SEMINAR

REBT
(Rational Emotive
Behavior Therapy)
Mahesh A tripathi
MPhil, C. P.-II IBS, GFSU.
 HISTORICAL BACKROUND
• Albert Ellis, the originator of
REBT, was trained in Rogerian
person-centered therapy in
graduate school in clinical
psychology (1942–1947), found it
too passive and abandoned it, for
psychoanalytic training and
practice (1947–1953).
 He started practicing psychoanalysis but he
was not satisfied.

He found ineffective because it was too much

insight-oriented and too little action-oriented.

 He observed that client’s tended to get

better when they changed their ways of
thinking about themselves, their problems, and
the world.
• So Ellis went back to philosophy, which had
been his hobby since the age of 16, and re-read
the ancient philosophers (especially Epicurus,
Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Gautama
Buddha) and some of the moderns (especially
John Dewey, Bertrand Russell, and Paul
Tillich) and found that they were largely
constructivists rather than excavationists
 Philosophical Influence
• Ellis was influenced by the views of Epictetus,
a roman philosopher, who stated that ‘men are
disturbed not by things but by their views of
things’
• In 1950s most therapist were influenced by
psychoanalyst theories and methods and thus
to emphasize the logical and cognitive
disputing aspect of his approach, he called his
method “Rational Therapy”
To avoid unwarranted criticism Ellis re-titled
his approach to psychotherapy “ Rational
Emotive Therapy” in 1961.

In 1993 Ellis changed the name of the therapy

to “Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy”
because he argued that commentators were
neglecting its behavioral elements
 Theoretical Assumptions
• According to REBT theory humans are
happiest when they set up important life goals
and purposes and actively strive to achieve
these.

• Rational in REBT theory ‘means primarily that

which helps people to achieve their goals and
purposes’
• Rationality is that which is flexible and non
extreme, helps people to achieve their basic
goals and purposes, that which is logical and
consistent with reality.
 Hedonistic

• REBT theory argues that a human we are

basically hedonistic (pleasurable attitude) in
the sense that we seek to stay alive and to
achieve a reasonable degree of happiness.
Thinking, Emotion And Action

• "REBT assumes that human thinking, emotion,

and action are not really separate or disparate
processes, but that they all significantly
overlap and are rarely experienced in a pure
state.
• Much of what we call emotion is nothing more
or less than a certain kind of a biased,
prejudiced, or strongly evaluative kind of
thought.

• But emotions and behaviors significantly

influence and affect thinking, just as thinking
influences emotions and behaviors.
• Ellis (1976) has argues that humans have a
strong tendency to think and act rationally as
well as irrationally, he also stressed that we
also have the ability to think critically about
our thinking and behavior and to correct the
illogicalities in our thinking as well as to judge
whether or not our hypothesis are consistent
with reality.
 Humanistic Outlook
• REBT takes specific humanistic-existential
approach to human problems and their
solutions
• The view conceptualizes human as holistic,
indivisible, goal directed organism who have
importance in the world just because we are
human and alive.
• It encourage us to accept ourselves
unconditionally with our limitations
while at the same time encouraging us to
work towards minimizing our limitations
 To Fundamental Human
Disturbances

• Ellis has noted that human psychological

problems can be loosely divided into two
major categories-
– Ego disturbances
– Discomfort disturbances
• Ego-disturbances

This relates to the demands that we make

about ourselves up to our self imposed
demands ( I may be angry at you because
you are acting in a way which I perceive
as threat to my “self esteem”)
• Discomfort disturbances

This is more relates to the domain of human

comfort and occurs when we make dogmatic
commands that comfort and comfortable life
conditions must exist.
• REBT states that a person’s thoughts, emotions
and actions cannot be treated separately from
one another. When I think about something I
have a tendency to have an emotional reaction
toward it and also a tendency to act towards it
in some way.
 THE BASIC MUSTS
–Demands about self ( I must do well)

–Demands about others ( you must treat

me well)

–Demands about the world/ life

conditions (Must be the way I want)
 The Disturbance Matrix
Basic Musts Ego Disturbances Discomfort
Disturbance
I Must A (I must obtain a good B(If I don’t life conditions
degree and if don’t I am will be harsh and I could
no good) not bear that)
You Must C( If u are not treating D(U must treat me nicely
me well proves that I am because I couldn’t stand
not good) life conditions if u do not)

Life E(life conditions must be F(my car absolutely must

Conditions easy if not proves my not break down b’use I
Must worthlessness) couldn’t stand the
frustration if did)
ABC FRAMEWORK OF REBT

ABC’s model provides a useful tool for

understanding the client’s feelings, thoughts,
events and behavior (Wolpe, 2007).

