Free ASWB Masters Exam Flashcards

Autonomy vs. Shame and Doubt — success builds the toddler's sense of will and independent choice; failure produces shame and self-doubt about their own capabilities.

Identity vs. Role Confusion — adolescents who explore and commit to values, career direction, and self-concept develop fidelity; those who don't experience diffuse identity confusion.

Integrity vs. Despair (late adulthood) — a coherent, accepting review of one's life produces wisdom; the opposing outcome is despair over unmet goals and fear of death.

Intimacy vs. Isolation (young adulthood) resolves into love and committed relationships; Generativity vs. Stagnation (middle adulthood) resolves into care for the next generation through work, mentoring, or parenting.

Preoperational stage (roughly ages 2-7) — the child lacks conservation, the understanding that quantity stays the same despite a change in container shape, and thinking is also egocentric and symbolic.

Formal operational stage (roughly age 11 onward) — abstract, hypothetical-deductive reasoning emerges, including reasoning about possibilities, ethics, and future consequences.

Secure attachment — the child uses the caregiver as a reliable secure base, shows distress at separation, and is readily comforted on reunion, reflecting consistent, responsive caregiving.

Disorganized attachment — the caregiver is simultaneously a source of comfort and fear; it is strongly associated with maltreatment history and elevated risk for later psychopathology, so it should be screened for in child welfare and trauma cases.

Hypomanic episode — DSM-5-TR requires only 4+ consecutive days of the mood change (versus 1+ week, or any duration if hospitalization is required, for mania), and by definition hypomania does not cause marked impairment or psychotic features.

GAD requires excessive, hard-to-control worry for 6+ months; Adjustment Disorder is diagnosed when symptoms begin within 3 months of an identifiable stressor and are tied to that specific trigger rather than a chronic worry pattern.

Persistent Depressive Disorder (Dysthymia) — the defining feature is chronicity (2+ years in adults) with milder, more persistent symptoms, distinguishing it from the episodic, 2-week-minimum presentation of Major Depressive Disorder.

At least 1 month of active-phase symptoms (e.g., delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech) AND continuous signs of disturbance for at least 6 months total, including prodromal or residual periods.

Delirium — the hallmark is acute onset and fluctuating attention/consciousness, often from a medical cause and frequently reversible, unlike dementia's gradual, typically progressive course with attention preserved early on.

BPD centers on instability of relationships, self-image, and affect plus intense fear of abandonment; ASPD centers on a pervasive pattern of disregard for and violation of the rights of others, including deceit and lack of remorse.

The PHQ-9 — a 9-item self-report scale scoring each DSM depression symptom from 0-3, commonly used to screen, quantify severity, and track treatment response over time.

The GAD-7 — a 7-item scale that screens for and quantifies the severity of generalized anxiety symptoms; a score of 10 or higher typically flags a likely anxiety disorder warranting further assessment.

It systematically assesses suicidal ideation severity AND specifically distinguishes ideation from actual suicidal behavior or attempts, helping clinicians stratify risk and choose the appropriate level of intervention.

The SCID-5 (Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5) — a comprehensive, standardized diagnostic interview that systematically walks through DSM-5-TR criteria, increasing diagnostic reliability compared to an unstructured interview.

Appearance/behavior, mood and affect, thought process and content (including perception), and cognition (orientation, memory, insight, and judgment) — the MSE is a structured, in-the-moment snapshot, not a diagnosis by itself.

It systematically integrates biological factors (health, genetics, substance use), psychological factors (mood, cognition, coping), and social factors (relationships, environment, culture, and often spirituality), giving a fuller picture for treatment planning than diagnosis alone.

A specific plan, access to lethal means, and a prior suicide attempt are the strongest imminent-risk factors; intent plus means plus a timeline moves risk from ideation to acute danger.

A protective factor is a reason for living or resource that reduces risk (e.g., strong social support, moral/religious objections, responsibility to children, future orientation); assessing risk AND protective factors together gives a balanced, accurate picture rather than a risk-only snapshot.

The Stanley-Brown Safety Planning Intervention — a collaborative, written, personalized plan (warning signs, coping strategies, contacts, means restriction) with demonstrated effectiveness; a 'no-suicide contract' is an outdated promise not to self-harm with no evidence of protective effect and is no longer recommended.

Restricting access to lethal means (e.g., firearms, excess medication) reduces risk because many suicide attempts are impulsive and time-limited — removing the means during a crisis window can prevent an attempt even when the underlying urge is temporary.

A specific, credible threat naming or reasonably identifying a specific victim, plus apparent intent and means to carry it out — vague anger or generalized hostility does not, by itself, trigger the duty.

