Lecture 11 - Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) Flashcards
Outline Self-talk as a corner stone of REBT
- How we internally communicate to ourselves
- Ironice processing = dont think about an elephant -can lead to negative self-talk
- The Language we use is very powerful
- What we say to ourselves, the impact this has
- Ask: Are the better ways to use self-talk?
- How can we encourage helpful self-talk
What is REBT all about?
- Smart Thinking
- Which includes self-talk
Outline the Background of REBT, who came up with it?
- Albert Ellis
- Very famous American Psychologist
- Developed REBT
•Developed from a clinical approach
•Argued people are aware of irrational beliefs, but they dont let them go, they hold onto them and this influences behaviour
•Our cognitions reinforce our own distress - Argued that Cognitions -> Emotions -> Behaviours
Outline Subjective Worldview
-hypothesis
- We subjectively develop hypothesis about the world
- It is important to test these, especially if they are irrational
- Having irrational beliefs leads to stress, anxiety etc
- Interpretations of the world influence our emotional or behavioural Responses
- But this can be motivating - this event is the most important of my life, and i must succeed
- one hypothesis could be: that the world should be a fair place for us
What did Ellis (1958) say caused emotional or psychological disturbances?
Irrational or illogical thinking
- This can interfere with positive functioning and enjoying life
- REBT is a theory of human disturbance
What is the purpsose/ goals of REBT?
Purpose of REBT is to change irrational thoughts, feelings and behaviours into rational ones
Outline Epictetus’ quotes that summarises REBT
- what does it suggest?
“People are disturbed not by things, but by the view they take of them”
- Suggests that it is not the event/ situatoin that causes anxiety, but it is their beliefs about that event, as an individual that causes the anxiety/ depressoin etc
How can anxiety be helpful?
- Healthy anxiety = being concerned
- but you should change this unhealthy anxiety t a healthy level of concern
- Anxiety often leads to avoidance, but it can become healthy
What is the ABC model of REBT?
- Adversity
- Beliefs (the part we can learn to conrol)
- emotional and behavioural Consequences
Outline an unhealthy ABC model
- Adversity
- Irrational Beliefs
- Unhealthy consequences: negative emotions and maladapative behaviours
- beliefs determine behaviours
- Irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy beliefts
- An unhealhty emotion would be depression after a funeral, not just sadness
Outline a healthy ABC model
- Adversity
- Rational Beliefs
- Healthy Consequences: Negative emotions and adaptive behaviours
- Negative emotions can still be healthy, e.g. after a funeral, a healthy emotion would be sadness (acute).
How does REBT try and change the ABC?
- Doesnt try and change the stimulus - if its an exam, its an exam, dont avoid it
- we accept the adversity, and try to change the B
- Other therapies may try to change/ diffuse the adversity, REBT accepts it is real.
What are the 4 features of irrational beliefs?
- Inconsistent with reality
- Non-pragmatic (unhelpful)
- Lead to unehalthy negative emotions (UNE’s) (Rage/ depression, sinister of destructive emotions)
- Leads to maladaptive behaviours (E.g. avoidance)
What are the 4 features of rational beliefs
- Consistent with reality
- Pragmatic (helpful)
- Leads to healthy Negative emotions (HNE’s), like anxiety and sadness in moderation
- Leads to adaptuve behaviours (e.g. preparation)
What would A-C thinkers say about an exam
They would say:
this exam is making me feel stressed
- but actually, its the beliefs about the exam that is making you stressed (REBT)
How does cognitions shift in sporting situations?
- Shift from ‘Want’ to the irrational “have to” due to pressure situations
- This shift is caused by pressure of competing and obsession with results (Botteril, 2005)
- ‘Have to’ = rigid, inflexible and destructive
Outline an irrational belief that athletes commonly have (Fair)
- Athletes, especially in UK have access to high-quality training and facilities
- May lead to them forming a belief that the world should always be fair to them
- Go somewhere else and say “i cant play on this pitch, its not flat”
- Irratioal belief that the world has to be fair to them
Botteril, 2005
What are irrational beliefs commonly associated with?
- anxiety
- anger
- shame
- depression
- Suicide thoughts
Maladaptive behaviours, such as:
- Social avoidance
- Self-harming
- Procrastination
- Anger suppression
- Aggression
- Violence
So what is REBT’s Central Mechanism?
Changing irrational beliefs, into rational beliefs via a structured therapeutic process following the ABCDE framework
How do rational beliefs change with age?
- The older we become, the more rational we become
- We have more experience in life and more acceptance
- We have had lots of life changes (marriage, bereavement, children) we start to develop that the world isnt a fair place and that bad things happen to good people
- Learn we cant always perform at a high level
What were the 3 parts of irrational thoughts according to Ellis
Ellis (1987)
- Thinking Errors
- ignoring the positive
- Exaggerating the negative
- Overgeneralisation - Mustabatory Thinking
- everyone musterbates, i must, you must, i must suceed - Core Musts, e.g.:
- i should always be successful
- Everyone should love and approve of me
What can and is always contained in Irrational Beliefs?
- ALWAYS CONTAIN rigid/ extreme demans (i have to)
- CAN CONTAIN awfulising - it would be awful
- CAN CONTAIN i-cant-stand-it-itis (it would be unbearable)
- CAN CONTAIN self/other depreciation
- i/ they are idiotic/ a failure
How do you measure irratioanl beliefs and what does it assess>
iPBI (Turner et al (2018), measures the 4 core irrational beliefs
- Demandingness
- LFT
- Awfulizing
- Depreciation
Outline the 6 Stages of the smart thinking process that can treat individuals/ group irrational beliefs
- Recognize
- Evidence
- Logic
- Pragmatism
- Replace
- Committ
- Back to one