RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY (REBT)

WHAT IS RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY (REBT)?

● Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is a cognitive theory developed for

confronting and changing irrational beliefs and behaviors. This therapy can be used to
overcome negative emotions and thoughts such as depression, guilt, extreme or
inappropriate anger, anxiety, unhealthy eating, procrastination, and other thoughts and
emotions that may get in the way of reaching goals.

(The therapy says humans can act and think rationally. But when we think irrationally, those
difficult or “negative” thoughts and feelings can get in our way. Another way to look at it is by
thinking about how it isn’t the event that directly causes emotions and behaviors, but it is one’s
belief about the event that leads to our reactions. So, when we experience failure or hardship,
we react with either healthy or unhealthy emotions and behaviors. For example, The COVID-19
pandemic which we experienced where all of us spend days quarantined. As a result, some
viewed it as detrimental or harmful and began to experience signs of depression and anxiety.
and may iba naman na they view as an opportunity to spend more quality time with their family.
REBT reduces the number of irrational thoughts and beliefs and increases rational thoughts and
behaviors.)

BACKGROUND

Albert Ellis was a 20th century psychologist who pioneered the development of Rational
Emotive Behavior Therapy, which is widely considered a precursor to cognitive behavioral
therapy.

Early life

● Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1913.

● He had a very distant emotional relationship with his parents and described his mother
as a self-centered woman who struggled with bipolar.
● Ellis developed a pattern of taking care of himself and being self-responsible. Making his
breakfast and lunch and getting to school by himself are early indicators of the
self-sufficiency that was to be a trademark of Ellis’s approach to education and
professional life.
● In 1942, he enrolled at Teachers College at Columbia University to obtain a PhD in
clinical psychology. He published several articles before he completed school and was
harshly critical of popular personality tests.
● He studied various psychological theories, including Sigmund Freud’s, and—like most of
his contemporaries—was a strong proponent of psychoanalysis. He began practicing
and took teaching positions at both Rutgers and New York University.
BASIC PHILOSOPHY

The philosophical underpinnings of REBT include responsible hedonism, humanism, and

rationality.

Responsible hedonism.

● Although hedonism refers to the concept of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain,
responsible hedonism concerns maintaining pleasure over the long term by avoiding
short-term pleasures that lead to pain, such as drug abuse and alcohol addiction. Ellis
believes that people are often extremely hedonistic but need to focus on long-range
rather than short-range hedonism (Dryden & Ellis, 2001; Ellis, 1985, 1987a, 1988,
2001c, 2001d; Ellis & Dryden, 1997; Walen, DiGiuseppe, & Wessler, 1980).
● Although REBT does not tell people what to enjoy, its practitioners believe that
enjoyment is a major goal in life. This point of view does not lead to irresponsible
behavior because individuals with a responsible attitude toward hedonism think through
the consequences of their behavior on others as well as on themselves.

Humanism

● Practitioners of REBT view human beings as holistic, goal-directed organisms who are
important because they are alive (Dryden, 1990, p. 4). This position is consistent with
that of ethical humanism, which emphasizes human interests over the interests of a
deity, leading to misinterpretations that Ellis is against religion.
● Ellis (Ellis, 2004b; Ellis & Dryden, 1997; Ziegler, 2003) believes that individuals
preferably should have unconditional self-acceptance (USA). They should accept that
they make mistakes, that they have worth, and that some of their own assets and
qualities are stronger than other assets that they or others possess.
● An extension of this view is that people can be perceived as good in themselves
because they exist (Ellis, 2001e; Ziegler, 2000). Abhorring discrimination against anyone
based on traits such as race, sex, or intellect, Ellis believes that individuals should be
accepted for themselves, a concept similar to Carl Rogers’s “unconditional positive
regard” (Dryden, 1998; Ellis, 1962, 1973, 1993, 2001c; Ellis & Dryden, 1997; Ziegler,
2003).

