ASWB Clinical Evidence-Based Treatment Models Practice Questions
Evidence-Based Treatment Models makes up 8 of every 50 questions on a Tigertest ASWB Clinical practice test. Here are 10 of the 32 questions on it, each with the answer and the reason.
Updated by the Tigertest team. Based on the ASWB Clinical content outline (2026 Examination Guidebook). Original questions; 50 per test, weighted like the real exam. Not affiliated with ASWB.
1. A therapist treating PTSD has the client retell the trauma memory aloud in session and approach safe situations she has been avoiding. This is:
- A.Behavioral activation
- B.Prolonged exposure
- C.Cognitive processing therapy
- D.Interpersonal therapy
Answer: B. Prolonged exposure combines imaginal exposure to the trauma memory with in vivo exposure to avoided but safe situations, so fear decreases through habituation and new learning.
2. In cognitive processing therapy for PTSD, beliefs such as "It was my fault" that keep a client from recovering are called:
- A.Automatic urges
- B.Safety signals
- C.Core conflicts
- D.Stuck points
Answer: D. CPT helps the client find and challenge stuck points, beliefs about the trauma and about safety, trust, power, esteem and intimacy that block natural recovery.
3. In trauma-focused CBT with a 10-year-old, a key component near the end of treatment is:
- A.Sharing the narrative with the caregiver
- B.Starting medication for sleep
- C.Avoiding all talk of the trauma itself
- D.Seeing the child without the caregiver present
Answer: A. TF-CBT builds skills first, then the child writes a trauma narrative and, when ready, shares it with the non-offending caregiver, who has been prepared in parallel sessions.
4. In parent-child interaction therapy, the therapist coaches a parent through an earpiece to praise, reflect and describe the child's play. This phase is:
- A.Time-out training
- B.Functional analysis
- C.Child-directed interaction
- D.Parent-directed interaction
Answer: C. PCIT starts with child-directed interaction, in which parents follow the child's lead using PRIDE skills (praise, reflection, imitation, description, enjoyment). Parent-directed interaction adds clear commands and consistent consequences.
5. A DBT therapist reviews, step by step, the events, thoughts and feelings that led a client to self-harm last week. This technique is:
- A.Paradoxical intention
- B.Thought stopping
- C.Chain analysis
- D.Free association
Answer: C. Behavioral chain analysis traces the links from vulnerability factors and a prompting event to the problem behavior and its consequences, to find points where a new skill could break the chain.
6. Which is one of the four modes of standard DBT?
- A.A therapist consultation team
- B.A daily medication check
- C.Monthly psychological testing
- D.Weekly family sculpting
Answer: A. Standard DBT includes individual therapy, group skills training, phone coaching between sessions and a consultation team that supports the therapists.
7. A client who feels like hiding from friends when ashamed is taught to reach out to them instead. In DBT this emotion regulation skill is:
- A.Self-soothing
- B.Radical acceptance
- C.Wise mind
- D.Opposite action
Answer: D. Opposite action means acting contrary to the urge of an emotion that does not fit the facts or is not helpful, which reduces the emotion over time.
8. A DBT client practices asking her roommate to pay rent on time by describing the situation, expressing feelings, asserting her request and reinforcing. This skill is:
- A.ABC PLEASE
- B.DEAR MAN
- C.TIPP
- D.STOP
Answer: B. DEAR MAN is DBT's interpersonal effectiveness skill for asking for what one wants or saying no. TIPP and STOP are distress tolerance skills, and ABC PLEASE is an emotion regulation skill.
9. The core communication skills of motivational interviewing are known as:
- A.FRAMES
- B.OARS
- C.SOLER
- D.SMART
Answer: B. OARS stands for open questions, affirmations, reflective listening and summaries. SOLER describes attending posture, and FRAMES summarizes elements of brief interventions.
10. A client says, "I like how drinking helps me unwind after work." In motivational interviewing, this statement is:
- A.Discord
- B.Commitment language
- C.Change talk
- D.Sustain talk
Answer: D. Sustain talk is the client's own argument for keeping the status quo. In MI the clinician responds without arguing and draws out the other side of the ambivalence.
Practice all 32 evidence-based treatment models questions, and the rest of the 200-question bank, in the free ASWB Clinical training sets. Questions you miss come back until you have mastered them.
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