Rational-emotive Consultation in Applied Settings

Raymond DiGiuseppe, Michael L. Bernard, Raymond DiGiuseppe, Michael L. Bernard

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2013
• Topic: Psychology
• eBook ISBN:
  9781134754816
• Subtopic: Clinical Psychology
• Index: Psychology

For the past 20 years, rational-emotive therapy (RET) has been employed by consultants to help bring about changes not only in the way parents and teachers manage mental health and educational problems of school-age children, but also within organizations and families. This is the first book devoted exclusively to the applications of RET in consultation.

For the first time, international experts reveal the ways that RET can be applied at different levels of consultation -- client-centered, consultee-centered, systemic-centered -- to help identify and overcome obstacles to effective consultation. This volume reveals the missing link to effective consultation, namely, the emotional problems consultees bring with them to the practical problems with which they are faced. Rational-emotive consultation methods are ideally suited to help give consultees empowerment over their emotional problems. In addition, RET is an ideal adjunct to be included along with behavioral and organizational consultation methods already in use.

Written largely for school psychologists and consultants who work in educational and mental health settings, this book demonstrates the variety of ways that RET can be used to conduct in-service and professional/personal development programs for teachers, parents, school administrators and other professional groups. It is also a unique resource for practitioners working with the emotional, behavioral and learning problems of school-age children, and looking for new and effective ways of incorporating caregivers in the treatment of these children.

1 Rational-Emotive Consultation: The Missing Link to Successful Consultation

Michael E. Bernard

Florida Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy

Raymond DiGiuseppe

St. John’s University, Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy

Sometime in the not so distant future, scholars writing about the development of the theory and practice of consultation will scratch their heads with some perplexity. They will be surprised about a singular sin of omission in the field circa 1990 committed by all but a small group of practitioners sitting out on a lonely isle of consultative practice. The sin of omission they will ponderously note was the failure of consultation models and methods of the late 20th century to consider the dysfunctional and facilitative roles of human emotions as they influence the ability of individuals (consultees) to solve problems and function effectively.

Accompanying their observations and learned hypotheses to explain this anomaly, will appear a photograph of the smiling face of the creator of a theory and practice of mental health who was often controversial in presentation (he was known to utter profanity). His theory maintained that human beings, when faced with events and problems, often experience extremely intense emotional reactions that block their ability to achieve goals. These emotional reactions make it very difficult for them to function effectively and to solve problems. The founder of rational-emotive therapy (RET), Albert Ellis, worked in conjunction with a group of consultants who worked in a variety of educational, business, and governmental agencies around the world. These consultants, who despite resistance emanating from many different quarters, employed rational-emotive consultation (REC) methods to resolve the many and varied problems that troubled most of the individuals and organizations they consulted.

This chapter makes the case that effective consultation requires consultants to examine the role of emotions as impediments or facilitators in the consultation process. The case we make in this chapter, which is reinforced and illustrated throughout this book, is exceptionally simple and straightforward. When individuals (consultees) seek or require the services of an expert (consultant) to help them solve a long-standing, chronic problem, it is likely that they experience strong, negative emotional reactions to such problems. These emotions may be causing, exacerbating, or preventing them from thinking clearly about and solving these problems. No matter the type of consultation intervention decided on or agreed to between the expert and the individual seeking help, unless these emotional entanglements are directly addressed and reduced, the impact and effectiveness of the consultation, both in the short term and long term, will be greatly reduced.

This chapter provides a RET model of consultation consistent with other contemporaneous views. The application of RET methods at different levels of consultation (e.g., client-centered, consultee-centered, systemic centered) is then illustrated. RET’s unique contribution to consultation is then presented in a discussion that distinguishes emotional from practical problem solving. Similarities between mental health consultation and rational-emotive consultation, two primary forms of consultation that directly address the emotional involvement of the consultee are examined. The rational emotive theory of consultation, which highlights the role of the belief system of the consultee, is then presented. The central importance of what we call the “consultative alliance” in maximizing the effectiveness of REC is introduced followed by a discussion of the different RET consultation methods. The chapter concludes with a look at ways in which RET consultation has been evaluated.

