Counseling Children

and Adolescents:
Rational Emotive Behavior
Therapy and Humanism
Ann Vernon

Specific parallels between rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and humanism
are described, with specific emphasis on the application o f these principles with chil-
dren and adolescents. Concepts are illustrated with case studies and a description of the
similarities between rational emotive and humanistic, or affective, education.

Although rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) has been tested with many
disorders and has fared well in psychotherapy and counseling outcome studies
(Solomon & Haaga, 1995), critics throughout the years have maintained that REBT
places too little emphasis on the therapeutic relationship (Garfield, 1995), and
that rational is equated with being “cold, calculating, and certainly manipula-
tive” (Woods, 1996). Consequently, for these as well as other reasons, REBT has
often been described as an antihumanistic theory. People who listen to the critics
not only fail to distinguish between therapeutic conditions and therapeutic style,
but they also practice a form of irrational thinking by overgeneralizing and as-
suming that all REBT practitionersare insensitive,display poor interpersonal skills,
and must be as linguistically colorful as its founder Albert Ellis. In reality, REBT
does subscribe to many of the same premises that characterize a humanistic per-
spective. These premises are described in this article as they apply to working
with children and adolescents.

HUMANISM AND REBT

As 8-year-old Jessica entered the counselor’s office, the counselor could see that
she was nervous about the visit. To put her young client more at ease, the counse-
lor first explained that she was there to help Jessica solve her problems and sug-
gested that they get to know each other by playing a short game called Who Are
You? After a few rounds of back-and-forth questions about pets, hobbies, family
members, and favorite foods, Jessica was more relaxed and seemed ready to start
the session.

Ann Vernon is a full professor at the University of Northern Iowa. Correspondence re-
garding this article should be sent to Ann Vernon, 514 Schindler Education Center, Uni-
versity of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614-0604.

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 Jessica explained that she was worried about two things: that her teacher did
not like her because she had not been calling on her in class or asking her to be a
helper recently, and that her mother would be in a car accident and would die.
This anxiety was keeping her awake at night and in turn was affecting her school
work. As the counselor listened to Jessica describe these problems, she noted that
Jessica’s reactions were quite typical for a child of this age. As concrete thinkers,
it is not at all uncommon for 8-year-olds to misinterpret events because they think
dichotomously; things are either one way or another, with little consideration of
alternatives (Vernon & Al-Mabuk, 1995). The counselor reassured Jessica that is
was not unusual for third graders to have feelings like this, and indicated that she
could help her learn to feel less anxious about these two problems and also teach
her some ways to keep herself from getting so upset in the future.
The counselor first wanted to show Jessica how her catastrophic thoughts were
affecting her feelings. She told her a story about two children who experienced
the same event but did not react in the same way because they each had different
thoughts about the situation. She reinforced these ideas with Inside Your Head
(Vernon, 1980, p. 1lo), a paper-and-pencil activity that helped Jessica see the
difference between sensible beliefs and assumptions. The counselor explained to
her young client how she could change her feelings if she could learn to think
differently about the situations with her mother and her teacher.
Because children of this age respond better to concrete interventions (Vernon,
1993), the counselor used several additional techniques to help Jessica think more
clearly and cope more effectively with her anxiety. First, she used a continuum to
help Jessica see that if her mother were in an accident, it did not necessarily mean
she would die. With Jessica’s help, they identified several other points along the
continuum from an accident resulting in death to a minor fender bender in which
no one was hurt. Next, she introduced the concept of probability versus possibil-
ity by asking Jessica to interview her mother about her history with car accidents.
Jessica and the counselor constructed a series of questions as guidelines. From
this activity, the counselor was hoping that Jessica would see that over her lifetime,
Mom had only been involved in one minor accident and was still alive. She also
taught Jessica how to use rational self-statements to help her reduce the anxiety.
To address the school problem, the counselor played a game called Facts and
Beliefs (Vernon, 1989b) to help her distinguish the facts about her teacher’s be-
havior versus Jessica’s assumptions that the teacher no longer liked her. This ac-
tivity was followed by an actual discussion with the teacher that occurred after a
role play rehearsal in the counseling session.
Is REBT humanistic? The preceding case study illustrates several REBT prac-
tices that are consistent with a humanistic approach. These practices are subse-
quently described along with other ways in which REBT is a humanistic theory.

