Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
17 Comprehensive Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
The early writings of Ellis focused almost exclusively on the “elegant” or philosophical solution to emotional problems and a logical, persuasive model of therapy. In fact, this focus on philosophical content best had distinguished REBT from other psychotherapies. You will recall that an elegant solution hypothesizes that the A–(inference) could be true (“assume the worst”) and encourages clients to change their IB–(imperative/demands) ideas that the worst must not occur and their IB–(derivatives) about the given reality. , 1977b, ) subsequently noted that therapy often requires both elegant and inelegant procedures to
- In
A Basic Introduction to REBT
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
2 Rational Emotive Behavior Theory
There are three main psychological aspects of human functioning: thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. All three aspects are intertwined and interrelated, since changes in one will often produce changes in the others. Thus, if individuals change the manner in which they think about an event, they will most likely feel differently about it and may alter the way they behaviorally react to it. Changes in our behavior may likewise lead to changes in our thinking; once we have done something we had been afraid to do, we may no longer think of it as dangerous
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The A-B-Cs of REBT: Assessment
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
7 Identifying the A
The Expanded A-B-C Model
When clients describe a troublesome event in their lives, the therapist can think of it as containing up to six elements: (1) what happened; (2) how the client perceived what happened; (3) what the client inferred about what happened; (4) how the client evaluated what happened; (5) the client’s acceptance or nonacceptance of the evaluated perception and inferences of what happened; and (6) the client’s emotional and behavioral reactions. There will always be at least one of the first three, one of items four and
- In
General Therapeutic Strategies
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
6 Basic Therapy Skills
In REBT, as in other forms of psychotherapy, certain therapist qualities can help to build rapport and maximize therapeutic gains. Below we list some therapist characteristics described by and ), and follow each with a description of how to communicate these attitudes in an REBT session.
Qualities of a Good REBT Therapist
Empathy is the ability to perceive accurately what another person is experiencing, and to communicate your perception. The empathic therapist attends not only to the words of the clients but also to the nonverbal aspects of their behavior in
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
18 The Course of Therapy and Beyond
Let us review what we have learned so far. The therapist has identified a problem situation (A), an unhealthy disturbed emotion and/or maladaptive behavior (C), and the irrational belief (IB) held by the client, and the therapist has attempted to dispute these irrational notions. Of course, clients typically have more than one A or C on which to work. If you have seen video or live demonstrations of REBT, you might have an oversimplified impression of the process of therapy, for these demonstrations purposely focus on only one or two problems in
- In
A Basic Introduction to REBT
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
1 Albert Ellis and the Philosophy of REBT
Who was Albert Ellis? And What Did He Do for Psychotherapy?
Albert Ellis was a charismatic clinician and the consummate New Yorker. He lived for decades on the top floor of a brownstone on the upper east side of New York, overtop his Institute that trained hundreds of psychotherapists and treated tens of thousands of clients. Ellis published numerous books and articles regarding psychotherapy and in his time was one of the most famous and recognizable psychologists in the world. He was outspoken, irreverent, and inclined to say things that shocked
Ian M. Evans
in
2 Changing Thoughts in Practice
- In
Being a Therapist-Patient
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Personal Experiences
Windy Dryden
in
9 The Personal Therapy Experiences of a Rational Emotive-Behavior Therapist
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Therapy: Getting Down to D—Disputation, and E—the New Effective Response
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
14 Problems and Solutions in Challenging Irrational Beliefs
Trouble-Shooting Disputational Problems
Having outlined some disputational strategies, we realize that you might run into some snags in getting your points across. This section anticipates some common problems that new therapists encounter in disputation and offers suggestions to deal with them. Most of these problems have to do with clients who either do not understand or do not believe disputational arguments. Thus, after you have disputed an irrational belief, check to see whether your client understood the process.
Ask yourself, “Is the client just saying the right words but not really
- In
Therapy: Getting Down to D—Disputation, and E—the New Effective Response
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
11 Challenges to Specific Irrational Beliefs
Disputing the Core Elements of Irrational Beliefs
In , we present many ways of categorizing irrational beliefs. In searching for a systematic way to present disputing strategies to new students of REBT, we decided to teach how to challenge the core elements of irrational thought rather than each of the specific IBs. If you recall, the four basic irrational processes are:
Demandingness—the belief in universal musts, that the world must be the way one wants it to be.
Awfulizing—the belief that some things are terrible, awful, or catastrophic.
