PERSONALITY & BEHAVIOR
What is the clinical term for a long-standing, inflexible pattern of thinking, feeling, and behaving that causes significant problems in relationships or daily functioning?
What is a personality disorder?
Which personality disorder cluster includes patterns involving social detachment, unusual beliefs, or pervasive suspiciousness?
What is Cluster A?
What is the term for continuing to use a substance despite recurring problems with health, relationships, responsibilities, or other important areas of life?
What is a substance use disorder?
What is the name of the therapy that teaches mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotion regulation, and interpersonal effectiveness?
What is dialectical behavior therapy, or DBT?
A client feels criticized by their counselor and immediately wants to leave treatment. What is one way the client could respond that supports recovery?
What is pause before acting, identify the emotion, ask for clarification, and discuss the concern with the counselor before deciding what to do?
Why is it important to distinguish a personality disorder from temporary behavioral changes caused by intoxication, withdrawal, or an acute mental health crisis?
Because substance effects and acute symptoms can resemble or worsen personality-related symptoms, so an accurate assessment requires consideration of the person's longer-term patterns.
Which personality disorder is associated with a strong need for admiration, grandiosity, and difficulties with empathy?
What is narcissistic personality disorder?
What is the difference between a trigger and a craving?
A trigger is a cue or situation that increases the risk of wanting to use, while a craving is the urge or desire to use the substance.
What cognitive distortion occurs when a person believes that one mistake means they have failed completely?
What is all-or-nothing thinking?
A client experiences intense loneliness after an argument with a partner and believes using substances is the only way to feel better. What coping strategy could help challenge this belief?
What is identify the underlying emotion, consider alternative ways to cope, and contact a safe support person rather than acting immediately on the craving?
What is the term for a person's relatively stable tendency to respond in certain ways across different situations, even though the intensity of that response may vary?
What are personality traits?
A person avoids relationships because they feel inadequate and fear criticism or rejection, even though they want connection. Which personality disorder may be associated with this pattern?
What is avoidant personality disorder?
How can negative reinforcement help explain why someone continues using substances to cope with anxiety, shame, or emotional pain?
Substance use may temporarily reduce or remove an uncomfortable feeling, reinforcing the behavior and making the person more likely to repeat it.
What is the term for accepting that an uncomfortable emotion or craving is present without immediately trying to escape it through substance use?
What is distress tolerance?
A client repeatedly misses recovery meetings because they fear being judged by other participants. What coping approach could help them begin addressing this barrier?
What is gradually practicing participation, challenging assumptions about rejection, and discussing the fear with a trusted counselor or peer-support person?
A person interprets neutral comments as criticism, repeatedly expects others to mistreat them, and struggles to trust people. What type of personality pattern might this reflect?
What is a paranoid personality pattern?
What is the key difference between obsessive-compulsive personality disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder?
Obsessive-compulsive personality disorder involves an enduring pattern of perfectionism, orderliness, and control, while obsessive-compulsive disorder involves obsessions and/or compulsions that cause distress or impairment.
What is the difference between a lapse or return to use and a full return to an established pattern of problematic substance use?
A lapse generally refers to an isolated episode of use, while a return to an established pattern involves renewed or ongoing problematic use. Both warrant assessment and support, and neither automatically erases recovery progress.
How does cognitive behavioral therapy help people change behaviors associated with substance use?
It helps people identify connections between thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, challenge unhelpful thinking patterns, and practice healthier responses.
A client says, "My relapse happened because my family stressed me out. It's their fault." How could a facilitator encourage accountability without shaming the client?
What is acknowledge that family stress may be a trigger while helping the client identify their own choices, coping options, boundaries, and steps to strengthen their recovery plan?
Why should a facilitator avoid diagnosing a group member based on one impulsive action, an emotional outburst, or a conflict with another participant?
Because personality disorders involve enduring patterns across situations, and diagnosis requires comprehensive professional assessment rather than a single behavior.
Which personality disorder involves a persistent pattern of disregarding and violating the rights of others, often including deceitfulness, irresponsibility, or lack of remorse?
What is antisocial personality disorder?
Why can treating a substance use disorder without addressing significant co-occurring mental health symptoms increase challenges in recovery?
Because untreated symptoms may continue to trigger distress, cravings, relationship problems, or avoidance, making sustained recovery more difficult.
A client recognizes that anger often precedes their cravings but continues reacting impulsively during conflict. What two recovery skills could help interrupt this pattern?
What are emotion regulation and distress tolerance? Other appropriate answers include pausing before reacting, identifying triggers, using grounding skills, and practicing assertive communication.
A client has a history of intense relationship conflict, impulsive substance use, and difficulty managing feelings of abandonment. They become distressed when a friend does not respond to a message and begin planning to use. What should the client address immediately, and what longer-term skills may help?
What is address the immediate craving and safety needs by pausing, using distress-tolerance skills, and contacting appropriate support; longer-term work may include emotion regulation, managing abandonment-related distress, interpersonal effectiveness, and coordinated mental health and substance use treatment.