Danger-to-others assessment requires identifying a specific, identifiable potential victim and evaluating intent, means, and access to that person — this is what can trigger a duty to warn or protect (Tarasoff); suicide risk assessment has no identifiable third-party target requirement.

Cognitive Processing Therapy (CPT), Prolonged Exposure (PE), and EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) — all three directly process the trauma memory rather than relying on supportive counseling alone.

Exposure and Response Prevention (ERP) — the client is gradually exposed to obsession-triggering situations while being coached to refrain from performing the compulsive ritual, breaking the anxiety-relief cycle that maintains OCD.

OUD: Medications for Opioid Use Disorder (MOUD) — buprenorphine or methadone. AUD: naltrexone or acamprosate. Matching the right medication to the right substance is a common exam distinction.

Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) — developed by Marsha Linehan specifically for BPD and chronic suicidality; it combines individual therapy with a skills group covering mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness.

Child trauma: Trauma-Focused CBT (TF-CBT), which actively includes the caregiver. Adolescent anorexia: Family-Based Treatment (FBT/the Maudsley approach), which empowers parents to take an active role in renourishment.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) — a collaborative, client-centered style that elicits the client's own reasons for change and 'rolls with resistance' rather than arguing or confronting, which tends to increase defensiveness.

SFBT concentrates on exceptions (times the problem wasn't happening), the client's existing strengths, and concrete future goals (e.g., the 'miracle question') rather than analyzing the history or root causes of the problem.

Differentiation of self is the capacity to maintain one's own identity, thinking, and emotional stability while staying connected to an emotionally intense family system; low differentiation predicts higher reactivity, fusion, and triangulation within families.

The family's structure — specifically dysfunctional hierarchies, boundaries, and subsystem alignments (e.g., a child enmeshed in the parental subsystem) — with the goal of realigning boundaries and restoring appropriate generational hierarchy.

Crisis intervention aims to stabilize the client, ensure immediate safety, and restore the client's prior level of functioning; it is short-term and time-limited (typically hours to a few weeks), not long-term therapy.

Forming, storming, norming, performing, and (in later versions) adjourning — groups typically start with polite orientation, move through conflict over roles and norms, establish cohesion, then become productive.

Case management is the ongoing process of linking, coordinating, and monitoring a client's services across the course of care; discharge planning is the subset of that work focused specifically on preparing the client's transition out of a program or facility, including aftercare and follow-up.

Standard 1.06 — it directs social workers to avoid conflicts of interest, including dual or multiple relationships with clients or former clients, that could impair professional judgment or create a risk of exploitation or harm.

Standard 1.09 prohibits sexual activities or contact with current clients, their relatives, or others with whom the client has a close personal relationship, and also prohibits such relationships with former clients except in extraordinary circumstances - where the social worker bears the full burden of demonstrating no exploitation or harm.

Standard 4.05 (Impairment) requires the social worker to seek consultation, take remedial action, and, if necessary, limit, suspend, or terminate practice when personal problems, substance use, or other issues interfere with professional judgment or performance.

Standard 1.16 (Termination of Services) requires social workers to terminate appropriately — not abandoning clients still in need, providing referrals, and giving reasonable notice — rather than abruptly cutting off service.

Tarasoff established a duty to warn and/or protect an identifiable, intended victim when a client makes a credible, specific threat of serious harm against that person — the threat must name or clearly identify a potential victim, not just express general anger.

No — a subpoena alone does not authorize release of confidential records. The social worker needs the client's informed consent or a court order (not merely a subpoena) before disclosing, and should consult legal counsel or supervision first.

It requires disclosing only the minimum amount of protected health information reasonably necessary to accomplish the specific purpose of the disclosure — not the entire record — even when the disclosure itself is otherwise permitted.

The consent must be voluntary (free of coercion), informed (the client understands risks, benefits, and alternatives), and given by someone with the competence/capacity to consent — missing any one of the three invalidates informed consent.

Supervision is hierarchical — the supervisor holds evaluative authority and oversight responsibility for the supervisee's practice; consultation is a peer-to-peer exchange of advice or expertise with no evaluative authority over the consultee's work.

Countertransference — the worker's own unresolved feelings or history being triggered by the client. The appropriate response is to bring it to supervision or consultation to process it, rather than acting on it or ignoring it, so it doesn't distort the clinical relationship.

Secondary traumatic stress results from indirect exposure to a client's traumatic material, producing trauma-like symptoms in the worker; burnout results from chronic workplace stress and overload, manifesting as emotional exhaustion, cynicism, and reduced sense of accomplishment, without necessarily involving trauma content.

Because unaddressed impairment (burnout, secondary trauma, or personal problems) directly threatens competent, safe practice and client welfare, tying back to Standard 4.05; proactively planning for self-care helps prevent the impairment the Code requires social workers to address.