Domain D2 · Assessing, Hypothesizing, and Diagnosing · 16% of the exam
Assessing, Hypothesizing, and Diagnosing: assessing the client system and forming hypotheses
Outline: draftBy The Licensure Professor
Study material in progress. This is a lesson outline, not finished lesson text. Nothing on this page is official exam content. Items were written for this site and checked against published sources. They have not yet been reviewed by a licensed marriage and family therapist.
Learning objectives
- Assess individual, couple, family, and contextual dimensions of a client system.
- Form, test, and revise systemic hypotheses.
- Apply DSM-5-TR diagnosis within a relational frame and explain its limits.
- Choose assessment tools and genograms and interpret them.
- Describe how AI-assisted tools may and may not be used in assessment, and the ethical cautions that apply.
Key terms
- Hypothesis
- Genogram
- Presenting problem
- Relational diagnosis
- Contextual factors
- Family life cycle
- Risk and protective factors
- DSM-5-TR
- AI-assisted assessment
Suggested sources
- Nichols, M. P., & Davis, S. D. (2020). Family therapy: Concepts and methods (12th ed.). Pearson.
- Goldenberg, H., Stanton, M., & Goldenberg, I. (2017). Family therapy: An overview (9th ed.). Cengage.
- Gurman, A. S., Lebow, J. L., & Snyder, D. K. (Eds.). (2015). Clinical handbook of couple therapy (5th ed.). Guilford Press.
- American Psychiatric Association. (2022). Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders (5th ed., text rev.). American Psychiatric Association Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1176/appi.books.9780890425787
- American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. (2026). AAMFT code of ethics (effective January 1, 2026). https://www.aamft.org/common/Uploaded%20files/Legal%20Ethics/AAMFT%20Code%20of%20Ethics.pdf
- Association of Marital and Family Therapy Regulatory Boards. (2026). AMFTRB MFT national examination handbook for candidates (2027 ed.). https://ptcny.com/pdf/AMFTRB.pdf
Ethics content on this section follows the AAMFT Code of Ethics (American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy).