4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
Chapter 5
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Authors: Albert Ellis and Debbie Joffe Ellis
Key Points and Terms
Overview
Practical and symptom-focused
vy
Philosophically-based, but techniques have empirical support
Requires patient collaboration
vy
Patients change through identification of irrational thought processes.
vy
Patient’s behavior and thought processes are evaluated and criticized when necessary.
vy
Basic Propositions of REBT
» People have the potential to be rational, self-preserving, creative, functional and to use metathought or to
be irrational, self-destructive, short-range hedonists, dysfunctional.
Culture and family can perpetuate irrational thinking.
VvYY
Humans perceive, think, emote and behave simultaneously.
All psychotherapies are not equally effective.
Y
A warm therapeutic relationship is not a necessary or sufficient condition for change.
Y
REBT uses techniques that work; focus is not symptom removal but cognitive change.
VY
Neurotic thinking is the result of unrealistic, illogical thinking.
YyvYyY
The causes of an individual’s problems are not the events that have happened but how the individual
perceives them.
» REBT focuses on three insights.
= Insight 1: Adversity — belief about adversity — disturbed consequences
= Insight 2: People are upset now because they keep actively reinforcing irrational beliefs.
= Insight 3: Only hard work and practice will correct irrational beliefs.
» There is an element between stimulus and response; it is thought and emotional response.
» REBT provides clients with several powerful insights.
Comparing REBT to Other Therapies
REBT Compared with Psychoanalysis
» REBT does not focus on free association, complex history taking, dream analysis or sexual conflicts.
» Transference is seen in REBT as often resulting from irrational beliefs.
» REBT employs persuasive and directive techniques.
REBT Compared with Adler’s Theory
» Considerable similarities between approaches as Adler wrote about individuals developing fictional
beliefs, which is a concept similar to Ellis’s irrational beliefs.
» Departs from Adler regarding emphasis on past memories, social interest.
» REBT is more future-oriented and behavioral.
REBT Compared to Jungion Therapy
» There are lots of commonalities between the two approaches, especially regarding holistic view of
individuals.
» REBT views the Jungian focus on dreams, fantasies, symbols or archetypes as a “waste of time.”
REBT Compared to Person-Centered Therapy
about:blank 1/63
,4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
There are lots of commonalities between the two approaches.
Both emphasize importance of unconditional positive regard, which REBT labels as full acceptance or
tolerance.
REBT Compared to Cognitive Therapy
CT REBT
Thoughts Labeled Dysfunctional Irrational
Type of Reasoning Used Inductive Deductive
Beliefs Associated with Cognitive specificity for each Core set of irrational beliefs
Psychopathology disorder
View of the Problem Functional; pathology arises Philosophical; pathology arises from
from multiple cognitive “shoulds,” “musts,” and “oughts”
distortions
Therapist’s Approach More collaborative More confrontational
Emphasis Psychoeducation an early and Higher reliance on psychoeducation
critical component of treatment
Focus “Hot cognitions” critical, but More aggressive focus on emotional-
obtained in a less aggressive evocative methods; core set of
manner irrational beliefs
REBT Compared to Behavior Therapy
» There are lots of commonalities between the two approaches.
» REBT has a strong focus on the cognitive aspects.
» More similar to cognitive therapy and multimodal therapy than BT.
History of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Developed by Albert Ellis, Ph,D.
After two decades of practicing psychoanalysis, he became increasingly disillusioned by the limited
progress patients were making.
Berne, Frank, Kelly, Low, Phillips Rotter, and Wolpe were all influential.
Other major influences were Asian and Stoic philosophers, Alfred Adler, Paul DuBois, persuasive forms
of psychotherapy, Herzberg, Bernheim, Salter, Thorne, Alexander, French, Dollard, Miler, Stekel,
Wolberg.
»
In 1957, Ellis wrote How to Live with a “Neurotic.’
In 1975, Ellis wrote A New Guide to Rational Living, which continues to be one of the most popular
self-help books to date.
In 1977, Ellis wrote Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy.
Current Status of REBT
» In 2005, Society of Clinical Psychology members listed Carl Rogers, Albert Ellis and Sigmund Freud, in
that order, as the most influential in the history of psychotherapy.
Albert Ellis Institute established in 1959 teaches principles of healthy living.
Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy reports latest findings.
Research supports several REBT premises:
= Thoughts and feelings are not two disparate processes.
about:blank 2/63
,4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
= Beliefs are more important than events.
= Metathought occurs (often captured in images).