RET MODEL OF CONSULTATION

RET’s view of consultation in applied settings is consistent with other current viewpoints (e.g., Bergan & Kratochwill, 1990; Brown, Pryzwansky, & Schulte, 1987; Curtis & Meyers, 1985; Gutkin & Curtis, 1990; Kratochwill, Elliott, & Rotto, 1990; Zins & Ponti, 1990). For example, rational emotive theory of consultation sits comfortably within the following parameters of school-based consultation as defined by Zins and Ponti:

School based consultation is defined as a method of providing preventatively oriented psychological and educational services in which a consultant and consultee(s) form a collaborative partnership in a systems context to engage in a reciprocal and systematic problem-solving process to empower consultee systems, thereby enhancing students’ well-being and performance. (p. 674)

REC conceptualizes consultation as a collaborative problem solving activity between a consultant, who is a professionally trained authority in the area of human relations, mental health, or organizational dynamics and a consultee, generally another professional, paraprofessional, or parent who has direct responsibility for teaching, managing, supervising or parenting one or more clients who may present a variety of learning, adjustment, academic, or work-related problems.

Consultation offers a more efficient and economical form of support service than the traditional one-to-one service delivery system that characterizes traditional counseling and psychotherapy. Consultation as indirect service delivery presents a process that involves consultants helping consultees to improve their interpersonal, client management, and problem solving skills and their complete mental health. Through the transmission of knowledge, and the use of professional skills and mental health techniques, the outcomes of consultation are seen as multifold: (a) an improvement in the ability of the consultee to function in the discharge of responsibilities for clients; (b) an improvement in the general skill level and mental health of the consultee; (c) an improvement in the communication skill, decision-making and problem-solving skills as well as the interpersonal relationships of members of an organization or family in order to bring about an enhancement of overall functioning of the system.

Proponents of REC (e.g., Bernard & Joyce, 1984; Forman, 1990; Joyce, 1990; Vernon, 1990) view the rational emotive model as distinctive from, yet compatible with other current models of consultation (behavioral, process, organizational, advocacy). As discussed in a separate section, REC shares much in common with mental health consultation. In addition, REC offers a distinctive cognitive technology of emotional self-management that provides a vital adjunct to all forms and levels of consultation.

As argued throughout this chapter and this book, RET is an important selfhelp technology by itself or as an adjunct to consultation employed whenever consultees’ level of emotional involvement with issues prevents them solving problems and profiting from the skills and knowledge imparted in consultation.

A BRIEF HISTORY OF RET CONSULTATION

Rational training can help people function more effectively at work by actively teaching them certain basic principles of interpersonal relations which promote better self-understanding as well as increase insight into others. It is applicable to all levels of management in business and industry and to individuals working in the area of “people contact,” including labor officials, sales representatives, teachers, clergymen, and military officers. Ellis and Blum (1967).

Ellis (personnel communication) traces the beginning of RET consultation to 1957, the year he published How to live with a neurotic at work and home. In this book, he (consultant) showed how RET could help someone (consultee) who was living or working with a difficult person (client) to relate with that person more successfully. This is done largely by consultees learning how not to disturb themselves about the other’s neurotic behavior.

Ellis’ (Ellis, Wolfe, & Moseley, 1966) book How to raise an emotionally, healthy, happy child, illustrates how parents could raise children and solve problems by teaching children to behave appropriately, but also by teaching parents to not upset themselves about their child’s problems.

In the 1970s, because of his book Executive leadership, Ellis (1972) began to receive invitations by businesses and, in particular, banking groups in the United States and overseas (e.g., Kuwait). These groups wanted to learn how RET could be used to increase work effectiveness and boost work efficiency rather than an improvement in the mental or stress levels of employees. Ellis has commented on how business people appreciate the logic of his ABC model in learning how to manage difficult work situations.

The 1980s and 1990s saw the proliferation of RET’s ideas and methods appearing into many commercial business training programs. Not only was RET being borrowed by trainers to increase work effectiveness, but it was in the forefront in the 1980’s tidal wave of stress management programs. Due to the antipathy of business to therapy, all too often RET’s direct contribution to different programs has failed to be acknowledged. In the 1990s, RET is increasingly being used in employee assistance programs, in training and development, management leadership development and in the training of human resource personnel.

