Theory Review- Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Theory
REBT- Rational Emotive Behavior therapy, a highly didactic, cognitive, action-oriented
model of therapy that stresses the role of thinking and belief systems as the root of personal problems.
Leading Figures
Albert Ellis- became one of the most influential therapists of all time, developed REBT
Key theoretical Concepts
Philosophical Conditioning- individual develops their own worldview based on their beliefs, values, understandings. This philosophy becomes a habit and either supports rational or irrational beliefs. Philosophies are nondeterministic and may be scrutinized, analyzed, changed at any point during a person’s life.
Unconditional Acceptance- because people can change their beliefs and philosophical
conditioning, no person is doomed to live a lifestyle full of distress and dysfunctional behavior. Therapist accepts the client no matter their beliefs and actions and teaches the client how to accept themselves in the same way.
Irrational beliefs- (291) Ellis believed that most people have adopted one or more of these
beliefs
Cognitive distortion of events- Ellis identified mechanisms that cause us to cognitively
distort events and then use to indoctrinate ourselves into irrational thinking. Listed on
293.
Absolutistic musts and shoulds- individual believes they must act a certain way in
life and this sets them up for failure since people are not perfect.
Awfulizing- responding to events in such a way that makes them seem exaggerated and catastrophic. People are rarely faced with such terrible events and even when they
are, they can choose to make it awful or respond to it in a moderated way.
I-can’t-stand-it-itis- Similar to awfulizing. Individual continually sees events as
being unbearable and exaggerates the events through their irrational belief system.
Demands- demands on oneself adds stress to an individual because it assumes that
a person must act in a specific manner.
People-rating (damning oneself and others)- all or nothing thinking about themselves or others, view that a person has all or none of a quality.
ABCDEs of feelings and behaviors- an order to which the therapist addresses the clients
irrational beliefs. (295)
Activating event-situation that appears to have caused the consequential feelings
irrational Belief (iB) about the event
Consequential feeling or behavior
Rational, Scientific Approach- REBT therapists use the socratic dialogue method to help
clients rationally examine their philosophical precepts. The therapist leads a discussion
and asks questions to challenge the client to see how their thinking process is illogical.
Also challenge clients to show evidence that their irrational beliefs are true.
Application of experimental methods- once client understands why and how their beliefs
are irrational, they can begin to test out new ways of thinking, feeling, and acting that
will lead them to healthier lifestyle. The therapist can teach the client about new, rational
ways of thinking.
Key Techniques
REBT is psychoeducational- it teaches the client more effective ways of living in the
world and about their psychological self.
Showing unconditional acceptance- therapist shows client acceptance and realization that
every person has done bad things that affect themselves and others but nobody is perfect
and without fault.
Teaching the REBT philosophy- teach the client about the philosophy of REBT and encourage clients to read books and other materials so they fully understand it.
Being active and directive- therapist does listen to client but also asks questions, and
gather information from client to assess the client to understand how they distort events
and use irrational thinking.
Challenging clients- not to be confused with major confrontation. Therapists should suggest that clients examine their current way of understanding or thinking. After this review
of their beliefs, clients will hopefully chose new beliefs and behaviors.
Demonstrating the ABDs- therapist will use these to show the client how their irrational
beliefs are causing emotional distress, not the situation of activating event.
Encouraging the disputing of dysfunctional cognitions, behaviors, and emotions- once
client realizes how their actions and decisions have not been healthy, therapist encourages client to dispute the unhealthy ones (300)
Cognitive Disputation- once clients realize it is their beliefs and not the event that
causes problems, therapist has them dispute their irrational beliefs and counselor can
suggest the irrational beliefs be replaced with new rational ones.
Behavioral Disputation- helpful to practice behavioral changes that go alongside
the cognitive changes. Encouraged to practice behaviors that challenge the irrational ones
Emotive Disputations- rational-emotive imagery is most common. Therapist asks
client to close their eyes and imagine the event that has caused them to think irrationally.
Once they can picture the event and feel their anger rise, the signal to the therapist and
will ask client to change their negative emotion to an appropriate one. Usually the client
is able to change the way they would want to respond to the situation.
Using humor- REBT therapists can sometimes see the humor of situations when individuals have taken on such irrational beliefs. Sometimes pointing out the humor of a situation can help the client see the pointlessness and irony of the situation.
Using metaphors- metaphors and stories can sometimes be used to illustrate the therapists
point.
Homework- therapists actively encourage clients to practice new techniques at home to
help maintain the new, more rational belief system.
Role of therapist
access the clients situations, understand their upsetness, and create a hypothesis as to how
the client is cognitively distorting their events and causing distress. Before the therapist
explains their hypothesis, they must make sure the client understand the REBT philosophy. Demonstrate how the clients situation fits the REBT model, direct the change process, and reinforce change and terminating the relationship are also step of the process.
Goals
to understand why the client comprehends things and acts in the specific, negative way
that they do. Once the client understands how they react irrationally, steps are taken to
change their behaviors and beliefs to live with a healthier view of life.
What creates symptoms
the way clients react to/view situations. They believe it is the event that causes their distress, but it is the way they view the event that causes problems.
Conditions of Change
The client needs to understand how they react to situations and have the desire to change
the way they view things so that they are not bogged down by their irrational beliefs
Personal Reactions
Well I definitely agree that Ellis is a very interesting man, and I would imagine his theory
would follow suit of his “personality”, if you will. I think teaching a philosophy to someone sounds exhausting. Even if it does give them the tools to internalize the change process and create a new reality, how do you really get the client to believe in the philosophy
enough to internalize? Just a little skeptical of this one.