Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Chapter 10
Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
(REBT)
• Originally known as Rational Emotive Therapy
(RET).
• Changed its name when its founder, Albert Ellis,
decided it needed to be more reflective of
focusing on behavior as well as cognitions.
• Sometimes considered a cognitive-behavior
therapy.
Albert Ellis
• Born in 1913 into a Jewish family in Pittsburgh
but spent most of his life in New York City.
• After literary efforts proved unsuccessful he
decided to study psychology.
• Wanted to become a psychoanalytical clinical
psychologist but became frustrated that only
medical professionals were admitted.
• Began practice of his own theory in 1955.
• Established the Albert Ellis Institute to promote
REBT.
View of Human Nature/Personality
• Assumes that people are both rational and
irrational, sensible and crazy.
• This duality is biological and is perpetuated

unless a new way of thinking is learned.
Irrational Beliefs and Emotional
Disturbance (Ellis, 1984)
Ellis places irrational beliefs into three categories
correlated with emotional disturbance.
• “I absolutely must perform important tasks well

and be approved by significant others or else I
am an inadequate, pretty worthless person”
– RESULT: Severe feelings of anxiety, depression, and

demoralization often leading to severe inhibition.
• “Other people, especially my friends and
relatives, truly must treat me kindly and fairly, or
else they are rotten, damnable people”
– RESULT: Severe feelings of anger, rage, fury, often

leading to fights, child abuse, assault, rape, murder
and genocide.
“The condition under which I live absolutely
must be comfortable , unhassled, and enjoyable,
or else it’s awful, I can’t stand it, and my life is
hardly worth living!”
RESULT: Severe feelings of low frustration tolerance,

often leading to compulsion, addiction, avoidance,
inhibition, and public reaction.
View of Human Nature
• Although Ellis does not deal with developmental
stages, he does think that children are more
vulnerable to outside influences and irrational
thinking than adults.
• Believes that human beings are gullible and
highly suggestible and are easily disturbed.
• People have within themselves the ability to
control thoughts, feelings and behavior; but they
must first become aware of their self-talk.
Roles of the Counselor/Therapist
• Active and direct interaction.
• Instructors who teach and correct client
cognitions.
• Main assessment instrument is evaluation of a
client’s thinking.
• Do not rely heavily on DSM diagnostic
categories.
Goals
• Primary goal is to help people realize they can
live more rational and productive lives.
• Avoid having more of an emotional response to
an event than is warranted.
• Help people change self-defeating habits of
thoughts or behavior.
• Encourage clients to be more tolerant of
themselves rather than dwell on mistakes or
miscues.
Process and Techniques
• Before changes can be made, clients must learn the basic
ideas of REBT and understand how thoughts are linked
with emotions and behaviors.
• Highly didactive and very directive.
• Counselors teach their clients the anatomy of an emotion
– feelings are a result of thoughts, not events, and self-
talk influences emotion.
• This is known as Rational Emotive Education (REE).
• Critical for clients to be able to dispute irrational
thoughts.
Disputing Thoughts or Beliefs
• Cognitive Disputation - the use of direct
questions, logical reasoning, and persuasion.
– May challenge clients to prove their responses are
logical.
– May incorporate the use of “Why?” questions.
– Syllogisms – a deductive form of reasoning involving
two premises and a conclusion.
• Imaginal Disputation - relies on the client’s
ability to imagine.
– Employs a technique called rational emotive imagery
(REI).
– Client imagines a situation likely to be upsetting and
examines his/her self-talk.
• Behavioral Disputation - involves behaving in a
way that is the opposite of the client’s usual way
of thinking.
– If successful, a new Effective Philosophy will emerge.
This process is most effective when all three

methods of disputation are used in conjunction.
Additional REBT Techniques
Two additional effective REBT techniques are

confrontation and encouragement.
Multicultural and Gender
Sensitive Issues
• As a rule, REBT counselors are sensitive to
their clients’ cultures and try to adjust their
actions to respect those they are helping.
• REBT clinicians are active in finding out
cultural customs of their clientele.
• REBT is sensitive to the needs and specific
concerns of women as well.
Strengths and Contributions
• Clear, easily learned and effective.
• Can be easily combined with other behavioral
techniques to help clients more fully experience
what they are learning.
• Relatively short-term.
• Has generated a great deal of research and
literature.
• Has continued to evolve over the years as its
processes and techniques have been refined.
Limitations and Criticisms
• Not effective for individuals with mental problems or
limitations such as schizophrenics and those with severe
thought disorders.
• May be too closely associated with its founder Albert
Ellis.
• Limited usefulness if not combined with behavioral or
emotive techniques.
• REBT’s direct and confrontive way of working with
clients is a limitation for some.
• May not be the simplest way of helping clients change
behaviors or emotions.
The Case of Linda:
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
• How would you conceptualize this case using
rational emotive behavior therapy?
• What would be your treatment plan for this client

using an REBT approach?

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Chapter 10

• This duality is biological and is perpetuated

• “I absolutely must perform important tasks well

– RESULT: Severe feelings of anxiety, depression, and

– RESULT: Severe feelings of anger, rage, fury, often

RESULT: Severe feelings of low frustration tolerance,

– If successful, a new Effective Philosophy will emerge.

This process is most effective when all three

Two additional effective REBT techniques are

• What would be your treatment plan for this client

You might also like