Alcohol and Drug Counselor Exam Practice Questions 2026 – Your Comprehensive All-in-One Guide to Exam Success!

The term that accurately describes clients' reluctance to engage in treatment is "client resistance." This concept specifically refers to behaviors and attitudes exhibited by clients that can hinder their participation in the therapeutic process. Resistance can manifest in various ways, such as defiance, silence during sessions, or outright refusal to engage in suggested activities or discussions.

Understanding the dynamics of client resistance is crucial for counselors as it often stems from fear of change, lack of readiness, or previous negative experiences with treatment. By recognizing and addressing resistance, counselors can employ strategies to help clients work through their barriers to engagement, thus facilitating a more effective therapeutic relationship.

While terms like client discomfort, ambivalence, and denial are related to clients' feelings and attitudes during treatment, they do not specifically capture the notion of reluctance to participate as clearly as resistance does. Client discomfort pertains more to the feelings of unease about the treatment process, ambivalence involves mixed feelings and uncertainty about changing, and denial refers to an unwillingness to acknowledge the existence or impact of a problem. Each of these concepts can contribute to the broader issue of treatment engagement, but resistance is the most precise term for outright reluctance.