Theories Exam II: Ch. 11

Rational emotive behavior therapy is based on the assumption that humans have a ________ ________ to think irrationally or dysfunctionally, as well as rationally or functionally. -While social influences exist, even people with the most rational upbringing show evidence of major irrationalities and often adopt new irrationalities after giving up previous ones and ______ self-actualization thru defeatist thinking.

biological tendency -sabotage

in order for change to occur, REBT counselors or therapists are ________ and involved as they educate clients

active

Even though not all REBT practitioners agree with the ___-_______ style, it is possible to vary the style and, at the same time, adhere to the theoretical principles upon which it is based.

active-directive

18 steps that counselors or therapists can use in each session to help them implement the A-B-C process in order to effect client change. They noted that these steps can be applied to all _____ groups, even though the _______ used at each step may differ.

age; techniques

Activating events may be...

(1) positive or negative, (2) may refer to real or perceived events, (3) can be past, present, or future-oriented, and (4) can be an individual's own thoughts or feelings

model that gives client technique for challenging irrational thoughts -Goal is to teach patients this tool so they can master it and go about day to day functioning to challenge irrational beliefs on their own

***ABCD model***

(4) The REBT Didactic theory of change model is quite simple.

1. Clients must acknowledge that they have a problem. -realize they create their own disturbance. 2. clients must identify any meta-emotional problems, which are secondary problems about primary problems 3. Clients need to identify irrational beliefs and understand why the belief is illogical and irrational. 4. Clients must recognize why the rational beliefs would be preferable and give them better results 5. Clients need to learn how to challenge their irrational beliefs and replace them with rational alternatives. 6. Clients need to keep working on their tendencies to think and act irrationally.

5 Major Theoretical Assumptions of REBT

1. Goals, purposes, & rationality 2. Humanistic Emphasis 3. Interaction of Psych processes and the place of cognition 4. 2 basic biological tendencies 5. 2 fundamental human disturbances

These shoulds, oughts, and musts fall under 3 main categories:

1. Self-demandingness 2. Other-demandingness 3. World-demandingness

Irrational beliefs share 4 key elements:

1. demanding 2. awfulizing 3. low-frustration tolerance 4. global rating of self or others

Ask clients to identify the problem they would like to work on, which is considered the __. Then the counselor asks about the emotional and behavioral ______: how they feel about the problem and how they behaved in response to it.

A -consequence (C)

IN ABCD MODEL: A= _______ event; most people come into therapy for some type of ... event (like death of a loved one) B=_____ (irrational: I'll never be happy again; I can't do xyz without them) C= _______ (self-sabotage—don't allow self to be happy; don't try; depressed) D=_____ irrational belief (look to things that have made them happy before; bring in other people who have lost and recovered; who are other people who can provide support?)

A=activating B=belief C=consequences D=dispute

Counselors or therapists can detect irrational beliefs in several ways: (3)

Cognitively, emotionally, and behaviorally.

According to REBT, events and people (DO/DO NOT) make us feel bad or good. Emotional distress results from _______ thought processes such as exaggeration, overgeneralization, oversimplification, illogic, faulty deductions, absolutistic rigid schema, and unvalidated assumptions.

DO NOT; dysfunctional

This is informational. In this process, the counselor or therapist explains the difference between rational beliefs, which are flexible and adaptive and help in goal attainment; and irrational beliefs, which are rigid, illogical, and interfere with goal achievement.

Didactic:

______ _______ or ____-_____ ______ (LFT) occurs when individuals make demands on themselves, others, and the world relative to comfort and life conditions. When these demands are not met, individuals begin to "awfulize" and develop an "I-can't-stand-it" attitude.

Discomfort disturbance, or low-frustration tolerance

Once there is an agreed-upon goal, the counselor or therapist initiates

Disputing

who is the grandfather of REBT? -considered the second most influential psychotherapist in history, next to Carl Rogers.

Ellis

This helps clients evaluate the factual aspects of their beliefs.

Empirical Dispute:

The purpose is to question the practicality of the client's irrational beliefs.

Functional Dispute:

There are two major categories of psychological disturbance: ___ disturbance and _____ disturbance.

Fundamental human disturbances: 1. ego 2. discomfort

REBT proposes that humans are happiest when they have _____ and _______ that give meaning to their lives.

Goals, purposes (& rationality)

This helps clients see how illogical it is to escalate their desires and preferences into demands.

Logical Dispute:

implies that people with whom we associate must always treat us kindly, considerately, and fairly; and if they do not, they are unworthy, bad, rotten, and deserve to be punished. -Anger, rage, hurt, jealousy, vindictiveness, and violence develop as a result

Other-demandingness

This is another approach that helps clients look at meaning and satisfaction in life. Because clients often focus on specific problems and lose perspective on other aspects of their life, a philosophical dispute will help them develop perspective.