= Changing thoughts, behaviors, or emotions changes other modalities.
» The Albert Ellis Institute (www.rebt.org) and the Albert Ellis Foundation
(www.albertellisfoundation.org) are two separate entities which disseminate the ideas of REBT to
professionals and consumers.
Unfortunately, Albert Ellis had a strained relationship with the Albert Ellis Institute following his removal
from the board by the Board of Trustees of the Albert Ellis Institute in 2005. In January 2006, the State Supreme
Court in Manhattan ruled that the board incorrectly ousted Ellis at a meeting from which Ellis was excluded.
The judge’s decision reinstated him to the board and the judge indicated that the institute’s position regarding
Dr. Ellis was “disingenuous,” citing case law saying a “dismissal, accomplished without notice of any kind or
the right of confrontation, is offensive and contrary to our fundamental process of democratic and legal
procedure, fair play and the spirit of the law.”
Ellis’s Theory of Personality
“Basic tenet of REBT is that emotional upsets, as distinguished from feelings of sorrow, regret,
annoyance, and frustration, largely stem from irrational beliefs.”
— Ellis
» Problematic beliefs center around words/concepts like ... “should,” “ought,” “awful,” “must,” “I want,”
and “I need.”
Ellis’s Theory of Personality
“This is the basic personality theory of REBT. Humans largely create their own distress.”
— Ellis
Albert Ellis Agrees with. ...
Freud that ... The pleasure principle runs people’s lives.
Horney and Fromm that ... Cultural and family influences impact people’s irrational thinking.
Adler that ... Fictitious goals order people’s lives.
Allport that ... Individuals think and act in a certain manner and have difficulty
changing.
Pavlov that ... Cognitive conditioning occurs.
Frank that ... People are prone to the influence of suggestion.
Piaget that ... Active learning is more effective than passive.
Anna Freud that ... People refuse to acknowledge mistakes and resort to defenses.
Maslow and Rogers that ... Humans have great untapped resources.
Ways Individual s Alleviate Pain
» Distraction:
= Leads to less demands of others.
= Individual becomes less anxious.
= Palliative
> Satistying demands
= If demands are catered to, the individual feels better but does not get better.
= Therapist can give love and approval, provide pleasurable sensations.
about:blank 3/63
, 4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
Teach methods to have demands met; give reassurance.
= Ultimate impact is demandingness is reinforced.
> Magic and mysticism
= Magical solutions are often offered to children and even to adolescents and adults.
Generally, magical solutions only temporarily placate the individual.
Main Goals of REBT
> REBT’s goal is to achieve minimal demandingness and maximal tolerance.
> Although temporary, palliative techniques may be used in REBT; goal is for more permanent
solutions.
Goal is minimization of musturbation, perfectionism, grandiosity, and low frustration tolerance.
vyvy
REBT assists patients in seeing how giving up perfectionism improves their lives.
REBT teaches patients to differentiate between desires and “musts.”
Behavioral techniques are used in REBT to change habits as well as cognition.
vy
REBT Psychotherapy
“REBT helps clients acquire a more realistic, tolerant philosophy of life ... REBT practitioners often
employ a rapid-fire, active-directive-persuasive-philosophical methodology.”
— Ellis
Mechanisms of Psychotherapy
» No matter what feelings (which, by the way, do not distract the therapist) the patient discusses, the focus
is on the patient’s irrational beliefs.
» REBT therapists do not hesitate to contradict the patient’s beliefs and are often one step ahead while
showing acceptance.
» REBT therapists may do more talking than the patients.
» Strongest philosophical approach possible is used.
» Therapist doesn’t just tell the patient their beliefs are irrational, but attempts to encourage the patient to
see this for themselves.
Applications of REBT
» REBT is a broad based approach
» FEasier to identify disorders that are not treated by the approach, which includes individuals who are
psychotic, manic, autistic, brain-injured, mentally-deficient.
Major Areas of Impact of REBT
= Most effective with single symptom problems that also include anger management issues, religious
clients, school-aged children and for preventative purposes.
= Field of education, especially regarding enhancing normative development.
= Research supporting CT also supports basic premises of REBT.
Chapter 5: Activities
Role-play
Provide the students with a copy of Albert Ellis” RET Self-Help Form (obtainable from the Albert Ellis
Institute). Ask them to role-play developing disputes for irrational beliefs and effective rational beliefs.
