CON 610 Final – Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy – Flashcards

-founder of REBT -sex therapist, trained as a psychoanalyst, dissatisfied -influenced by Harry Stack Sullivan, Karen Horney, Alfred Adler, and Otto Rank -controversial personality

-"it's never the events that happen that make us disturbed, but our view of them" -people can control their own thoughts, feelings and behaviors -constructivist -soft determinist - individuals have some choice in their lives, but inherited or innate potentials also exert substantial influence -neutral in terms of human nature -2 powerful human tendencies: "to take their strong desires and preferences and construct them into absolute musts" and the "propensity to be strongly proactive: to be motivated and impelled to constructively change things for the better." -people are responsible for their behavior -behavior should never be equated with the person -"people's intrinsic value or worth cannot really be measured, because their being includes their becoming. They are a process with an ever-changing present and future."

-assume people have the overall goals of "surviving and being reasonably happy (a) when alone, (b) socially with other people, (c) intimately relating to a few selected people, (d) gathering information and education, (e) working productively, and (f) having recreational interests such as art, music, literature, philosophy, entertainment, and sports"

A= antecedent event or activating experience, or something that happens to us that we find relevant; sometimes refers to adversity; can be thoughts, fantasies, emotions, or other people; whatever the person is upset about C = the consequence, the result of A. can be emotional events or behavior; can be healthy or unhealthy (depending on what you think about the event A filtered through B) B = our belief about A -Ellis was clear that emotions, beliefs and behaviors interact

-simple, declarative sentences we say to ourselves or images and symbols that have special meaning to us. -2 kinds: rational beliefs (rBs) and irrational beliefs (iBs)

4 kinds: -flexible preferences -anti-awfulizing beliefs -high frustration tolerance beliefs -acceptance beliefs

-rigid, demanding musts or shoulds 1. Self-demandingness 2. Other-demandingness 3. World-demandingness Conclusions that result from relying on these beliefs include: a. awfulizing b. I-can't-stand-its, or low frustration tolerance (LFT) c. damnation, or rating ourselves, others, or the world as absolutely, totally horrible d. allness, or overgeneralization -we're not always aware of our iBs -operate on both conscious and unconscious levels

-people have goals (Gs) that they carry with them, and the most important As are thwarted when those goals are thwarted -everyone has general goals to survive and be happy, but these are translated into more-specific subgoals that we share with other people -common goals include to be loved, to be comfortable, to be successful

-global human worth ratings involve seeing yourself or someone else as an all-good or all-bad person - are a no-no -the person and the behavior must be separated, I am not my acts -individuals should work toward unconditional self-acceptance (USA), which can be achieved in one of two ways 1) fight your natural tendencies to self-evaluate and instead choose to see yourself as a good person just because you are human and are alive - this can be problematic because it's definitional - anyone could come along and disagree with your definition, you have no way of proving yourself right and would constantly be confronted with your own imperfection 2) better option: refuse to make such evaluations of the self; simply evaluate your behavior, thoughts, and feelings as good or bad according to the standard of rationality -applies to our appraisals of others, as well (UAO - unconditional other-acceptance)

-beliefs that come in response to an upsetting ABC experience -we treats Cs as activating experiences themselves (A2s) and then get all wound up with Bs about them -ex. we must not have lousy thinking, or we must not get anxious, etc

-does not offer a personality theory -humans are a product of both inherited influences and environmental teaching; constitutional factors are more powerful -no developmental progress/stages discussed -biological influences include individual differences in the tendency to think irraitonally or react emotionally, and conversely to grow and actualize -most important environmental influences are other people, from whom we absorb rules, standards of behavior, and goals (from these we create musts and shoulds) -much of this construction happens when we're children and have immature (bad, rigid, crooked) thinking processes

- rely mostly on rational beliefs in their daily lives; use flexible, preferential thinking rather than absolutistic musts and shoulds -high frustration tolerance -value open-mindedness and oppose bigotry -relativistic thinking and desiring -self-interest is a primary value -acceptance (USA, UOA) -endorse the philosophy of REBT (long range hedonism, self-interest, social interest, self-direction, ...) -commitment to something outside of oneself -emphasizes risk taking, non perfectionism, and nonutopianism

