Free LMSW Assessment and Planning Practice Questions

Correct answer: C. Historical trauma

C is correct because historical trauma, a concept developed by Maria Yellow Horse Brave Heart, is the cumulative emotional and psychological wounding across generations that stems from massive group trauma. A is incorrect because complex trauma refers to repeated, prolonged interpersonal trauma within one person's life, often beginning in childhood. B is incorrect because an acute stress reaction is one person's short-term response to a single recent event. D is incorrect because vicarious trauma is the change in a helper's inner experience that comes from repeated exposure to clients' traumatic material.

Correct answer: A. Regression in response to the stress of the fire

A is correct because returning to earlier behaviors is a common, usually temporary response of young children to traumatic loss and disruption. B is incorrect because nothing in the case suggests a sibling conflict, while the fire is a clear and recent stressor. C is incorrect because the behaviors appeared suddenly after a major stressor in a child who had developed typically. D is incorrect because bedwetting alone is not specific to sexual abuse, and the timing points to the fire as the stressor.

Correct answer: C. Complex developmental trauma

C is correct because repeated interpersonal trauma that begins early in life often disrupts emotion regulation, trust in relationships, and awareness (dissociation), which are the core features of complex trauma. A is incorrect because ordinary identity exploration does not explain dissociation and pervasive distrust linked to an abuse history. B is incorrect because the pattern began with early caregiver maltreatment and includes dissociation, which peer influence does not explain. D is incorrect because the youth's history involves chronic, repeated maltreatment by several caregivers rather than one event.

Correct answer: D. Meet with staff to learn how the assault still affects them

D is correct because the signs suggest organizational trauma, and with safety measures already in place, learning how staff are experiencing the aftermath comes before choosing a response. A is incorrect because a passive reminder leaves the organization-wide pattern unexamined and puts the burden on individual staff. B is incorrect because training may help later, but it treats the problem as a skills gap before the director understands the staff's reactions. C is incorrect because treating trauma-related reactions as individual performance problems can blame staff and deepen the distress.

Correct answer: A. Attend to her immediate needs and let her set the pace for disclosure

A is correct because trauma-informed care emphasizes safety, choice, and control, so meeting immediate needs and letting the survivor decide when to disclose reduces the risk of retraumatization. B is incorrect because urging disclosure overrides her stated choice and is not helpful for someone in acute distress. C is incorrect because pressing for details while she is distressed and unwilling can retraumatize her, and the history can be gathered once she feels safer. D is incorrect because delaying intake leaves her immediate needs unmet, and trauma-informed care does not require a specialist.

Correct answer: B. Triangulation

B is correct because in Bowen theory, a two-person relationship under stress pulls in a third person, often a child, to lower the anxiety between the original pair. A is incorrect because emotional cutoff is managing unresolved family tension by reducing or ending contact. C is incorrect because differentiation of self is a person's ability to separate thinking from feeling and stay themselves within close relationships. D is incorrect because enmeshment, a structural family therapy term associated with Minuchin, describes diffuse boundaries in which members are overly involved in one another's lives.

Correct answer: A. Enmeshed boundaries between mother and daughter

A is correct because enmeshment, described by Minuchin, involves diffuse boundaries in which a parent is overinvolved and the child's growing autonomy is discouraged. B is incorrect because parentification means a child takes on adult caregiving roles, which the case does not describe. C is incorrect because disengagement involves rigid boundaries and little emotional connection, the opposite of this mother's overinvolvement. D is incorrect because no third person is drawn into the conflict in the case described.

Correct answer: C. Parentification

C is correct because parentification occurs when a child takes on adult responsibilities, such as caring for siblings, which can strain the child's development and schooling. A is incorrect because emotional cutoff is distancing from family to manage tension, while this child is deeply involved in family life. B is incorrect because a scapegoat is blamed for the family's problems, while this child carries caretaking duties. D is incorrect because enmeshment refers to diffuse emotional boundaries, not a child assuming adult tasks.

Correct answer: D. Help the family see the changes as a family pattern

D is correct because in family systems theory the son may have been the identified patient, and when his symptoms ease the family's balance shifts and new symptoms appear, so the work should move to the whole system. A is incorrect because the family's distress has moved rather than resolved, so ending services now leaves the pattern in place. B is incorrect because splitting off the parents' conflict ignores how it is linked to both children's behavior. C is incorrect because treating the sister separately misses how her school refusal connects to the shifts in the family.

Correct answer: D. The mother leads discipline while the stepfather builds a bond

D is correct because stepfamily research shows that a stepparent's authority grows from an established relationship, so the biological parent handles discipline at first while the stepparent builds connection. A is incorrect because moving the boy away avoids the problem and can deepen his sense of being pushed out of the new family. B is incorrect because removing structure leaves the boy without limits and does not resolve how the adults share parenting roles. C is incorrect because pressing authority before a relationship exists tends to increase a stepchild's resistance and the couple's conflict.