RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral

therapy introduced by Albert Ellis in the 1950s. It’s an approach that helps you to
identify irrational beliefs and negative thought patterns that may lead to emotional or
behavioral issues. The goal of REBT is to help people recognize and alter those beliefs
and negative thinking patterns in order to overcome psychological problems and mental
distress. REBT can be particularly helpful for people living with a variety of issues,
including:

 depression

 anxiety

 addictive behaviors

 phobias

 overwhelming feelings of anger, guilt, or rage

 sleep problems

 procrastination

 disordered eating habits

 aggression

There are some cognitive distortions which effect our mood, behavior and emotions. In
REBT we focus on cognitive distortions and we try to change these cognitive distortions
with positive behavior.

Postulates

 People are not disturbed by things but rather by how they view things

 All emotional problems come from irrational thinking

  When people holds irrational feelings about themselves or the world at large,
problems results

 Root cause of the problem is that people mistakenly blame external events for
their unhappiness

Over-generalization
REBT generally posits that disturbed evaluations to a large degree occur through
overgeneralization, wherein people exaggerate and globalize events or traits.

All or Nothing Thinking ( Black & White)

All or nothing thinking is a common cognitive distortion that often happens with
people who have issues related to anxiety. This might include depression or panic
disorders. In this you evaluate your life in extreme terms, e.g: You are either a success
or a failure.

Techniques

A core concept of REBT is the ABCDE model. This model explains how, while we
may blame external events for our unhappiness:

 A: Activating event, which is when something happens in the environment

around you
 B: Belief, which describes your thoughts about the event or situation
 C: Consequence, which is your emotional response to your belief
 D: Disputation, to challenge irrational beliefs
 E: Effective, new beliefs replace the irrational ones

ABC Diagnostic Step

 A (Activating) – He yelled at me
  B (Beliefs) – I can’t believe he dared to yell at me That’s totally unprofessional.
He should never have acted that way. I can’t stand it. I want a drink (and I have
to have what I want when I want it). I can get a way with it. It won’t matter

 C (Consequences) – Anger, drinking, etc.

THE Curative Part DE

 D (Disputes) – in this step, you dispute or question or challenge the irrational

beliefs:

 Where is the evidence that no one should ever yell at you?

 Where is it written that a boss must always behave professionally?
 Why is it so awful
 Where is the evidence that “It won’t matter.”

 E (Effective) – then they move on to figure out more EFFECTIVE thoughts,

feelings and behaviors

 You may not like it, but you can stand it

 Because you really do not like people yelling at, you will talk to him
later when he calms down. But will remember that you don’t always get
what you want
 You will try to feel annoyed and determined (to keep your job) rather
than get enraged
 You will go, exercise or go to yoga class tonight because you always
think better after doing that.

Gaining Insight and Changing Behavior

An important part of the REBT process is learning how to replace your irrational
beliefs with healthier ones. This process can be daunting and upsetting, and it’s normal
to feel some discomfort or to worry that you’ve made a mistake.
However, the goal of REBT is to help people respond rationally to situations that would
typically cause stress, depression, or other negative feelings.

Three key insights that REBT teaches are:

 You are worthy of self-acceptance no matter what even when you struggle or
make mistakes; there is no need for shame or guilt.
 Others are also worthy of acceptance, even when their behavior involves
something that you don’t like.
 Negative things will sometimes happen in life, and that doesn’t mean that things
are happening in a way they shouldn’t be. Life is not positive all of the time, and
there’s no rational reason to expect it to be.

Benefits of REBT
REBT is effective at reducing irrational beliefs and changing behavior.
Overall, REBT offers several behavioral benefits, like:

 Reduced feelings of anger, anxiety, depression, and distress

 Improved health and quality of life
 Better school performance and social skills

Techniques Used In REBT

Ellis recommends a ‘selectively eclectic’ approach to therapy, using strategies

from REBT and other approaches, but ensuring the strategy is compatible with REBT
theory. 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 beliefs (as described earlier) are usually done in-
session at first; then, as the client gets the idea, they can be carried out as
homework.
  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.
 Catastrophe scale: this is a useful technique to get awful sing into perspective.
On a whiteboard or sheet of paper, draw a line down one side. Put 100% at the
top, 0% at the bottom, and 10% intervals in between. Ask the client to rate
whatever it is they are catastrophizing about, and insert that item into the chart in
the appropriate place.
 Devil’s advocate: this useful and effective technique (also known as reverse
role-playing) 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.
 Reframing: another strategy for getting bad events into perspective is to re-
evaluate them as ‘disappointing’, ‘concerning’, or ‘uncomfortable’ rather than as
‘awful’ or ‘unbearable’. A variation of reframing is to help the client see that even
negative events almost always have a positive side to them.

Imagery Techniques
 Time projection: this technique is designed to show that one’s life, and the
world in general, continue after a feared or unwanted event has come and gone.
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.

 The ‘blow-up’ technique: this is a variation of ‘worst-case’ imagery, coupled with the
use of humor to provide a vivid and memorable experience for the client.

Behavioral Techniques
 One of the best ways to check out and modify a belief is to act. Clients can be
encouraged, for instance, to check out the evidence for their fears and to act in ways
that disprove them.

 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. The purposes are to (1) test the validity of one’s fears (e.g. that
rejection could not be survived); (2) deawfulise them (by seeing that catastrophe
does not ensue); (3) develop confidence in one’s ability to cope (by successfully
managing one’s reactions); and (4) increase tolerance for discomfort (by
progressively discovering that it is bearable).
 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). For example, you could suggest that the client
switch their shoes to the wrong feet then walk round the office building with you
for ten minutes or so, at the same time disputing their shame-inducing thinking.
 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. For example, if the client has trouble with
perfectionism or fear of failure, they might start tasks where there is a
reasonable chance of failing or not matching their expectations. Or someone
with a fear of rejection might talk to an attractive person at a party or ask
someone for a date.
 Paradoxical behaviour: when a client wishes to change a dysfunctional
tendency, encourage them to deliberately behave in a way contradictory to the
tendency. Emphasize the importance of not waiting until they ‘feel like’ doing it:
practicing the new behavior – even though it is not spontaneous – will gradually
internalize the new habit.
  Stepping out of character: is one common type of paradoxical behavior. For
example, a perfectionistic person could deliberately do some things to less than
their usual standard; or someone who believes that to care for oneself is ‘selfish’
could indulge in a personal treat each day for a week.
 Postponing gratification: is commonly used to combat low frustration-tolerance
by deliberately delaying smoking, eating sweets, using alcohol, sexual activity,
etc.

Homework

Probably the most important REBT strategy is homework. This can include such
activities as reading, self-help exercises, and experiential activities. Therapy sessions
are really ‘training sessions’, between which the client tries out and uses what they
have learned.