THE THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP

As noted in this case study, relationship building is important in REBT, espe-

cially in working with young clients who are frequently referred by others (Ber-

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 nard & Joyce, 1984;Vernon, 1989a). The get-acquainted activity, the reassurance,
and the offer to collaborate with the young client to solve her problems are all
examples of establishing a positive therapeutic relationship. Many REBT thera-
pists believe that the best way to establish rapport is to do therapy; that a bond
develops through working together (Walen, DiGiuseppe, & Dryden, 1992). This
premise was demonstrated in the case of Jessica.
Bernard and Joyce (1984) noted that there is a consensus within the REBT child-
oriented literature that the first stage of therapy with children and adolescents
involves rapport building. According to these authors, the relationship is often a
necessary prerequisite for change. They recommended patience, encouragement,
gentle confrontation, and a slower pace when working with younger clients. REBT
practitioners can establish rapport with children by using humor, adapting their
language to the level of the child, using concrete examples extensively, being
personable and genuine, and using games and other ice-breaker activities Jessica
(Vernon, 1989a; 1993).With adolescents, establishing a good relationship is par-
ticularly important because they tend to be more distrustful and defensive about
being in counseling. For these clients, acknowledging the resistance and indicat-
ing that they do not have to like coming to counseling may be helpful. Simplify-
ing the problem definition and using representative examples from another young
client’s life may also facilitate rapport building.
It is unfortunate that there has been so much misconception about REBT be-
cause this has resulted in the belief that REBT is not a humanistic theory. On the
contrary, there is substantial evidence that REBT practitioners do develop a posi-
tive therapeutic relationship with their clients.
According to Dryden and Neenan (19959, “REBT therapists agree that the core
conditions of therapy (empathy, genuineness and unconditional positive regard)
help build rapport with clients and increase the chances of effecting therapeutic
change” (p. 112). Ellis and Dryden (1987) contended that REBT theory is in agree-
ment with Rogers’s views regarding empathy, genuineness, and unconditional
positive regard, but does not endorse excessive warmth and caring because this
may reinforce the clients’ needs for love and approval.
WaIen et al. (1992) described the qualities of the REBT therapist, including
empathy, respect, genuineness,and concreteness.Accordingto these authors, REBT
therapists and counselors show their clients two kinds of empathy: affective em-
pathy (communicating that they understand how their clients feel), and philo-
sophic empathy (showing that they understand the philosophies underlying those
feelings). They communicate respect by fostering client independence, self-
confidence, and self-reliance. They demonstrate concern and caring by attending
to their behavior, by frequently asking questions for clarification, by recalling
personal details about the client and his or her problems, by the use of gentle
humor, and by active attempts to help the client solve difficult issues. They strive
to be therapeutically genuine by not being phony, and by disclosing examples
from their own lives regarding how they have experienced and solved problems
similar to their clients’ problems.

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 Recently there has been greater acknowledgment regarding the significance of
the therapeutic relationship in REBT, in particular the concept of unconditional
acceptance of the client (Garfield, 1995). Unconditional acceptance, typically
associated with Carl Rogers and a nondirective approach, is also an integral part
of REBT. REBT therapists strive to unconditionally accept their clients as fa]-
lible human beings who may act self-defeatingly but are not bad people. Garfield
noted that the concept of unconditional acceptance is a clear indication of Ellis’s
awareness of the importance of the therapeutic relationship and his tendency to
broaden the REBT perspective.