Rationality

● Rationality refers to people using efficient, flexible, logical, and scientific ways of
attempting to achieve their values and goals (Dryden & Neenan, 2004; Ellis, 1962, 1973,
1999a, 2001c, 2005b; Wilson, 2010), not to the absence of feelings or emotions.
Therapy with REBT shows individuals how they can get more of what they want from life
by being rational (efficient, logical, and flexible).
● This means that they may reexamine early parental or religious teachings or beliefs they
had previously accepted. As this is done, they develop a new philosophy of life that
leads to increased long-range happiness (responsible hedonism)
 PERSONALITY THEORY

A-B-C Theory of Personality

Ellis postulated that personality can be explained by an ABC model. This model holds that
individuals respond to an activating event (A) with emotional and behavioral consequences (C).
The emotional and behavioral consequences are not only caused by the activating event (A),
but partly by the individual’s belief system (B).
● A (activating event) – this is when something happens in the environment which
triggers a negative reaction or response.
● B (belief) – this describes the thoughts about the triggering event or situation, usually
irrational thoughts about the activating event.
● C (consequence) – this is the emotional response to the belief, which are usually
distressing emotions that result from the irrational thoughts or beliefs.
The A, B, and C can have different interactions/combinations that can illustrate a person’s
personality.
● Rational belief: pleasant activating event. The A-B-C theory of personality functions
well and, for most people, goes unnoticed when the activating events are pleasant.
● Rational belief: unpleasant activating event. When the activating event is unpleasant,
many different beliefs and consequences can result. A person may experience a healthy
emotional consequence of feeling frustrated by an activating event. They may also
choose to mitigate an upcoming activating event so that she will not experience this
behavioral consequence again.
● Irrational belief: unpleasant activating event. When individuals do not experience
activating events in a way that is congruent with their belief systems (B), they may react
with irrational beliefs (IBs). These irrational beliefs often cause difficult emotional and
behavioral consequences (unhealthy emotional consequence)

Ellis’s theory of personality is based not only on psychological, biological, and sociological data
but also on philosophy. His philosophical approach features responsible hedonism and
humanism, which, combined with a belief in rationality, influenced his personality theory. Ellis
was interested in biological, social, and psychological factors that make individuals vulnerable to
psychological disturbances that are cognitive, behavioral, and emotional in nature. It is
particularly the cognitive factors that Ellis emphasizes, attending to the irrational beliefs that help
create disturbances in individuals’ lives. By understanding how Ellis views irrational beliefs, it is
easier to understand his therapeutic interventions.

GOAL

The general goals of REBT are to:

● assist people in minimizing emotional disturbances,
● decreasing self-defeating self-behaviors, and
● becoming more self-actualized so that they can lead a happier existence (Ellis, 2003d,
2004b, 2005b).
Major subgoals are to:
● help individuals think more clearly and rationally,
● Help individuals feel more appropriately, and
● Help individuals act more efficiently and effectively in achieving goals of living happily.

The main goal of REBT is to rid the patients of their current negative philosophies and
replace them with ones that are more realistic and flexible as a means of finding happiness.
Doing this allows patients to experience and enjoy involvement, love, self-actualization,
spontaneity, and commitment.

REBT assumed that individuals possess innate and acquired tendencies to think and to behave
irrationally. Thus, to maintain a state of emotional health, individuals must constantly monitor
and challenge their basic belief systems.

It is based on a few principles:

- That you are responsible for your emotions as well as your actions, and your
irrational thinking causes you to emotionally and behaviorally respond negatively.
- You can overcome these negative responses by thinking in a more realistic way,
from there making those thoughts a part of yourself.
- This allows patients to fully accept themselves by changing their perspective to
something more reality-grounded.

Individuals learn to deal effectively with negative feelings such as sorrow, regret, frustration, and
annoyance. They deal with unhealthy negative feelings such as depression, anxiety, and
worthlessness by using an effective rational emotive behavior philosophy.

FUNCTION & ROLE OF COUNSELOR

REBT therapists take a teaching focus, emphasizing principles of nondisturbance and self-help
that can be applied to families. Therapists often use disputing of shoulds and musts more than
other family therapists using different theories.
Rational emotive behavior therapists are tolerant of their clients and fully accept them. It is their
behavior that they dispute by challenging, confronting, and convincing the clients to practice
activities in and out of therapy that will lead to constructive changes in thinking, feeling, and
behaving.