Discussion Questions
about:blank 4/63
Chapter 5
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Authors: Albert Ellis and Debbie Joffe Ellis
Key Points and Terms
Overview
Practical and symptom-focused
vy
Philosophically-based, but techniques have empirical support
Requires patient collaboration
vy
Patients change through identification of irrational thought processes.
vy
Patient’s behavior and thought processes are evaluated and criticized when necessary.
vy
Basic Propositions of REBT
» People have the potential to be rational, self-preserving, creative, functional and to use metathought or to
be irrational, self-destructive, short-range hedonists, dysfunctional.
Culture and family can perpetuate irrational thinking.
VvYY
Humans perceive, think, emote and behave simultaneously.
All psychotherapies are not equally effective.
Y
A warm therapeutic relationship is not a necessary or sufficient condition for change.
Y
REBT uses techniques that work; focus is not symptom removal but cognitive change.
VY
Neurotic thinking is the result of unrealistic, illogical thinking.
YyvYyY
The causes of an individual’s problems are not the events that have happened but how the individual
perceives them.
» REBT focuses on three insights.
= Insight 1: Adversity — belief about adversity — disturbed consequences
= Insight 2: People are upset now because they keep actively reinforcing irrational beliefs.
= Insight 3: Only hard work and practice will correct irrational beliefs.
» There is an element between stimulus and response; it is thought and emotional response.
» REBT provides clients with several powerful insights.
Comparing REBT to Other Therapies
REBT Compared with Psychoanalysis
» REBT does not focus on free association, complex history taking, dream analysis or sexual conflicts.
» Transference is seen in REBT as often resulting from irrational beliefs.
» REBT employs persuasive and directive techniques.
REBT Compared with Adler’s Theory
» Considerable similarities between approaches as Adler wrote about individuals developing fictional
beliefs, which is a concept similar to Ellis’s irrational beliefs.
» Departs from Adler regarding emphasis on past memories, social interest.
» REBT is more future-oriented and behavioral.
REBT Compared to Jungion Therapy
» There are lots of commonalities between the two approaches, especially regarding holistic view of
individuals.
» REBT views the Jungian focus on dreams, fantasies, symbols or archetypes as a “waste of time.”
REBT Compared to Person-Centered Therapy
about:blank 1/63
,4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
There are lots of commonalities between the two approaches.
Both emphasize importance of unconditional positive regard, which REBT labels as full acceptance or
tolerance.
REBT Compared to Cognitive Therapy
CT REBT
Thoughts Labeled Dysfunctional Irrational
Type of Reasoning Used Inductive Deductive
Beliefs Associated with Cognitive specificity for each Core set of irrational beliefs
Psychopathology disorder
View of the Problem Functional; pathology arises Philosophical; pathology arises from
from multiple cognitive “shoulds,” “musts,” and “oughts”
distortions
Therapist’s Approach More collaborative More confrontational
Emphasis Psychoeducation an early and Higher reliance on psychoeducation
critical component of treatment
Focus “Hot cognitions” critical, but More aggressive focus on emotional-
obtained in a less aggressive evocative methods; core set of
manner irrational beliefs
REBT Compared to Behavior Therapy
» There are lots of commonalities between the two approaches.
» REBT has a strong focus on the cognitive aspects.
» More similar to cognitive therapy and multimodal therapy than BT.
History of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
Developed by Albert Ellis, Ph,D.
After two decades of practicing psychoanalysis, he became increasingly disillusioned by the limited
progress patients were making.
Berne, Frank, Kelly, Low, Phillips Rotter, and Wolpe were all influential.
Other major influences were Asian and Stoic philosophers, Alfred Adler, Paul DuBois, persuasive forms
of psychotherapy, Herzberg, Bernheim, Salter, Thorne, Alexander, French, Dollard, Miler, Stekel,
Wolberg.
»
In 1957, Ellis wrote How to Live with a “Neurotic.’
In 1975, Ellis wrote A New Guide to Rational Living, which continues to be one of the most popular
self-help books to date.
In 1977, Ellis wrote Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy.
Current Status of REBT
» In 2005, Society of Clinical Psychology members listed Carl Rogers, Albert Ellis and Sigmund Freud, in
that order, as the most influential in the history of psychotherapy.
Albert Ellis Institute established in 1959 teaches principles of healthy living.
Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy reports latest findings.
Research supports several REBT premises:
= Thoughts and feelings are not two disparate processes.
about:blank 2/63
,4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
= Beliefs are more important than events.
= Metathought occurs (often captured in images).
