{"id":5002,"date":"2025-01-07T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-07T02:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.counsellingconnection.com\/?p=5002"},"modified":"2024-12-12T10:28:26","modified_gmt":"2024-12-12T00:28:26","slug":"incorporating-rational-emotive-behaviour-therapy-into-your-counselling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.counsellingconnection.com\/index.php\/2025\/01\/07\/incorporating-rational-emotive-behaviour-therapy-into-your-counselling\/","title":{"rendered":"Incorporating Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) into your Counselling"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

REBT was developed by American psychologist Albert Ellis in the 1950\u2019s and although it is clearly a close relative of CBT, was developed prior to the most popular form of therapy delivered today. It is in fact the first cognitive behaviour therapy developed. Ellis\u2019s theory suggests that humans have both rational (constructive, meaningful, socially promoting) thoughts and behaviours but also irrational (destructive, self-defeating, socially defeating tendencies to go alongside these. An example could be the client who, whilst wishing to be involved in a loving, trusting and meaningful intimate relationship simultaneously, questions and \u2018defeats\u2019 all potential suitors by finding flaws in their characters and so avoids the risk of ever being hurt, rejected, and failing at actually being in such a relationship. In REBT we might try to identify the underlying thoughts and assumptions the client has, let\u2019s say these are: \u2018People cannot be trusted, they always have another agenda, if someone better comes along, they will always leave me\u2019<\/em> and so on. As the REBT counsellor, we are looking for a more rational way of thinking about this situation for our client, something along the lines of: \u2018to love truly there is always risk, I cannot be absolutely certain of someone\u2019s fidelity and connection to me, I can only love and accept if they are right for me, we will make it work and worrying about something I cannot control does not help me\u2019<\/em>.

Rational emotive therapy in laymen\u2019s terms seeks to replace thoughts which are present, in all of us at times, and at the same time irrational. <\/em>For example, if a client is incensed by careless, selfish drivers who pull out suddenly in front of them, in this scenario they are saying: \u201cI cannot stand it when<\/em>\u2026\u2019 and by extension: \u2018Everyone should be respectful to me\u2019<\/em>. The thoughts are clear and present but nevertheless irrational. A therapist could ask me: \u2018why would you think everyone<\/strong> should be polite to you<\/em>?\u2019 and \u2018can you really not stand<\/strong> it<\/em>?\u2019. It would make sense for the client to try and work out a realistic, clear, and yet rational alternative. So, using our example, the client might work out some new thoughts, that are more rational e.g.: \u2018I can stand<\/strong> it\u2026 I just don\u2019t like it<\/em>\u2019 and \u2018although I\u2019d like all people to treat me with respect, I accept that some of them will not<\/em>\u2019.  Note that here, the essential element of still being annoyed when someone in some way treats you carelessly or even mistreats you is kept in the new thought. We are attempting here to modify the thinking into a more rationale form only- not to deny annoyance as if it didn\u2019t exist. In practical terms, many clients will find this a very useful and repeatable way of tackling an affecting issue such as road rage\/anger management.

In terms of the evidence, we could take a look at generalised anxiety disorder (GAD) and REBT as a treatment modality. Schenk and colleagues (2020) studied GAD in medical students and the effects of 8 sessions of REBT on irrational beliefs and level of anxiety amongst the students. Both were both practically and statistically significantly lowered in the participants. The applications of REBT research present some other interesting possibilities in relation to the therapy\u2019s anxiety lowering effects, for examples: amateur student athletes (Karar et al, 2023), golfers (Turner et al, 2020), rugby match officials (Maxwell-Keyes et al, 2022) and inmates adjusting to incarceration (Junaedi et al, 2022). It would seem that given the diversity of these research context and the positive results where anxiety exists, the notion of REBT may well have a place in treatment.

Moving away from anxiety, REBT has also been employed in post-traumatic stress resulting from natural disasters (e.g., Ede et al, 2022). In Ede et al\u2019s work, around a hundred victims from flooding in Nigeria were treated with manualised REBT, and subsequently their levels of PTSD were significantly reduced compared to waitlist controls.  Work has also been carried out suggesting that treating teens with REBT for depression may well be an effective modality.

Still further and diverse applications include REBT (compared with Acceptance Commitment Therapy) for reducing hoarding behaviour and problems associated with hoarding, i.e., hoarding is considered a sub-type of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), and REBT may well fit the bill for treatment in this area as well (Fang et al, 2023).

It is Interesting to consider that the number of potential problems affected by human interpretation of a given situation and our underlying personality traits are likely to pave the way for an effective treatment which essentially seeks to help us accept that we often have irrational thinking and that we can also adjust this thinking somewhat to develop similar yet more rational and helpful thoughts to effect positive outcomes for many areas of \u2018adversity\u2019 and \u2018psychological disturbance\u2019.

In REBT the basic premise is that psychological disturbance or adversity are tackled using the ABCDEF\/model. An example is presented in the table below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n



A A<\/strong>dversity
 
 <\/td>		Social Isolation                   <\/td><\/tr>

B B<\/strong>eliefs about adversity
 <\/td>		I am rejected\/unloved   by everyone                                               <\/td><\/tr>

C Emotional c<\/strong>onsequences
 <\/td>		deep sadness\/anxiety<\/td><\/tr>

D D<\/strong>isputations to challenge beliefs about adversity
 <\/td>		Some people do not reject me and I have some evidence this is true.
 <\/td><\/tr>

E E<\/strong>ffective new rational beliefs
 <\/td>		Not everyone will like me, but some will, I am better off presenting myself as I am and not worrying too much about other people\u2019s interpretations<\/td><\/tr>

F New f<\/strong>eelings
 <\/td>		calmer\/easier<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A key component here is making sure the beliefs that underly any disturbance or adversity are made clear before you move onto disputations and creating effective new beliefs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ellis was far from thinking that REBT was the answer to everything:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018<\/em>I hope I am also not a devout REBTer, since I do not think it is an unmitigated cure for everyone and do accept its distinct limitations<\/em>\u2019.<\/em>  Albert Ellis (2005)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, Ellis proposed four core irrational beliefs to which clients (humans) often fall prey:<\/p>\n\n\n\n