THERAPEUTIC RELATIONSHIP

● Rational emotive behavior therapists who have outlined stages of psychotherapy have
rapport building and relationship issues as their first stage.
 ● Ellis believed that the best way to develop a therapeutic relationship is to help solve the
client’s immediate problem. After asking the client what he wishes to discuss, Ellis then
identifies the activating events, irrational beliefs, and emotional and behavioral
consequences.
● Clients see and hear that they are being listened to and responded to. Ellis suggests that
this is a type of advanced empathy in which the therapist understands the basic
philosophies that underlie client communications. Clients not only feel understood but
also sense that therapists understand their feelings better than they do.

● A working relationship between the therapist and the client must be developed.
● The therapist and client then work together to identify the specific issues of irrational
thinking that the client engages in and how they affect the client’s behavior.
● As the relationship continues, the client realizes that they must assume quite a bit of
responsibility for their own behavior. This is reinforced by the therapist; however, it is
also understood that certain events that happen in the world are not the responsibility of
the client.
● REBT therapists attempt to transfer as much autonomy to the client as possible and get
them to be as self-sufficient as possible. The process of assessment and the
development of a therapeutic relationship are often closely related in REBT. Ellis
believed that the best way to develop a therapeutic relationship is to help solve the
client’s immediate problem (Ellis, 2004d; Ellis & Dryden, 1997). After asking the client
what he wishes to discuss, Ellis then identifies the activating events, irrational beliefs,
and emotional and behavioral consequences. He may do this for two or three sessions
and then possibly work on larger, or other, issues. Clients see and hear that they are
being listened to and responded to. Ellis suggests that this is a type of advanced
empathy in which the therapist understands the basic philosophies that underlie client
communications. Clients not only feel understood but also sense that therapists
understand their feelings better than they do.

TECHNIQUES

1. ABCDE Therapeutic Approach. The core of REBT is the application of the A-B-C
philosophy to client problems. Where possible, therapists prefer to explain and make
explicit each of the three aspects. In addition, therapeutic interventions require the use of
D and E.

A (activating): Activating event, which is when something happens in the

environment around you. The activating event can be divided into two parts: what
happened and what the patient perceived happened.
B (belief): Belief, which describes your thoughts about the event or situation.
There are two types of beliefs—rational and irrational. Irrational beliefs are
 exaggerated and absolutistic, lead to disturbed feelings, and do not help
individuals attain their goals. Rational beliefs generate adaptive and healthy
emotions and behaviors
C (consequence): Consequence, which is your emotional response to your
belief. Clients often start the first therapy session with their consequences—“I
feel very depressed.” Sometimes inexperienced therapists can have difficulty in
discriminating between beliefs and consequences.
D (disputing): Disputing irrational beliefs is an important approach in REBT to
help people change their beliefs and diminish emotional discomfot. It has three
parts: detecting irrational beliefs, discriminating irrational beliefs from rational
beliefs, and debating irrational beliefs.
● Several strategies of disputing or debating irrational beliefs can be used: t
○ Using the lecture approach (or, better, mini-lecture), the therapist
gives the client an explanation of why her irrational belief is
self-defeating.
○ In the Socratic style/method, the therapist points out the lack of
logic and the inconsistencies in the client’s belief, encouraging
argument from the client, so that the client does not just accept the
therapist’s point of view and instead thinks for herself.
○ Using humor and creativity/creative approaches, such as
stories and metaphors, the therapist can maintain a relationship in
which the client is open to change and not argumentative.
○ Therapists’ self-disclosure about how they themselves have
used the A-B-C method to deal with their own irrational beliefs can
also be helpful. Increased familiarity with disputing the irrational
beliefs of clients can lead to the development of new strategies.
E (effective): When clients have disputed their irrational beliefs, they are then in
a position to develop an effective philosophy. This philosophy, following the
A-B-C model, helps individuals develop rational thoughts to replace inappropriate
irrational thoughts.

