's kinetic family drawing.
Analogical Message - Answer-milan - metaphorical or symbolic message (process)
Attachment - Answer-EFT - The individual's basic need for trust and security.
Developed in infancy/early childhood and influences relationships in adulthood.
Attenuating or Negative Feedback Loops - Answer-Cybernetics - These reduce change
in an existing homeostasis.
Battle for Initiative - Answer-Symbolic-Experiential Therapy: Therapists communicates
responsibility for treatment belongs to the family. Family must win the battle for initiative
,Battle for Structure - Answer-In Symbolic-Experiential Therapy, if the family is not willing
to meet these expectations set by the therapist, they are not prepared to invest in the
growth process and change would be unlikely.
Beginner's Mind - Answer-Solution-focused - The therapist maintains an open mind
which lends itself to possibilities, while being careful not to exert expertise, which limits
possibilities.
Bilateral Pseudo-Therapy - Answer-Occurs when family members attempt to play
therapist to one another, this is avoided.
symbolic-experiential therapy
Bilateral Transference - Answer-Symbolic-experiential - A therapists' intentional
maneuver to adapt to the language, accent, rhythm, or posture of the family.
Blamers - Answer-one of Satir's four dysfunctional communication styles. often disagree
with others and hold others responsible for things not going their way. blamers often feel
insecure and powerless, and feel that they must go to extreme measures - verbal and/or
physical aggression - for anyone to really listen to them. here, the self and the context
are acknowledged, while the other is not.
Body, Mind, and Feelings - Answer-Satir's belief that the mind, body, and feelings
interact and influence communication processes at both the verbal and nonverbal level.
Bonding - Answer-EFT - Attachment theory's term for the process in which individuals
form a connection in a relationship that satisfies the primary need for attachment
Boundaries - Answer-Structural - Individuals, subsystems, and families are separated
from one another by boundaries, which can be clear, diffuse, or rigid.
Cybernetics - Theoretical lines of demarcation that define a system as an entity and
separate subsystems.
Boundary interface - Answer-Cybernetics - The regions between each subsystem of the
family and between the family and the suprasystem. In family systems therapy this
interface is referred to as the familial boundary.
Boundary Making - Answer-Structural - An intervention in which therapists reinforce
appropriate boundaries and diffuse inappropriate boundaries by adapting the
interactional patterns of the family's structure.
Bridge Maneuver - Answer-This intervention calls for the manual stimulation of the
female in an effort to produce orgasm. This would gradually decrease as treatment
progresses as partners begin to fill that role. (Sex Therapy)
, Case Research (Case Studies) - Answer-An in-depth investigation of a problem in one
or more real-life settings over an extended period of time.
Centrifugal - Answer-A measure on the Timberlaw Model suggesting that family
members look to get their needs met OUTSIDE of the family system.
Centripetal - Answer-A measure on the Timberlawn Model suggesting that family
members look to get their needs met WITHIN the family system.
Challenging Family Assumptions - Answer-Structural - Offers the family alternative
perspectives and views on how they interact with one another.
Challenging the Symptom - Answer-Structural - Offers the family alternative ways of
perceiving the role of the symptom in relation to the family's structure.
Change is Constant - Answer-Solution-Focused Therapies view that change is
inevitable and constant, that the client's situation is always in flux although these
changes often go overlooked.
Circular Causality - Answer-in determining the origins of problems, general systems
theory departs radically from traditional, linear causality. This is different than linear
causality and acknowledged that two things do, say, or feel mutually influence on one
another in a recursive, circular relationship
cybernetics
Circular Questioning - Answer-Milan - The therapist asks one family member to
comment on the interactions of two other family members to create circularity within the
system and help the therapist build a more elaborate hypothesis.
The Circumplex Model - Answer-An objective assessment tool measuring levels of
cohesion, flexibility, and communication within family systems. (Assessment in Family
Therapy)
Clear Boundary - Answer-Structural - A clear boundary between the parental subsystem
and the children establishes the parents in leadership positions. It allows the parents
and children to interact, but supports the couple in a separate relationship, with time to
enjoy the mature activities of recreation and pleasure. Healthy families have clear
generational, hierarchical boundaries that allow parents to maintain parental roles and
children to maintain child roles.
Clients as Consultants - Answer-In Narrative Therapy, after clients had discharged the
therapist would welcome them back to serve as consultants on current cases. This
would reinforce their growth and maintain the collaborative stance of the therapist.