Philosophical Dispute:

________ was the first cognitive-behavioral therapy to be introduced into clinical practice.

REBT

Contrary to what many believe, REBT has been influenced by ________ core conditions. The concept of unconditional acceptance and genuineness is endorsed by REBT counselors or therapists.

Rogers'

refers to the idea that we must always perform well and win others' approval; and if we do not, we are incompetent, unworthy, and deserve to suffer. -Self- hatred, anxiety, and depression often result, along with procrastination, withdrawal, and obsessiveness.

Self-demandingness

This is another common form of disputation that is more preferable than the didactic dispute, involves questioning that gives clients insight into the irrationality of their thinking.

Socratic Approach:

means that the conditions in which we live must be enjoyable, hassle-free, safe, and favorable; and if they are not, it is awful, horrible, and unbearable. This form of demandingness often leads to anger, depression, self-pity, and low-frustration tolerance, as well as withdrawal, procrastination, phobias, and addictions.

World-demandingness

This theory acknowledges that social influences have SOME impact on humans' tendency to think irrationally, but stresses that irrational beliefs also have a strong BIOLOGICAL basis and are more related to mental health problems than are rational beliefs

basic biological tendencies

Once the beliefs have been elicited, the next step is to help the client see the connection between the _____ and _______ (model)

belief--- emotions Model

REBT theory posits that it is not the activating event (A) that creates the emotional and behavioral consequences (C), but rather the ______ people hold about these activating events.

beliefs (B)

After successfully dealing with any existing secondary emotions, the counselor or therapist then asks clients to identify their _______ related to the identified emotional and behavioral ________

beliefs; consequence

Ellis himself preferred an active, directive therapeutic style with most clients , but he did not dogmatically insist that there is one specific type of relationship between client and counselor or therapist, stressing that the degree to which one is active-directive is a _____.

choice

REBT ascribes to the notion that _____ or _____ cause emotions and behavior.

cognitions; beliefs

indiviuals tend to be happier & healthier if they are involved in something outside themselves and have at least one strong, creative interest around which they structure part of their lives

commitment

Once the beliefs have been elicited, the next step is to help the client see the _______ between the beliefs and the emotions, which is the crux of this theory. -leads to goal setting--see how thinking influences feelings, whatcha wanna change?

connection

Therefore, REBT therapists focus on helping clients develop rational, as opposed to irrational, _________

constructions

rating emotion is important question in REBT bc it's important to see there is a _________; if you're gonna see the emotional consequence of an irrational belief; helps them understand that by thinking more rationally, though they may still experience a particular emotion, it can be less intense.

continuum

Fundamental to REBT is the notion that people's _________ nature, along with their ________ upbringing, not only impels them to create happiness and more fulfilling lives, but also encourages them to elevate goals and desires into absolutistic and _________ shoulds, oughts and musts that lead to emotional and behavioral _________.

contradictory; social; unrealistic; difficulties

Behaviorally, self-______ ______ signal the likelihood of irrational beliefs.

defeating actions

EBT is very _____________ -__________ does a lot of the talking -focus on the ___________; what's ________ in thinking and how can we change it?

directive -therapist -present; irrational

an active process that helps clients assess the rationality of their irrational beliefs and whether these irrational beliefs are helpful. The purpose of challenging these rigid and inflexible beliefs is to replace them with rational alternatives.

disputation

Once the emotional and behavioral consequences and the irrational beliefs have been identified, the next step in the A-B-C-model is....

disputation (D).

Another goal of the REBT counseling or psychotherapeutic process is to educate clients about how they ________ themselves and to actively teach them the __-__-__ model so they can ultimately help themselves.

disturb; A-B-C

______ ________ occurs when individuals make demands on themselves, others, and the world. If these demands are not met, they put themselves down by assigning a global negative rating to themselves and identifying themselves as bad or less worthy.

ego disturbance

When individuals seek counseling or therapy, they believe that the activating event has caused their negative

emotional and behavioral consequences

Irrational beliefs emanate from multiple ________ and ______ (biological) factors

environmental; genetic

Irrational thoughts are said to be related to _______ plus __________ -Irrational thoughts related to ______ ________

genetics; environment -mental illness

Because they feel free to be themselves and at times self-disclose their own fallibilities, REBT counselors or therapists are ________. This ... has therapeutic purposes because it indicates to clients that counselors are humans, too, and it also teaches them what the counselor did to overcome his or her own problems

genuine

Although REBT is rational and scientific, it is not purely objective, scientific or technique-centered, but takes a definite ______-existential approach to human problems and their basic solutions.

humanistic emphasis

-REBT theory emphasizes an _______ view of psychological processes in that cognitions, emotions, and behaviors do not exist in isolation, but actually ______ considerably.

interaction of Psych processes and the place of cognition -interactive; overlap

REBT has strong emphasis on helping clients see __________ between feelings, actions & behaviors -Because people think, feel and act simultaneously, it is logical that what people think affects how they feel, that people usually don't feel or act without thinking, and that how they behave influences what they think and how they feel.