“A” Stands for an activating event ( triggering

event)
“B” Stands for beliefs. These are the evaluative
cognitions or constructed views of the world
which are either rigid or flexible and extreme or
non-extreme
 BELIEFS

• When these beliefs are rigid they are called

irrational beliefs and take the form of musts,
absolute should, have to’s and so on. When
client adhere to such beliefs they will also tend
to make irrational conclusions from these
irrational premises.
 SOME EMOTIONAL
CONCLUSIONS
Awfulising
That means100% bad worse than it absolutely
should be.
Low- Frustration- Tolerance
Means that client cannot envisage enduring
situations or having any happiness at all if
what they demand must not exist actually
exists.
 Depreciation

Client will depreciate himself, other people

and/ or life conditions.

“C”– In the ABC framework stands

for emotional, behavior and thinking
consequences of client’s ‘A’
 HEALTHY AND UNHEALTHY
NEGATIVE CONSEQUENCES
• In REBT, the C’s that follow from irrational
beliefs about negative A’s will be disturbed and
are called unhealthy, negative consequences
and C’s that follow from rational beliefs about
negative A’s will be not disturbed and are
termed healthy negative consequences (Ellis,
1994)
 WHY SOME EMOTIONS ARE
UNHEALTHY
• They lead to the experience of a great deal of
psychic pain and discomfort

• They motivate one to engage in self defeating

behavior

• They prevent one from carrying out behavior

necessary to reach one’s goal

• They lead to dysfunctional thinking

 THREE MAJOR INSIGHTS OF
REBT
Insight-1

• People seeing and accepting the reality

that their emotional disturbances at point
‘C’ are only partially caused by the
activating events or adversities at point
‘A’ that precede C.
Insight 2

• No matter how, when, and why people

acquire self-defeating or irrational beliefs
if they are disturbed in the present, they
tend to keep holding these irrational
beliefs and continue upsetting themselves
with these thoughts.
Insight-3

• Insight alone rarely enables people to undo

their emotional disturbances. They may feel
better when they know, or think they know,
how they became disturbed, because insights
can feel useful and curative. But it is unlikely
that people will actually get better and stay
better unless they have and apply insight 3,
 REVISED ABC MODEL WITH
THERAPEUTIC APPLICATIONS
A B C

D E

F
“D” Disputing- it is the application of methods to
helps client challenge their irrational beliefs
there are three components of this disputing
process-
• Detecting- the presence of such irrational
beliefs
• Debating- logical questioning
• Discriminating- Between irrational and
rational (self defeating to self helping)
• Cognitive disputing is the central
component to rational emotive behavior
therapy
Di Giuseppe, 1991
• “E” effective philosophy- it has a practical
side “a new and effective belief system
consists of replacing unhealthy thoughts with
healthy ones”
• “F” A new set of feeling (after success of ‘E’
the ‘F’ is create)
 THERAPEUTIC STYLE

• Ellis (1994) recommended that REBT adopt an

active- directive therapeutic style with most of
client. According to him can adopt below
mentioned styles for effective therapy.
A formal therapeutic style with clients who
believe that effective therapist should be
business-like, and expert
A more informal style with clients who value
interacting with a friendly and more personally
involved therapist.
A tough (non- nonsense) style with clients who
seem to benefit from such a therapeutic style.
In addition, there may be indications for
adopting different therapeutic style with clients
who have different personality style.
• Beutler (1983) has argues that it is important to
avoid developing an overly friendly,
emotionally charged style of interaction with ‘
histrionic’ clients, an overly intellectual style
with obsessive- compulsive clients and an
overly directive style with clients who very
easily retreat into passivity.
 ROLE AND FUNCTION OF
THERAPIST

• Step - I To show clients how they have

incorporated many irrational ‘should’, ‘ought’s’,
and ‘musts’ therapists disputes clients irrational
beliefs and encourage client to engage in
activities that will counter their self defeating
beliefs and to replace their rigid “musts” with
preferences.
• Step- II To demonstrate how he is keeping their
emotional disturbances active by continuing to
think illogically and unrealistically
• Step- III Helping to modify thinking and
minimize their irrational ideas (therapist
reduce the frequency gradually)

• Step- IV Challenge clients to develop a

rational philosophy of life so that in the future
they can avoid becoming the victim
 THE PROCESS OF THERAPY:

Engage Client
1. The first step is to build a relationship with
the client. This can be achieved using the core
conditions of empathy, warmth and respect.
2. The best way to engage a client for REBT is
to demonstrate them -
 That change is possible
 REBT is able to assist them to achieve this
goal
 Assessment
Assess the-
 Problem
 Person
 Situation
-Assessment will vary from person to
person
 SOME COMMON AREAS THAT
WILL BE ASSESSED

1. Start with the client’s view of what is wrong

for him.