Human
- In
Therapy: Getting Down to D—Disputation, and E—the New Effective Response
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
15 Therapeutic Styles: the How not the What in Disputing Beliefs Using an Active Directive Style
As a group, REBT therapists can be distinguished from therapists of most other schools by their active, directive style. Because REBT therapists work with a model of identifying, challenging, and replacing self-defeating thought patterns, they likely ask more closed-ended questions rather than open-ended questions. Key words, phrases, intonations, and nonverbal aspects of the client’s behavior often trigger hypotheses in the therapist concerning what the client might be thinking or feeling. Although the therapist might open the questioning to such cues with open-ended questions,
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
16 Homework Assignments
Rational emotive behavior therapy follows a cognitive-learning model of change. A major tenet of REBT is that clients practice their new philosophical thoughts in order for the effects to be meaningful or durable. This does seem to be a contradiction. REBT theory and the practice of challenging IBs and persuading clients of their new RBs suggests that there be some understanding, insight, or conviction in the new rational philosophy. However, as the Philosopher Spinoza ( ; see pointed out, rehearsing new ideas is a necessary strategy to overcome many things that people believe and
- In
General Therapeutic Strategies
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
4 The A-B-C Model and Teaching Clients the B to C Connection
The therapeutic system evolved by Ellis over the years is a pragmatic and efficient clinical discipline, useful with moderately dysfunctional neurotic adults, severely disturbed adults, psychotic individuals, and children as young as eight years. The therapist takes a persuasive, active-directive role, yet client and therapist share in working toward common goals. REBT uses a psycho-educational approach, and encourages the client to do reading and homework assignments to help the client incorporate the concepts and ideas that he or she learned in the therapy sessions into living and
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The A-B-Cs of REBT: Assessment
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
9 Assessing the B
Finding the Irrational Beliefs
Clients’ irrational belief systems are not easy to identify. These thoughts are greatly overlearned cognitive habits that have become automatic. They are tacit, implied, and unspoken assumptions that often fail to reach consciousness. Irrational thoughts and other schematic thoughts are well-rehearsed and for reasons of cognitive economy, they operate quickly and out of our awareness. The Soviet developmental psychologists Vygotsky (1962) and traced in children the development of self-talk. At the earliest stages of verbal development, children’s behavior is controlled by the overt vocalizations of others. Somewhat later, children
- In
General Therapeutic Strategies
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
5 Getting Therapy Off to a Good Start
In one sense, therapy begins at the first moment of contact between you and your client, and develops as you and your client attend to some important preliminary groundwork in the therapeutic process. All forms of therapy include some common factors that contribute to success ( ). This chapter will focus on some of these factors. Included in this groundwork are two primary tasks:
Interpersonal— developing a therapeutic alliance, establishing a therapeutic rapport, and building a collaborative relationship.
Organizational— socializing the client for therapy, beginning the process of assessment, agreeing on
- In
Therapy: Getting Down to D—Disputation, and E—the New Effective Response
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
10 Cognitive Change Strategies
Identifying the A s, B s, and C s is necessary, but changing the beliefs through steps D and E is the work of therapy. Disputation is a debate or a challenge to the client’s irrational beliefs and can include cognitive, imaginal, emotive/evocative, and behavioral components.
Initially REBT theoreticians and practitioners focused on the importance of disputation as the most important change process. However, since the last edition of this book, REBT practitioners have focused more on the importance of teaching new rational alternative beliefs at step E as well. Two studies
- In
A Basic Introduction to REBT
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
3 The Irrational and Rational Beliefs
In the we discussed the major theoretical aspects of REBT. In this chapter, we will try to identify why each of the four irrational beliefs is irrational and why their corresponding rational beliefs represent a more adaptive strategy. We will start with the core irrational belief demandingness and then discuss the derivatives.
Demandingness
As we discussed in , more central to emotional disturbance are imperative beliefs that reflect commands that the universe be a certain way. The Oxford English Dictionary (2011) defines imperative as “Having the
Windy Dryden
in
Chapter 7 From problems to goals
Identifying ‘good’ goals in psychotherapy and counselling
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Therapy: Getting Down to D—Disputation, and E—the New Effective Response
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
13 Evocative, Imaginal, and Behavior Change Strategies
Cognitive disputations are not the only techniques that REBT uses to foster change. REBT has long advocated the use of imagery to help change clients’ irrational beliefs. In addition, changing irrational beliefs is irrelevant if the client does not change his/her behaviors and emotions. Direct behavior-change strategies are an important ingredient of this therapy. Emotive/evocative strategies have also been part of the therapy. In fact, early writing described REBT as an integrative form of psychotherapy.
Evocative, Emotive Techniques
and other REBT authors often purport that REBT uses
- In
The A-B-Cs of REBT: Assessment
Raymond A. Digiuseppe, Kristene A. Doyle, Windy Dryden, and Wouter Backx
in
8 The C: The Emotional and Behavioral Consequences
Why do clients come to therapy? Usually because they are feeling badly, they are in emotional distress, or they are behaving badly. A therapist does not want to lose sight of this focus. Clients usually do not come in to talk or to rid themselves of irrationalities. Many are not even aware of their irrational thinking. The C, the emotional and behavioral Consequences, brings them to the therapist’s door. We want to stress that in Rational Emotive Behavior Theory the Consequences are emotional and behavioral. The psychological construct of