= Changing thoughts, behaviors, or emotions changes other modalities.
» The Albert Ellis Institute (www.rebt.org) and the Albert Ellis Foundation
(www.albertellisfoundation.org) are two separate entities which disseminate the ideas of REBT to
professionals and consumers.
Unfortunately, Albert Ellis had a strained relationship with the Albert Ellis Institute following his removal
from the board by the Board of Trustees of the Albert Ellis Institute in 2005. In January 2006, the State Supreme
Court in Manhattan ruled that the board incorrectly ousted Ellis at a meeting from which Ellis was excluded.
The judge’s decision reinstated him to the board and the judge indicated that the institute’s position regarding
Dr. Ellis was “disingenuous,” citing case law saying a “dismissal, accomplished without notice of any kind or
the right of confrontation, is offensive and contrary to our fundamental process of democratic and legal
procedure, fair play and the spirit of the law.”
Ellis’s Theory of Personality
“Basic tenet of REBT is that emotional upsets, as distinguished from feelings of sorrow, regret,
annoyance, and frustration, largely stem from irrational beliefs.”
— Ellis
» Problematic beliefs center around words/concepts like ... “should,” “ought,” “awful,” “must,” “I want,”
and “I need.”
Ellis’s Theory of Personality
“This is the basic personality theory of REBT. Humans largely create their own distress.”
— Ellis
Albert Ellis Agrees with. ...
Freud that ... The pleasure principle runs people’s lives.
Horney and Fromm that ... Cultural and family influences impact people’s irrational thinking.
Adler that ... Fictitious goals order people’s lives.
Allport that ... Individuals think and act in a certain manner and have difficulty
changing.
Pavlov that ... Cognitive conditioning occurs.
Frank that ... People are prone to the influence of suggestion.
Piaget that ... Active learning is more effective than passive.
Anna Freud that ... People refuse to acknowledge mistakes and resort to defenses.
Maslow and Rogers that ... Humans have great untapped resources.
Ways Individual s Alleviate Pain
» Distraction:
= Leads to less demands of others.
= Individual becomes less anxious.
= Palliative
> Satistying demands
= If demands are catered to, the individual feels better but does not get better.
= Therapist can give love and approval, provide pleasurable sensations.
about:blank 3/63
, 4/1/24, 8:50 PM Testbank T2 - practice questions and answers for the 2nd exam
Teach methods to have demands met; give reassurance.
= Ultimate impact is demandingness is reinforced.
> Magic and mysticism
= Magical solutions are often offered to children and even to adolescents and adults.
Generally, magical solutions only temporarily placate the individual.
Main Goals of REBT
> REBT’s goal is to achieve minimal demandingness and maximal tolerance.
> Although temporary, palliative techniques may be used in REBT; goal is for more permanent
solutions.
Goal is minimization of musturbation, perfectionism, grandiosity, and low frustration tolerance.
vyvy
REBT assists patients in seeing how giving up perfectionism improves their lives.
REBT teaches patients to differentiate between desires and “musts.”
Behavioral techniques are used in REBT to change habits as well as cognition.
vy
REBT Psychotherapy
“REBT helps clients acquire a more realistic, tolerant philosophy of life ... REBT practitioners often
employ a rapid-fire, active-directive-persuasive-philosophical methodology.”
— Ellis
Mechanisms of Psychotherapy
» No matter what feelings (which, by the way, do not distract the therapist) the patient discusses, the focus
is on the patient’s irrational beliefs.
» REBT therapists do not hesitate to contradict the patient’s beliefs and are often one step ahead while
showing acceptance.
» REBT therapists may do more talking than the patients.
» Strongest philosophical approach possible is used.
» Therapist doesn’t just tell the patient their beliefs are irrational, but attempts to encourage the patient to
see this for themselves.
Applications of REBT
» REBT is a broad based approach
» FEasier to identify disorders that are not treated by the approach, which includes individuals who are
psychotic, manic, autistic, brain-injured, mentally-deficient.
Major Areas of Impact of REBT
= Most effective with single symptom problems that also include anger management issues, religious
clients, school-aged children and for preventative purposes.
= Field of education, especially regarding enhancing normative development.
= Research supporting CT also supports basic premises of REBT.
Chapter 5: Activities
Role-play
Provide the students with a copy of Albert Ellis” RET Self-Help Form (obtainable from the Albert Ellis
Institute). Ask them to role-play developing disputes for irrational beliefs and effective rational beliefs.
Discussion Questions
about:blank 4/63