-operating in the world on the basis of irrational beliefs -experience life's difficulties and take their preferences and elevate them to absolute demands -demandingness at the core of psychological dysfunction -when the client's issue involves self-esteem, person is said to be experiencing ego disturbance; all other forms of dysfunction are referred to as discomfort disturbance -severe psychological dysfunction (personality disorders, profound depression, ocd, psychosis) likely stem from the joint influence of traumatizing early experience and innate, organic deficits (e.g. inherently more emotionally reactive and behaviorally disorganized)

(older sources reject medical model of diagnosis) 1) -currently, if warranted, use DSM diagnosis -in cases not warranting a DSM diagnosis, a problem-focused interview is used 2) - formulate and REBT case conceptualization -may also use vivid REBT (structured techniques used to assess client's belief structures) -informal assessment- asking what brings the client to therapy, therapist listens for As, Bs, and Cs as well as client's cognitive flexibility, problem-solving skill, indicators of secondary emotional disturbance -first explore Cs, then As, then Bs -counselor keeps in mind the 3 basic problematic beliefs (self-demandingness, other-demandingness, world-demandingness)

-used to get to the client's core beliefs -therapist asks client to assume that the thought or inference is true and then asks "Then what?" or says "That would mean..." -client's response is followed by further questioning until the process reveals a C (an emotional or behavioral problem) -counselor then asks why, to further elaborate on the As properties

-when clients have difficulty labeling emotional experience or relating emotions to A events -1st counselor can try using language that's much more emotional and colorful than formal -guided imagery -client can be asked to bring photos or mementos that relate to the problem -interpersonal nightmare technique: client is asked to write a brief script, as if for a play, about his most feared event - can be audiotaped and then replayed -riskier techniques involve either recreating the problem situation in the counseling session or performing in vivo assessment (field trip)

-active, directive -authoritative stance of the counselor in REBT is combined with unconditional acceptance of the client (actively, forcefully teach their clients to accept themselves) -encouraging and supportive, projects confidence that client can change -often uses humor, needs to be interpersonally flexible, willing to be formal or informal, self-disclosing, humorous or not depending on what promotes the relationship

-therapist uses active listening and empathic responding -conveys unconditional acceptance of the client -Ellis cautioned that too much emphasis on the relationship can lead to clients feeling better, but no getting betting -very close relationship can be damaging for clients who tend to be dependent -avoids letting client get into lengthy descriptions of As because he's not very interested in history, or a lengthy discussion of Cs - try to get client back to the source of the Cs, the iBs -no evidence has been presented indicating the average number of sessions (Ellis maintained that most "normal neurotics are helped within 20 sessions)

-easy to confuse the role of the counselor with the personality of Ellis -therapist serves in a teacher role to help the client learn the ABC model -REBT client is a student on the counselor, but needs to be very involved and energetic - are expected to work hard

1) to eliminate irrational thinking and thereby the associated dysfunctional emotions and behaviors, 2) to teach the client REBT philosophy -change irrational beliefs into rational beliefs -want the client to learn unconditional self-acceptance, high frustration tolerance, and unconditional acceptance of others and the world -helps clients change their dysfunctional basic philosophies - need to accomplish 3 major objectives 1. acknowledge that they mainly are responsible for their own disturbed thoughts, feelings, and actions, and stop copping out by blaming their parents, their culture, or their environment 2. clearly see how they are thinking, feeling, and behaving when they needlessly upset themselves 3. work hard, forcefully, and persistently to change their neurotic cognitions, emotions, and performances -clients are expected to get better, not just feel better

-ABCDE model (D = dispute, E = new effect and effective new philosophy -2 kinds of REBT: general, or inelegant, and elegant -inelegant consists of using cognitive-behavioral interventions common to other forms of cognitive therapy; often focuses on the client's inferences -elegant, or preferential, REBT, is aimed at the shoulds, musts, and I-can't-stand-its of the client; helps the client adopt a more functional basic philosophy - an REBT philosophy. Therapist teaches the client the difference between preferences and musts; learn to be their own REBT therapist; make a serious commitment to something outside themselves, such as family, work, or a political cause 1st taks - help client reduce his emotional disturbance 2nd - address self-actualization by setting short and long term goals that involve cognitive, emotive, and behavioral changes

