Ellis and REBT

Question 1

Outline the introduction to Ellis’ contribution to the study of personality

Answer 1

• Pioneers of cognitive therapy with his REBT and ABC model
• One of most utilised cognitive approaches within clinical and non-clinical psychology
• Discuss REBT, ABC model of human disturbance
• Link between irrational thinking and disturbance
• Critiquing the description, explanation, evidence, and applied value of REBT

Question 2

Discuss Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy

Answer 2

• Action orientated therapeutic approach to develop emotional growth
• At its heart is concept of rational and irrational beliefs
• Humans share fundamental goals of survival and happiness
• Rational thoughts are those that work towards this
• Irrational thoughts are those that prevent the attainment
• Core concept of REBT is to confront replace irrational thoughts with rational ones
• Focusing on subjective beliefs to create agency and empowerment
• Maltby et al (2013) describes how an individual without control is worse off than the person with a choice

Question 3

Discuss the ABC model of human disturbance

Answer 3

• Other cognitive approaches saw personality as a direct result of circumstance
• Ellis stated that subjective beliefs dictates subsequent emotion and behaviour
• Activating experience has Beliefs that determine Consequences
• These subjective beliefs help explain different reactions to the same event

Question 4

Discuss irrational beliefs and disturbance

Answer 4

• Irrational beliefs stem from ‘mustabatory thinking’
• Create high, absolute, and potentially unrealistic expectations on self/others
• Wide range of failure states and significant psychological distress
• Ellis (1962) argue that emotion disturbance is largely due to direct cognition
• Example of ‘just world’ hypothesis (Langer, 1975)
• Instilling rational thought that world is good but unjust creates flexibility

Question 5

Critique the description of Ellis’ contribution

Answer 5

• Rational and irrational beliefs are clearly defined
• Clear focus on altering maladaptive primary appraisal (Lazarus, 1991) to improve an individual’s situation
• Understandable terminology without abstract concepts such as Freud’s Id, Ego and Superego
• REBT criticised as means of social control
• Rational thought aligns with social norms, rather than logic
• Example of work stress being irrational (Maltby et al., 2013)

Question 6

Critique explanation of REBT

Answer 6

• ABC model is simple method for understanding individual’s cognition process
• Broad and generalisable across many instances of behaviour
• Idiographic approach captures uniqueness of individuals, whilst contained in a unified understandable framework (Maltby et al., 2013)
• Rational/irrational seen as separate constructs (David, 2015) enabling circumstantial appraisal on a case-by-case basis.
• Major criticism is unidirectional relationship of belief causing emotion (Maltby et al., 2013)
• Nowadays understanding has evolved to show a complex cyclical relationship
• Depressive disorders demonstrate how sadness and low-self esteem impact

Question 7

Critique the empirical evidence for REBT

Answer 7

• Review of 40-years of CT (Beck, 2005): significant improvement in depression symptomology and relapse rates, moderate evidence for anxiety disorders
• REBT is supported for use in clinical psychology (David, 2005)
• Adolescents, REBT/CT has significant improvement over placebo, and equivocal effect as antidepressant medication (Iftene, 2015)
• However, psychotherapy studies vulnerable to allegiance bias and self-report/ recall bias (Beck, 2005). Questions quality of empirical evidence.
• Real clinical findings have produced similar results as RCT (Persons et al.)

Question 8

Critique the applied value of REBT

Answer 8

• REBT and CT are one of fastest growing and most widely researched areas (Maltby et al., 2013)
• Clinical benefits discussed above
• REBT showing promise in ‘positive psychology’ - general human wellbeing
• A rapidly growing are of public interest, incorperated in US army comphrehensive soldier fitness program, designed to educate and foster emotions and resilience (Azar, 2011)
• Schools, buisnesses, and sports adopting REBT as positive psychology for prevention against mental illness, in line with public health emphasis
• REBT demonstrated in elite football and sports psychology (Turner et al., 2014)

Question 9

Conclude Ellis’contribution to our understanding of personality

Answer 9

• Introduced importance of perspective and beliefs
• Supported by Beck, 2005 across variety of mental illness
• Simple ABC model allows wide application in clinical and applied psychology
• Despite criticisms, proves valuable to understanding of personality and society as a whole