Into the DSM - Bipolar I Disorder
To meet criteria for bipolar I disorder, a manic episode is required--it may be followed by a hypomanic or major depressive episode. (For bipolar II, a hypomanic episode + a current or past major...
View ArticleMental Status Exam
The questions in the mental status exam include all the basic of social work assessment. While the MSE's lack of full exploration into the biopsychosocialspiritual components of client experience makes...
View ArticleInto the DSM - Panic Disorder
Panic disorder can be summed up in four words: Recurrent unexpected panic attacks. But there's more to it than that. First, what's a panic attack (and what's not a panic attack)? The DSM answers: A...
View ArticleInto the DSM - Autism Spectrum Disorder
New in DSM-5, autism spectrum disorder covers a wide array of symptoms. It's wise to review them ahead of sitting for the social work licensing exam. Here we go... A. Persistent deficits in social...
View ArticleInto the DSM - Schizophrenia
Schizophrenia will doubtless come up for social workers employed in clinic settings. That means it's one of the diagnoses that you may find appear on the social work licensing exam. Here are the...
View ArticleThe Code of Ethics - Self-Determination
There's just no way to successfully make your way through the social work licensing exam without having a good working knowledge of the NASW Code of Ethics. This has been stressed on this blog before,...
View ArticleThe Code of Ethics - Core Values
Exam item writers live in the same world that you do and read the same headlines. Don't be too surprised to see items in future versions of the LCSW exam that pull from the conflicts that occupy your...
View ArticleTime Management and Test Preparation
This blog contains lots of information that might help you on social work licensing exam, but it's only the beginning. There's much, much more info to digest. The posts here can only really serve as...
View ArticleInto the DSM - Narcissistic Personality Disorder
NPD has been thrown around in the news a lot lately. Does that make it any more likely to show up on the social work licensing exam? Hard to say. Exam writers read the news too! Criteria for NPD are: A...
View ArticleThe Code of Ethics - Informed Consent
Here's an essential piece of the NASW Code of Ethics, a favorite of exam writers--section 1.03, Informed Consent. In six quick paragraphs, lots of fodder for LCSW exam questions: (a) Social workers...
View ArticleThe Code of Ethics - Social and Political Action
The majority of ethics questions on the LCSW exam are likely to be drawn from the first sections of the NASW Code of Ethics. Informed consent, self-determination, privacy and confidentiality, etc. The...
View ArticleTheories and Methods - Reality Therapy
Reality therapy (RT) was developed in the 1960s by William Glasser. Glasser's view is that people suffer from the human condition rather than mental disorders. RT helps people focus on pursuing their...
View ArticleInto the DSM - Schizoaffective Disorder
Schizoaffective disorder readily lends itself to close-call differential diagnosis questions and is a natural favorite for exam writers. A question may boil down to this: Is it schizophrenia or...
View ArticleTheories and Methods - Family Systems Theory
Family systems theory may or may not show up on the licensed clinical social work exam. And you may never practice family therapy. But the language of family systems theory can still come in handy, in...
View ArticleNASW Code of Ethics Changes
To pass the licensing exam, you have to have a good grasp on the NASW Code of Ethics. And to pass it after January 1st, 2018, you have to know the new version of the code.Here it is. What's changed?...
View ArticleASWB Exam Outline Changes
If you didn't know, you wouldn't notice, but the Association of Social Work Boards (the ASWB)--the people who write and administer the social work licensing exam--have made some changes. The minor...
View ArticleThe Code of Ethics - Responsibilities to the Broader Society
Knowing the NASW Code of Ethics means knowing the entire NASW Code of Ethics. To be prepared for the clinical social work exam, it's wise to dig past the micro practice principles in the code and...
View ArticleLCSW Exam Study Guides
It's nice to have some help as you're preparing to pass the licensing exam. Maybe lots of help. It's a big exam with potential content spanning just about everything you've learned in school and in...
View ArticleTheories and Methods - Play Therapy
Play therapy is what it sounds like. Instead of talk being the currency of treatment, clients and therapist engage in play, exploring thoughts, feelings, and conflicts through playing. The hive mind at...
View ArticleInto the DSM - Histrionic Personality Disorder
Let's visit Cluster B personality disorders. You know ones. The dramatic, emotional, erratic group: antisocial, borderline, narcissistic, and, today's spotlight item, histrionic personality disorder....
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