Psychotherapy and the Social Work Exam

Psychotherapy is a big part of social work practice and will show up on the social work licensing exam. But which psychotherapy? There are lots and lots of therapies out there--just take a gander at this giant Wikipedia list, which goes from Abreaction Therapy to Wilderness Therapy (X, Y, and Z are wide open). Will either of those show up on the exam? No, not as correct answers at least. The examiners are looking to see if you're familiar with mainstream, clinically-validated therapy. This shrinks the list down considerably!

Take a look at this Psychotherapies page from NIMH. It includes the very types of psychotherapy likely to show up on the exam: CBT, DBT, Interpersonal Therapy, Family Therapy. Note that Psychodynamic Psychotherapy shows up in the "Other Types of Therapy" section, alongside Light Therapy. The lesson here: know your CBT, know your DBT. Focus less on the other stuff, however much you may be drawn to it personally and professionally.

When a question asks what is the BEST treatment for a particular disorder, say OCD, the answer is very likely to be CBT, or some specific type of CBT (e.g., Exposure Therapy). When a question asks what a therapist should do FIRST with a client who has childhood trauma informing maladaptive coping now, the answer most often is the here-and-now one. Help with resources, social support, etc. For social workers, plumbing psychic depths is supposed to come later.

This doesn't mean you won't benefit--on the exam and in practice--by getting familiar with a wider range of therapies than those included on the NIMH list. Check out the early episodes of the Social Work Podcast for chirpy, concise summaries of Gestalt Therapy and others. Good listening, good to know. Just keep in mind the FIRST and BEST option for you on the exam isn't likely going to stray from the short list.

Good luck on the exam!

Exam DSM: PTSD

Post-traumatic stress disorder has always been a part of what social workers see in practice. Sometimes the PTSD is long-standing, rooted in childhood trauma, and doesn't show up in a client's chart. With wars overseas and violence at home, and a lot of media attention on the diagnosis, PTSD may, more and more, be correctly identified more often. For the same reasons, its not unreasonable to prepare to see questions about PTSD on the social work licensing exam.

As a topic for the exam, PTSD isn't all that complicated. The differential between acute stress and PTSD is one easy opening for test writers. Co-occurring PTSD and substance abuse is another. One way to approach the topic for the social work exam is to think what you would do if you had to come up with questions for the exam--about PTSD and whatever else. Where would you go to get ideas?

As you're preparing for the exam, everything you read and encounter that has to do with social work is potentially useful as exam prep. An article about soldiers struggling as they return to civilian life...there's a vignette question in there. Breakthroughs with new treatments (e.g., EMDR)...another potential question.

But first, here are some places to go--the usuals--to get down the basics about PTSD.

What is post-traumatic stress disorder? (NIMH)
Posttraumatic stress disorder (Wikipedia)
PTSD (NCBI)

Suicide and the Social Work Exam

Suicide assessment, stats, and danger-to-self reporting are all likely to show up on the social work licensing exam--for good reason. A major role of the social work exam is consumer protection. How better to make sure that social workers are equipped to protect clients than by asking questions about handing suicide? The topic can also be unnerving. Being unnerved and still pushing through seems to be another essential element when aiming to pass the social work exam.

You're likely to have covered suicide from several angles while persuing your MSW, and then again in internship trainings, and still again when working with clients. Here are a few places to brush up on the essentials. Knowing your way around this topic can potentially help you through several questions on the exam. It can also help you be a better all-around social worker.

• Suicide Statistics and Prevention (NIMH)
• Suicide Assessment (Wikipedia)
• Duty to Warn, Duty to Protect (New Social Worker)

There's much more where these came from on the web. Good luck.

Happy Social Work Month

Happy Social Work Month from Pass the ASWB Exam. Thanks for everything social worky that you do!

Exam DSM: Culture-Bound Syndromes

Here's a category filled with items you're more likely to encounter on the social work licensing exam than you necessarily might in day-to-day social work practice: Culture-bound syndromes.

The DSM has a long list of syndromes that are typical of people from certain cultures or places.  Exam writers may lean toward including them as a way to test for both DSM depth and general cultural awareness. A conscientious exam writer might reasonably be expected to favor the more common of the syndromes--those specific to populations largely represented in the U.S. and Canada--Latinos, for instance (that would include nervios and susto).

You don't need to memorize the whole list of syndromes. Just have a passing acquaintance--enough so that you'll recognize them by name if they do come up on the exam. Here are some handy places to get brushed up on culture-bound syndromes on the web:

• Culture-Bound Syndrome (Wikipedia)
• Culture-Bound Syndromes Flash Cards (Quizlet)
• DSM-IV Culture-Bound Syndromes (Psychxi)

Good luck on the exam!

Q&A: How many questions on the social work exam? What score do I need to pass?

Some questions pop up from time to time in email and as search terms that show up in site stats. Here are a couple of regulars:

Q: How many questions are there on the social work exam?

A: Two answers: 170 or 200. It's 170 for all ASWB administered exams, 200 for the standard written exam administered by the California BBS. Which is you? If you're in California, 200. Everywhere else, 170. You know who you are.

Note: Not all of the exam questions account toward your score. Some are testers (20 on the ASWB, --their usefulness is being gauged before they're made real questions on some future exam. There's no way to know which questions are testers, so you may as well treat them all as real. That said, keeping in mind that some questions are testers can help you maintain calm and composure if you hit a few questions that makes no sense or seem way too hard or that you just don't know. Just shrug it off--"Must be a tester"--make your best guess and move on.

Q: What score do I need to pass the social work exam?

A: Depends upon the state. States set their own pass rates--check with your state board to get a precise number if you want it.  Passing percentages tend to land in the 70-75% range. So, for a state with a 72% requirement, that's 122 out of 170 or 108 out of 150 (excluding testers). For those preparing with online practice exams (a good idea), a good guideline is to aim for percentages coming in at high 70s/low 80s before going to sit for the real thing.

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Exam DSM: Depression

It's very unlikely that you're going to get past the social work licensing exam without encountering a question that deals one way or another with symptoms of depression. While some culture-bound symptoms and other things you may never encounter in day-to-day practice may also show up, what kind of exam would it be without including this fundamental mental health scourge? You probably already know everything you need to know about depression to get through these questions on the exam, but just in case, below are some places to go for some quick review. Run your eyes back over the criteria, sure, but questions on the social work exam are most likely to deal with areas where depression intersects with safety, ethics, and law. When do you refer for medication...for hospitalization...how do you assess for suicide risk? What's the best way to treat depression? Read up!

• Depression at NIMH
• Major depressive disorder at Wikipedia 
• Depression at PsychCentral

And here's a bonus link--a conversation about social workers and depression from the Social Work Podcast.