interconnectedness

Ellis studied Freud's psychoanalysis but soon became disillusioned with psychoanalysis and began to question the validity of ________ and _______

interpretation; insight

Nevertheless, REBT theory clearly asserts that despite the tendency to think _________, humans have the ability to construct self-_______ thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and are strongly motivated to change things for the ______

irrationally; enhancing; better

In its over 50 years of existence, it has been applied successfully to individual, group, marital, and family therapy for a wide array of problems. -It is a well-established form of counseling or therapy that has been used very successfully with _____ and ______ in hospital and mental health facilities, as well as in industrial, commercial, and educational settings.

kids; adults

Emotionally, irrational beliefs are present when there are extreme ____ ______ such as panic, depression, or intense anger.

negative emotions

The REBT theory of change is basically ______ in that although humans have a biological ________ to think irrationally, they also have the ability to choose to ______ their irrational thinking and self-defeating emotions and behavior

optimistic; tendency; change

Whereas modern constructivists assert that people should be allowed to find their own reality and develop alternative beliefs on their own, REBT posits that there are some constructions—namely, ______ ________—that are more functional and lead to emotional adjustment.

rational beliefs

As a therapist, Ellis saw his goal as solving _______ & ______ problems.

personal; social

The goal of rational emotive behavior therapy is to help clients develop a rational _______ of life that will reduce their emotional distress and self-defeating behavior and result in their ability to lead a happier and more fulfilling life.

philosophy

REBT has a big focus on the _______

present

To achieve goal of rational philosophy, REBT counselors or therapists help clients identify how they _________ themselves from being happy by focusing on their _________ beliefs that lead to emotional and behavioral disturbance.

prevent; irrational

is more important in REBT than in most other types of therapy.

rapport

After the emotional and behavioral consequences have been described, the counselor or therapist then asks clients to _______ the intensity on a ______ (1-10)

rate; scale

Beliefs (B) are either rational or irrational. _____ beliefs are self-enhancing and help people achieve their goals; they are flexible, logical, and pragmatic irrational beliefs are usually associated with "_____"

rational musts

MAJOR CONSTRUCTS: -Developing a ______ _______ of life is a major construct of this theory. -this is designed to help people increase their happiness and decrease emotional distress.

rational philosophy

Ellis developed REBT by the end of 1954 and started practicing it in January 1955. It was first called _____ ______

rational therapy

Although these factors contribute to the acquisition of irrational beliefs, they are maintained because people _______ them and continue to re-indoctrinate themselves without _________ their thinking

rehearse; reevaluating

___________ ourselves with irrational thoughts make them stick in our heads

reindoctorinating

According to REBT, there are several levels of change. -The most long-lasting and elegant change involves philosophic ______ of the irrational beliefs.

restructuring

According to Ellis, the most long-lasting and elegant change involves philosophic ________ of the irrational beliefs -this can be done thru ____ model

restructuring -ABCD

Following the evaluation of the emotional consequence, the counselor or therapist evaluates _______ emotions by asking clients how they feel about feeling depressed, anxious, guilty, and so forth.

secondary

emotionally healthy people tend to put their own interests somewhat above the interests of others -although they sacrifice themselves to some degree for people they care ab, they don't do this completely

self-interest

Cognitively, irrational beliefs can be identified by listening for "____, ____ , ______s," as well as phrases such as "I can't stand it," or "that is horrible."

shoulds, oughts, and must

most people choose to live in social groups, and therefore they understand that it's important to act morally, protect the rights of others, and contribute to society to help create the kind of world in which they'd like to live

social interest

MAJOR CONSTRUCTS: The purpose of a rational philosophy is to identify beliefs that lead to ______, _________ with living, positive ways of ________ to others, ______ involvement with others, and personally ________ endeavors.

survival; satisfaction; relating; intimate; fulfilling

According to REBT theory of change, if clients choose to overcome emotional problems, they first must acknowledge that...

they have a problem

REBT theorists stress the interconnectedness of ______, _____ & ______ -Because people think, feel, and act _______, it is logical that what people think affects how they feel, that people usually do not feel or act without thinking, and that how they behave influences what they think and how they feel.

thinking, feeling, behaving -simultaneously

according to Ellis, emotional distress results from dysfunctional ___________ _______

thought processes

MAJOR CONSTRUCTS: Testing one's assumptions and examining the _______ and _________ of beliefs are important, as well as developing ________ in adopting new beliefs to guide behaviors

validity; functionality; flexibility

Ellis REBT believed certain values promote emotional adjustment and mental health. These values include the following:

• Self-acceptance • Non-utopian (not going to get everything you want) • Self-interest* • Self-direction • Flexibility • Commitment* • Risk-taking • High-frustration tolerance • Social interest • Tolerance • Acceptance of uncertainty • Self-responsibility for disturbance