Welcome to the second post in my NCE study series. Each post focuses on one major topic area you’ll see on the exam and includes short guided practice. Start by watching the videos in order—pause after each question to think through your answer, then hit play to check your reasoning. Once you’ve finished all videos, test yourself with the interactive multiple-choice quiz to lock in what you learned.
This post focuses on diagnosis and areas of clinical focus—two domains that show up frequently on the NCE.
By the end of Part 2, you should be able to:
- Identify early signs and presentations of neurodevelopmental disorders such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, Down syndrome, Tourette’s syndrome, and intellectual disabilities.
- Distinguish between life-course-persistent vs. adolescence-limited conduct disorders.
- Describe the core features, diagnostic criteria, and clinical courses of anxiety disorders, including panic disorder, agoraphobia, specific phobias, GAD, selective mutism, PTSD, and social anxiety disorder.
- Explain major learning and cognitive models of phobia and anxiety development (e.g., classical conditioning, operant conditioning, social learning theory, Mowrer’s two-factor model, Beck’s cognitive triad, Seligman’s learned helplessness, Rehm’s self-control model).
- Recognize how trauma, attachment ruptures, and unresolved emotional conflict may contribute to substance use disorders from an object-relations or psychoanalytic lens.
- Understand the disease model and behavioral models of addiction, including biological predisposition and reinforcement cycles.
- Interpret commonly used substance use screening and withdrawal assessment tools (MAST, CAGE, CIWA) and apply scoring guidelines to determine risk and treatment needs.
- Describe the effects and abuse potential of narcotics and steroids.
- Differentiate among race, ethnicity, worldview, acculturation, social identity, ethnic identity, privilege, stigma, prejudice, discrimination, stereotypes, and oppression.
- Discuss how social power structures shape access, opportunity, and well-being for marginalized groups.
- Explain socioeconomic status as a determinant of experience and resource access.
- Outline political and rational approaches to social policy development and the concept of lesser eligibility.
- Describe permanency planning within child welfare systems and long-term placement options.
- Distinguish between developmental crises (associated with normal maturation) and situational crises (triggered by life events).
PART 2: SECTION 1
PART 2: SECTION 2
PART 2: SECTION 3
PART 2: SECTION 4
Click here for Part 1 of the free NCE study guide series!
Click here for Part 3 of the free NCE study guide series!