2. Cognitive Techniques. Help individuals develop new rational beliefs. Many of these are
used as an adjunct to, and in support of, disputing techniques.
● Coping self-statements - By developing coping statements, rational beliefs can
be strengthened.
● Cost-benefit analysis - Involves being instructed to think seriously about these
advantages and disadvantages 10 or 20 times a day. Particularly helpful for
individuals who have addictions and/or low frustration tolerance.
● Psychoeducational methods - Recommending self-help books so that the client
continues to exercise REBT. (is able to better remember points made by the
therapist during the session.)
● Teaching others - Ellis recommends that clients teach their friends and
associates, when appropriate, the principles of REBT. Trying to persuade others
 not to use irrational beliefs can help the persuader to learn more effective ways of
disputing her own irrational beliefs (Bard, 1980; Ellis, 1991b)
● Problem solving - Rational emotive behavior therapists help their clients figure
out and arrive at viable options by dealing with both practical problems (finding a
job) and emotional problems—problems about having practical problems (fretting
and worrying about getting a job). By helping people expand their choices of what
they want to do and be, REBT helps them choose rational thoughts, feelings, and
actions rather than be guided by their dogmatic irrational beliefs.
3. Emotive Techniques. Some techniques such as imagery and visualization can be
viewed as cognitive, emotive, or behavioral. When the emphasis is on emotional
aspects, imagery becomes an emotive method of treatment
● Imagery - Often used in REBT to help clients change their inappropriate feelings
to appropriate ones by vividly imagining a negative scenario and working on
experiencing healthy rather than unhealthy negative emotions.
● Role playing - Rehearsing certain behaviors to elicit client feelings often can
bring out emotions the client was not previously aware of.
● Shame-attacking exercises - Behavioral exposure assignments that have
people perform behaviors that they fear or experience shame about doing. These
are continued until one stops feeling sorry and disappointed about others’
disapproval and ceases putting oneself down and feeling ashamed. Although the
exercise can be practiced in a therapy session, it is done outside therapy.
● Forceful self-statements - Statements that combat “musturbating” beliefs in a
strong and forceful manner can be helpful in replacing irrational beliefs with
rational beliefs.
● Forceful self-dialogue - Arguing strongly and vigorously against an irrational
belief has an advantage over therapist–client dialogue in that all of the material
comes from the client.
4. Behavioral Methods. Include systematic desensitization, relaxation techniques,
modeling, operant conditioning, and principles of self-management.
● Activity homework - To combat client demands and musts, therapists may
make assignments that reduce irrational beliefs
● Reinforcements and penalties. When people accomplish a task, it is useful for
them to reward themselves. - A self-penalty can also quickly encourage clients to
complete agreed-upon assignments.
● Skill training - Workshops and groups often teach important skills. Workshops
on communication skills, job-interviewing skills, and other social and work-related
skills can supplement individual REBT

APPLICATIONS

In practice, REBT has been applied to various domains such as clinical psychology, education,
organizational settings, and counseling. Since it is focused on education and taking action, it
can be effective for a variety of situations and mental health conditions.
 1. Mental health

REBT is generally accepted as an effective type of therapy, finding it can help with
conditions such as depression, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder, and disruptive
behavior.
The positive effects of REBT also appear to last even after therapy has ended. REBT
was also found to be as effective as cognitive therapy and medication for the treatment
of depression, with REBT being more effective than medication after 6 months (David, et
al., 2008).m

2. Burnout at school and work

REBT may be effective for reducing symptoms of burnout for students and has shown to
continue to work even months after therapy concluded.

Group REBT has also shown to reduce job-related stress and burnout while increasing
job satisfaction and commitment.

3. Sports

REBT can be used to restore and maintain their mental health, helping them learn how
to change their sometimes-unhelpful outlook and manage their emotions.

Although this therapy can improve an athlete’s performance, the goal of REBT in sports
psychology is to care for their mental well-being first and foremost.

4. Alcohol and drug addiction

The idea of using this type of therapy is to facilitate sobriety and return to health and
happiness by returning and/or lessening irrational thoughts and negative emotions that
lead to addictive behaviors.

REBT has been shown to work quite effectively for people with these addictions.

The therapy works to change the way these individuals think about situations, have more
positive emotional reactions, and alter the way they act.

LIMITATIONS

Underlying severe psychological disorders, such as schizophrenia and personality disorders,

may result in ineffective results from REBT (Corey, 2009). Alternative therapies should be
discussed with a GP if these are present. Moreover, the effectiveness of REBT is primarily
dependent on the patient’s commitment to the therapy as it is not a ‘quick fix’ and does not take
into account external life factors such as the individual’s living conditions or friendship groups,
as these influences may contribute to the underlying issues.
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