Counseling Exam Preparation Boot Camp

Overview

• Howard Rosenthal's 47-minute super review for counseling exam preparation.
• Created in 2002 but still highly relevant today.
• Focuses on key material rapidly to gauge if studies are on the right track.
• Meant as the final step in exam preparation.

Human Growth and Development

• Nature vs. Nurture: Genetics and environment.
• Developmental Theorists:
  • Biological/Physical: Genetic inheritance.
  • Psychoanalytic/Psychodynamic: Freud, Jung, Adler, Erikson.
  • Freud's 5-stage Model (Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency, Genital).
  • ID, Ego, Superego: Pleasure principle, moral standards, balance.
• Freud's Life and Death Instincts: Eros vs. Thanatos.
• Abraham Maslow: Hierarchy of needs.
• Jean Piaget: Stages of cognitive development.
• William Perry, Lawrence Kohlberg, Carol Gilligan: Cognitive and moral development models.
• Daniel Levinson: Mid-life crisis.
• Albert Bandura: Social learning theory.
• Robert Havighurst: Development stages and tasks.

Social and Cultural Foundations

• Culture: Habits, customs, art, religion, science, politics.
• Types of Culture: Universal, National, Regional, Ecological, Macro, Micro.
• Race and Ethnocentrism: Genetic characteristics and superiority.
• Emic vs. Etic: Cultural understanding approaches.
• Autoplastic vs. Alloplastic: Changing self vs. changing environment.
• Paralanguage: Tone, loudness, inflection, speed, silence.
• Low and High Context Communication: Verbal explanations vs. nonverbal understanding.
• Guard against stereotyping.
• Anglo-Conformity Theory: Assimilation into dominant culture.

Multicultural Counseling Tips:

1. Native Americans: Few words, spirituality, advice in story form, see in-home.
2. African Americans: Concrete skills, short-term counseling, behavioral modalities.
3. Asian Americans: Low voice, assertiveness training, focus on insight and existential issues.
4. Hispanic/Latino: Benefit from catharsis, psychodrama, family discussions.

Counseling Relationship and Theories

• Freudian Psychoanalysis: Personality and therapy, Insight through catharsis and ab reaction methods.
  • Defense Mechanisms: Repression, displacement, projection, reaction formation, sublimation, rationalization, identification, denial.
• Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT):
  • Albert Ellis: Self-talk, irrational thinking.
  • ABC Theory of Personality: Activating event, Belief system, Emotional consequence, Dispute irrational belief, New consequence.
• Transactional Analysis (TA):
  • Eric Berne: Parent, Adult, Child ego states, Life scripts, Games, Crossed transactions.
• Person-Centered Therapy:
  • Carl Rogers: Empathy, unconditional positive regard, genuineness, reflection, open-ended questions.
• Reality Therapy:
  • William Glasser: Choice Theory, Eight steps, No excuses or punishment.
• Behavior Modification: Based on B.F. Skinner, reinforcement, punishment, extinction, shaping, systematic desensitization.
• Gestalt Therapy:
  • Frederick Perls: Whole, unfinished business, present moment awareness, exercises, empty chair technique.
• Eclectic Approach: Combining strategies from different schools.
• Family Counseling:
  • System pathology, Circular causality.
  • Nathan Ackerman (psychoanalytic), Virginia Satir (communication patterns), Carl Whitaker (creative), Murray Bowen (triangulation), Salvador Minuchin (structural changes), Jay Haley and Chloe Madanes (strategic).

Group Counseling

• Irvin Yalom's 11 Therapeutic Factors: Altruism, universality, hope, catharsis, cohesion, imitative behavior, family reenactment, imparting information, interpersonal learning, socialization techniques, existential factors.
• Group Dynamics and Processes: Initial stage, transition conflict, working stage, termination.
• Group Leadership Styles: Autocratic, laissez-faire, democratic, speculative, charismatic.
• Types of Groups: Guidance, counseling, group therapy, training groups, structured groups, self-help/support groups.

Lifestyle and Career Counseling

• Trait Factor Theory: Frank Parsons, matching traits to occupations.
• Anne Roe: Needs approach based on childhood experiences.
• Ginzberg's Developmental Theory: Fantasy, tentative, realistic periods.
• Donald Super: Self-concept in career choice, life rainbow.
• John Holland: Six personality types, assessment tools.
• Krumboltz's Social Learning Theory: Genetic factors, environment, learning experiences, problem-solving skills.
• Computer Assisted Career Guidance (CACG): Siggy, discover, screening, orientation, follow-up.
• DOT and OOH: Job trends, salaries, hidden job market.

Appraisal

• Terminology: Raw scores, range, measures of central tendency (mean, median, mode), skewness, standard deviation.
• Validity and Reliability: Test accuracy and consistency.
• Aptitude vs. Achievement Tests: Potential vs. current performance.
• Types of Tests: Power vs. speed, projective tests.
• Regression to the Mean: Scores normalizing over time.

Research and Evaluation

• Correlation: Association, not causation.
• Experimental Design: Random/systematic sampling, IV and DV, control groups, hypothesis testing, type 1 and 2 errors.
• Statistics: Descriptive vs. inferential.

Professional Orientation and Ethics

• Scope of Practice: Limit practice to areas of training.
• Duty to Warn: Based on Tarasoff case, warn appropriate parties of threats.
• Dual Relationships: Avoid significant additional relationships with clients.
• Privileged Communication: Legal protection on confidential communications.
• Ethical Guidelines: Sexual relationships, multiple submissions, referral fees, confidentiality protections, internet counseling.