2. Check for any secondary disturbance: how

does he feel about having this problem?
3. Carry out a general assessment
Determine the presence of any related clinical
disorders
 Personal and social history
 Severity of the problem
 Relevant personality factors
 Non-psychological causative factors:
physical conditions, medications, substance
abuse, lifestyle/environmental factors
 Prepare the client for therapy
• 1. Clarify the treatment goals, ensuring these
are concrete, specific and agreed to by both
client and therapist
• 2. Introduce discussion about the basics of
REBT, including the bio-psychosocial model
of causation.
• 3. Discuss the approaches to be used and
implications of treatment, and then develop a
contract.
• Implement the treatment
programme, most of the sessions
will occur in the implementation
phase
 Activities
• Analyzing specific episodes where the target
problem(s) occur, ascertaining the beliefs
involved, changing them, and developing
homework .
• Developing behavioral assignments to reduce
fears or modify ways of behaving.
• Supplementary strategies & techniques as
appropriate.
 Evaluate Progress

• Toward the end of the intervention it will

usually be desirable to check whether
improvements are due to significant changes in
the client’s thinking, or simply to a fortuitous
improvement in their external circumstances.
 Prepare the Client for Termination

• It is usually wise to prepare the client to cope with

setbacks.
• Warn that relapse is likely for many emotional
and behavioral problems and ensure they know
what to do when their symptoms return.
• Discuss their views on asking for help if needed
in the future. Deal with any irrational beliefs
about coming back, like: ‘I should be cured for
ever’, or ‘The therapist would think I was a
failure if I came back for more help’.
 TECHNIQUES USED IN REBT

• Ellis recommends a ‘selectively eclectic’

approach to therapy

• Following are some examples of procedures in

common use.
 COGNITIVE TECHNIQUES
Rational Analysis
• Analyses of specific episodes to teach the
client how to uncover and dispute irrational
belief are usually done in-session at first; then,
as the client gets the idea, they can be carried
out as homework.
• Tape recorded questioning
• Rational coping statement
• Teaching REBT to others
 Double-Standard Dispute
• If the client is holding a ‘should’ or is self-
downing about their behavior, ask whether
they would globally rate another person (e.g.
best friend, therapist, etc.) for doing the same
thing, or recommend that person hold their
demanding core belief. When they say ‘No’,
help them see that they are holding a double-
standard. This is especially useful with
resistant beliefs which the client finds hard to
give up.
 Catastrophe Scale
• This is a useful technique to get awfulising into
perspective.
• Use a rating scale
• Ask the client to rate whatever it is they are
catastrophising about, and insert that item into the
chart in the appropriate place.
• Then, fill in the other levels with items the client
thinks apply to those levels.
• Finally, have the client progressively alter the
position of their feared item on the scale, until it
is in perspective in relation to the other items.
 Devil’s Advocate/ Reverse
Role Playing
• It is designed to get the client arguing against
their own dysfunctional belief. The therapist
role-plays adopting the client’s belief and
vigorously argues for it; while the client tries
to ‘convince’ the therapist that the belief is
dysfunctional. It is especially useful when the
client sees that a belief is irrational, but needs
help to consolidate that understanding.
 Reframing
• A variation of reframing is to help the client
see that even negative events almost always
have a positive side to them, listing all the
positives the client can think of
 Imagery Techniques
• Time Projection
Ask the client to visualize the unwanted event
occurring, then imagine going forward in time
a week, then a month, then six months, then a
year, two years, and so on, considering how
they will be feeling at each of these points in
time. They will thus be able to see that life will
go on, even though they may need to make
some adjustments.
 Blow-Up Technique

• It involves asking the client to imagine

whatever it is they fear happening, then blow it
up out of all proportion till they cannot help
but be amused by it.
• Note- the use of this technique requires
sensitivity and appropriate timing.
 Behavior Techniques
Exposure:
• Possibly the most common behavioral strategy
used in REBT involves clients entering feared
situations they would normally avoid. Such
‘exposure’ is deliberate, planned and carried
out using cognitive and other coping skills.
 Shame Attacking

• This type of exposure involves confronting the

fear of shame by deliberately acting in ways
the client anticipates may attract disapproval
(while, at the same time, using cognitive and
emotive techniques to feel only concerned or
disappointed).
 Risk-Taking:
• The purpose is to challenge beliefs that certain
behaviors are too dangerous to risk, when
reason says that while the outcome is not
guaranteed they are worth the chance.
 Paradoxical Behavior

• When a client wishes to change a

dysfunctional tendency, encourage them to
deliberately behave in a way contradictory to
the tendency.
 Homework
• Probably the most important REBT strategy is
homework. This can include-
• Reading

• Self-help exercises

• Experiential activities
Therapy sessions are really ‘training sessions’
in which the client tries out and uses what they
have learned.
Thank you…..