REBT, HUMANISM, AND EDUCATION

In the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s, educational reformers began to apply
principles of humanistic psychology to education (Lyon, 1971). These reformers
claimed that learning is facilitated when the student participates responsibly in
the learning process, when learning is relevant, and that learning which involves
feelings as well as intellect is the most lasting and pervasive (Patterson, 1973;
Rogers, 1969). Increasing personal efficacy, developing more satisfying relation-
ships with others, fostering self-reliance, increasing self-understanding and per-
sonal strength, and developing other aspects of ideal functioning characterized
this approach to learning (Alschuler, 1975; Patterson, 1973).
Parallels can be drawn between humanistic education and REBT. According to
Ellis (1993), REBT therapists teach their clients how to overcome their emotional
and behavioral problems to help them “actively seek and arrange for a fuller, hap-
pier, and more self-actualizing existence” (p. 25). Self-actualization is also an
important goal of the humanistic approach to education (Patterson, 1973; Read,
1975). Humanistic education, like REBT, is concerned with the development of
good attitudes and feelings or, as Patterson (1973) stated “it is the education of
the emotions, the fostering of adequate emotional development as a legitimate
and desirable goal of education” (p. 14). In addition, REBT emphasizes cogni-
tive and behavioral development, which also is consistent with the wholistic
philosophy of humanism. As Rogers (1969) stated, significant learning “makes
a difference in the behavior, the attitudes, and perhaps even the personality of
the learner” (p. 5).
Dryden and Neenan (1995) noted that REBT therapists and counselors teach
clients what causes their emotional upset and how to help themselves remedy their
problems. The goal of this educative approach is to help clients overcome self-
defeating emotions and behaviors that prevent them from achieving their goals
and achieving happiness. Through the use of homework, instructional activities,
rational coping statements, bibliotherapy, and didactic lessons on the nature of
emotional disturbance, clients learn how to get better rather than just feel better.
As illustrated by the case of Jessica, REBT actively endorses an educational
approach with children as well as adults. In the example described, this 8-year-
old benefited from techniques that taught her to think of alternatives and check

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out assumptions. The storytelling and the visual activities were concrete strate-
gies relevant for young clients. These methods resulted in increased self-
understanding and more satisfying relationships with others, two goals that
are consistent with the humanistic education movement.

EMOTIONAL, EDUCATION

According to Patterson (1973), humanistic, or affective, education is concerned

with the development of self-awareness and a realistic self-concept. Patterson
identified modeling, didactic instruction, and experiential learning as three ma-
jor approaches to education. Rational-emotive education (REE) also uses these
three approaches to education and promotes the development of self-awareness
and a realistic self-concept. Ellis (in Knaus, 1974) stressed that one of the main
goals of rational-emotive education is to “help youngsters understand, at an early
age, the general principles of emotional health and to teach him or her to consis-
tently apply these principles to and with self and others” (p. xii).
Rational-emotive education (REE) incorporates the principles of REBT into a
classroom or small group setting to facilitate emotional, behavioral, and cognitive
change (Vernon, 1989a). Specifically, REE “involves teaching children to develop
perspective, build healthier self-concepts, increase frustration tolerance, and es-
tablish a realistic locus of control” (Knaus & Haberstroh, 1993, p. 202).
A variety of approaches, including role playing, didactic instruction, simula-
tions, storytelling, games, and modeling, are used to convey the REBT concepts.
The content of these programs emphasizes the following:

1. Feelings: Understanding the connection between thoughts, feelings, and be-

haviors is a critical component. Developing a feeling vocabulary, dealing with
emotional overreactions, assessing intensity of feelings, and developing appro-
priate ways to express feelings are important. REE stresses the importance of rec-
ognizing that feelings change, that the same events can result in different feel-
ings depending on who experiences them and how they perceive them, and that
having feelings is natural.
2. Beliefs and behaviors: Differentiating between rational and irrational beliefs,
understanding the connection between beliefs and behaviors, and discriminating
between facts and beliefs is emphasized.
3. Self-acceptance: Major ideas integrated into emotional education lessons in-
clude developing an awareness of self, including strengths and weaknesses accept-
ing imperfection, and learning that “who I am” is not equated with “what I do.”
4. Problem solving: Teaching children to think objectively, to examine the im-
pact of beliefs on behaviors, and to learn alternative ways to solve problems by
challenging irrational thoughts and recognizing consequences are introduced in
the lessons.
5. Interpersonal relationships: Concepts incorporated into emotional educa-
tion lessons include developing effective communication skills, learning frustra-

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tion tolerance techniques in relation to others’ behavior, and distinguishing be-
tween facts and assumptions that have an impact on interpersonal relationships.

