Theory Rational Emotional Behavioural Therapy

(REBT)
Indicator
Founder
Introductory
Time
Force
Category
Key Concepts

View of Human
Personalities
and Structure

Maladjustment

Albert Ellis (1913-2007)

1950s
Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT)
Directive
People contribute to their own psychological
issues and symptoms by the way they
interpret events & situations
Thinking (cognitions), emotions and behaviour
interact and have a cause & effect
relationship
Aims at providing clients with the tools to
restructure their philosophical thinking
(internal dialogue) and behavioural styles
Human beings are born with the potential for
both rational and irrational thinking
Humans have predispositions for positive
aspects of life eg: self preservation, self
actualisation, happiness etc and also for
negative aspects eg: self destruction,
repetition of mistakes, intolerance,
procrastination
People can be taught how to accept
themselves as people who will continue to
make mistakes but yet, can learn tools to live
more at peace with themselves.
We create irrational dogmas which contribute to
our own problems. We actively reinforce selfdefeating beliefs by autosuggestion, self-repetition

and behaving as though these irrational dogmas are

useful.
It is our own repetition of early indoctrinated
irrational thoughts rather than our parents work,
that keep these negative attitudes alive and
operative in us. Eg: you do not actually NEED to be
approved by people, it may be nice and good, but
not absolutely critical to survival
Basic Philosophy

Goals

A persons belief system and internal dialogue are

the primary causes of disorders. People contribute to
their own psychological problems by repeating
irrational dogmas to themselves, so they can be
taught to identify these irrational dogmas and to
stop repeating them and replace them with healthy
thinking schemes.

Clients are taught to separate evaluation of

their behaviour from the evaluation of
themselves. Ie: I am not very good with
studies, but that does not mean I am a bad
person. (as opposed to: I am lousy at doing
things, I am a bad person and deserve to be
punished)
Identify and change dysfunctional thinking
patterns, emotions and behaviour into healthy
ones
Unconditional Self Acceptance: to over
come maladaptive thinking: I must be
perfect and win approval of everyone!
Unconditional Other Acceptance: to
overcome maladaptive thinking: Others
must always follow the rules, do the correct


Relationship

Technique

1.

2.
3.
4.
5.

thing all the time and be good people, if not

they must be punished!
Unconditional Life Acceptance: to over
come maladaptive thinking: Life must be
easy, without discomfort or inconvenience!
Essentially cognitive, directive and teacherstudent
Adopts person centered approaches of
unconditional acceptance and positive regard
of clients but with limits placed to prevent
client dependence for approval from therapist
Open and direct in self disclosure, open and
direct in disputing clients unrealistic notions
Identify/operationalise objective facts giving
rise to problems faced by client (ie: He
always ignores me to I walked into the room
last Tuesday night and he did not say hello)
Identify how many irrational musts have
been incorporated by the client into his
thinking
Demonstrate to clients that they are feeding
& growing their emotional problems by
thinking illogically and unrealistically
Help client modify and minimise illogical,
unrealistic and irrational thinking
Challenge client to develop a rational
philosophy for life

ie: the ABCDEF process

A = Identify objective facts, events, behaviours
B = The clients Beliefs about A
C = the emotional consequences due to the
clients beliefs
D = Dispute the irrational and illogical beliefs

E = Help client to generate a more Effective

belief system
F = Promote new Feelings and emotions about
problem areas of life

Application of
Approach

Strength

Limitation

Techniques used: psychoeducational structured

therapy, talk therapy, debating and disputing,
home work assignments, diary of irrational
thoughts, changing words used, self-instructional
training.
All types of problems, but may not be so useful for
young children or adults who have not reached
formal operations thinking (ie: able to think in the
abstract, logical thinking).
Other wise, very useful for depression, anxiety,
stress management, panic, performance worries,
social phobias, motivational skills, assertion training,
eating disorders, self image issues.
Eclectic in approach, open to new techniques
Action and goal oriented
Structured and evidence based specific
steps and measurable goals for each steps
good for therapists and clients who like
structured programmes
Clients go home with a clear format on what
to do and how to do it
The ABCDEF format can easily be taught / put
into a chart for clients for their future use in
other problems
Does not require many sessions

Tends to downplay emotions, less focus on

exploring unexpressed or underlying conflicts
and emotions

Tends to ignore environmental issues and past

history in families and relationships
Difficult to use for younger or less thinking
clients
Some clients may not like the disputing and
confrontational approach so early which can
cause early termination
Some clients do not like so much structure,
they may reject homework and so much
direction from the therapist