-because client thinks therapist is mistaken -simply difficult to change -Ellis called clients who resist REBT "difficult customers" -most important source of resistance: innate tendency of humans to think irrationally , to be short-range hedonists -client's embarrassment about the problem -unwillingness to give up secondary gains resulting from symptoms -client's belief that he must punish himself -client's perfectionism/grandiosity -can be fed by transference-like phenomena such as client-therapist mismatching, traditional client transference, and genuine attraction between client and therapist -can also resist out of rebellion and reactance or hopelessness or in response to a judgemental therapist

-seen as a direct function of therapist cognition -can have both rational (i.e. helpful) and irrational aspects

-major technique used is disputing -some REBT counselors argue that teaching comes before disputing (teaching about REBT, the ABCDE model, etc)

-client disputes begin with asking the client to assume that the A is true -should be sensitive, particularly when the client is presenting a very traumatic experience (e.g. rape, sexual abuse) 3 basic forms of disputing 1. realistic disputing - focuses on the "truth or factual reality" of beliefs. "What evidence is there that x is true?" 2. logical disputing - "does if follow logically that, if you fail one test in one class, you will always fail tests?" 3. pragmatic disputing - when the therapist and client examine the outcomes of holding a given belief 4. (added) philosophical disputing - focus on life satisfaction; use when the client is so immersed in problems that he loses sight of the bigger issues in existence

-clients are assigned readings (often Ellis' writings)

-clients are told to go out and spread the word, to try to help friends and relatives work on their iBs -sometimes identifying and analyzing someone else's problem is easier than identifying and analyzing your own

-clients are given recordings of their therapy sessions to study between appointments -helpful: clients don't usually remember all that happened during their sessions, gives clients the chance to really listen to how they think, and they might become more objective about their situations -once client has identified a strong iB, he should record it, along with two or three disputes - should listen to the recording and share it with others

-helping clients see things a little differently Ex. view As as challenges rather than difficulties

-place cues in the environment to help clients pay attention to their cognitions -every time client notices a cue, he is to stop and observe his thoughts at that moment

-part of the effective new philosophies created as clients dispute their iBs -are sentences the client constructs that he should review and practice as part of working to change his ways -should be realistic, checked against what happens in the world, and revised as necessary

-important emotional disputation technique -client is asked to close his eyes and conjure up the terrible, awful, dysfunctional emotion that has been targeted -when the client has fully achieved the emotional experience, he signals the counselor, who then instructs the client to change the feeling into a healthy negative emotion -after he has achieved this transformation, is asked to gradually return to the therapy situation -client can learn to distinguish between healthy and unhealthy emotions if the therapist allows the client to pick the second emotion

-can be verbal or nonverbal -swearing or using terms like "rotten person", "worm", and "no-goodnik" -e.g. therapist could stand on his head and ask client to evaluate the behavior - when client says it's a little weird, therapist can ask "does that make me a weird person?"

-believe in having fun - gently -never make fun of the client, only of his silly behavior or thinking -Ellis devised songs for this

-can be used to problem-solve around the practical problems that bring clients to therapy -can also be used to assess irrational beliefs by asking the client to enact the situations that elicit dysfunctional consequences -rational role reversal -client takes the counselor role and disputes the therapist's iBs

-interchanges based on iBs and rBs -zigzag approach - client lists a rational belief and then attacks the rB with an irrational belief; process continues until the client has exhausted his irrational attacks -typically done on paper, can also be done with two-chair role playing (client moves back and forth between them)

-therapists assign reinforcements that are self-administered when the client completes a "work" task -penalties are things the client doesn't like doing, and they are activated in the client doesn't complete his task

-teach clients assertive behavior or other social or interpersonal skills to address skill deficits

-borrowed from Behavior Therapy -simply asking the client to experience the feared situation -usually forceful cognitive coping and dispute statements are employed -"staying in there" -repetition is important -useful with phobias

-similar to "as if" technique - have the client act on the basis of rBs developed in conjunction with the counselor

-always give clients homework -tasks fit client's problems and may include techniques like bibliotherapy or shame attacking -counselor collaborates with client in developing homework -REBT self-help form is frequently used

-client is instructed to go out and do something dreadfully embarrassing -best if the shame-attacking behavior directly relates to the client's situation -rationale is that the client will discover that he won't die of embarrassment if others think he's weird.