Consistent with the underlying principles of humanistic education, rational

emotive education lessons are designed to help children learn to apply mental
health principles to issues and concerns they encounter in the course of nor-
mal development. The goal is to increase self-efficacy and function more effec-
tively in daily life.

EMPOWERMENT

Implicit in the descriptions of humanism and humanistic education is the con-

cept of personal empowerment (Combs, 1975; Patterson, 1973). Maslow (1962)
noted that an important goal of humanistic education is to help children actual-
ize their potentialities, which is consistent with the definition of empowerment.
Ellis and Dryden (1987) stressed that, like humanism, REBT emphasizes the im-
portance of will and choice in human affairs. Indeed, an important goal of REBT
is to empower individuals to help themselves. To achieve this goal, REBTuses strat-
egies such as the following: instruction on theA-B-C-D-E-Fframework,which helps
clients understand the nature of disturbance and how to remedy it; self-help read-
ing material; specific homework assignments designed to help clients practice con-
cepts between sessions; role playing and modeling; and teaching clients how to
use rational-emotive imagexy and coping self-statements (Vernon, 1989a).
With children and adolescents, empowering strategies must be adapted to ac-
commodate developmental abilities. In addition, it is important to be creative,
use relevant and concrete examples, and frequently check out the young clients’
understanding of the REBT concepts.
The following case study illustratesthe empowermentthat can occur when REBT
is used with children and adolescents. lhelve-year-old Beth’s father referred her
for counseling because she and her best friend were constantly in turmoil. When
Sara went to a movie with someone else, ignored her at school, or spent the night
with another friend, Beth was devastated. Her father was particularly concerned
because of Beth’s self-depreciating statements: “Nobody wants me as a friend;
there must be something wrong with me.” On several occasions she got so upset at
the thought of being left out that she told her father she wished she could die
because nothing was working out for her. In reality, Beth did have other friends
who did things with her, but she seemed to overfocus on the rejection from Sara,
thinking that she was a bad person because Sara did not want to be with her.
The counselor adapted an activity called Glad to Be M e (Vernon, 1980), to help
this 12-year-old see that rejection from others does not mean she is not a good
person. This activity was followed by another, Different Types ofFriends (Vernon,
1988), to show Beth that there are different types of friends who meet different
needs; friendships cannot be exclusive. He also used the book Friendhip Is For-
ever,Isn’t It? (Youngs, 1990) to help Beth realize that friendships change. To work

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on her feelings of helplessness in this situation, the counselor had Beth look at
her options when Sara ignored her by using a problem-solving wheel that helped
Beth identify alternatives and positive and negative consequences of each. He
worked with her to develop coping self-statements to use when she felt so dis-
couraged about the rejection.
After several sessions, Beth recognized that it was not the end of the world if
Sara spent time with others; she realized that she also had other options. More
important, she no longer equated her self-worth with Sara’s rejection, and she was
able to tell herself that just because one person rejected her it did not mean
she was no good. The REBT activities were empowering to this young client,
not only in dealing with the current situation, but also in addressing future issues
if her self-worth was challenged or she felt powerless to change her negative
circumstances.

CONCLUSION

The intent of this article was to point out the many ways in which rational emo-
tive behavior therapy is a humanistic theory. As discussed, REBT does espouse
the establishment of a therapeutic relationship. Although most REBT therapists
and counselors are more active and directive than the nondirective therapists as-
sociated with the humanistic movement, it is important to recognize that there is
wide variation in therapeutic style. Variation of therapeutic style in REBT does
not mean a departure from the theoretical principles. Perhaps those who claim
that REBT is not humanistic need to look harder at the parallels cited in this article.
In addition to believing in the importance of the therapeutic relationship, REBT
stresses self-actualization, self-efficacy,and self-reliance, as does humanism. Fur-
thermore, as discussed in this article, the humanistic education movement with
its emphasis on affective education is the same concept as rational emotive
education.
Is REBT humanistic? Let me count the ways. . . .
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People who are only good with hammers see every problem as a nail.

-Abraham Maslow

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