RET has increasingly been applied in the education arena as epitomized in Bernard’s (1990) book Taking the Stress Out of Teaching. Since the 1970s, RET has appeared in a variety of educational, parenting, teacher training, and human service professional development programs. It is recognized as having something unique to say in the area of enhancing consultee effectiveness.

EMOTIONAL VERSUS PRACTICAL PROBLEM SOLVING

For sometime now, rational-emotive therapy has distinguished between two different types of problems people can experience (e.g., McInerney, 1985; Walen, DiGiuseppe, & Dryden, 1992): practical problems and emotional problems.

Our motivations for using RET in consultation resulted from our frustration over the years in the lack of skilled application and maintenance of the behavioral strategies we have employed with consultees in collaborative problem solving. Our collective experience of over 30 years of working with parents, teachers, and managers suggests that consultees have a great difficulty learning to solve problems differently because they experience a range of intense emotions such as anxiety, depression, and anger. We have greatly enhanced our consultative effectiveness, including the use of behavioral and organizational consultation methods, through the concomitant use of RET as a system of emotional self-management.

Practical problems are defined as demanding, frustrating, challenging situations, people, or tasks that a consultee faces. Practical problems result from the lack of skills or knowledge required to meet, solve, eliminate, or reduce the frustration or problem.

A common example of a practical problem encountered in parent consultation is the parent of a child diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder (ADD) who lacks the knowledge and skill to manage the child successfully. An example from education is a principal who supervises a teacher with a poorly controlled class who has failed to increase his or her effectiveness after several meetings with the principal. An example from business is the manager who is increasingly expected to participate more fully in and take responsibility for strategic planning and yet fails to do so.

Practical problems require practical solutions that often are the outcome of the consultative problem-solving process. In the scenarios just discussed, the parent could receive constructive advice from a consultant on how best to deal with a child with attention deficits. These might include training in contingency management, structured learning techniques, or receiving up-to-date information on psychopharmacotherapy. The principal faced with a staff member who fails at classroom discipline would benefit from a consultative process that provides the latest information on classroom management technology, peer support and supervision methods. The manager faced with strategic planning would profit from participating in a training program designed to eliminate barriers to creative thinking and provide instruction in the steps of writing such a plan.

Distinct from practical problems, emotional problems consist of the negative disturbed emotions people experience in the face of negative, challenging and demanding experiences, people, situations and problems. People frequently experience emotional problems about practical problems. Examples include the teacher who experiences extreme stress about a disruptive class and who also lacks classroom management skills.

Common emotional problems assessed in REC include anxiety, depression, anger and low frustration tolerance. Emotional problems can be quantified along a continuum of intensity and severity. For example, parents with attention deficit disorder children vary in the degree of frustration tolerance and depression they experience regarding their child’s learning and behavior. Principals faced with teachers who lack adequate classroom management skills and who fail to respond to guidance, vary greatly in the degree of anger they experience toward the “offending” teacher. Managers faced with strategic planning and preparing future goals, objectives and plans to achieve them, experience emotions varying from mild apprehension to panic.

When individuals, groups, families, or organizations require the services of a consultant to deal with past, present, or potential future problems or issues, it is sometimes because they lack certain practical skills and knowledge. It is usually the case that they have intense emotional involvements. These emotions constitute central problems requiring the consultant’s attention.

These same emotional difficulties often impede professional functioning. For example, the increasing requirement for principals to provide performance supervision of teachers can be sabotaged by the principals’ emotions (extreme anger, anxiety, low frustration tolerance) toward teachers who fail to achieve satisfactory levels of performance (e.g., Cayer, DiMattia, & Wingrove, 1988).

The goal of REC is the reduction in the intensity, duration, and frequency in the emotional reactions of consultees, which exacerbate the problem and prevent the consultee from solving the problem. The goal of RET consultation is not the removal of all negative emotions. Extreme anger and rage, panic and depression are seen as inappropriate negative emotional states since they most often lead to self-defeating behavior. Irritation, concern, and sadness are adaptive negative emotional stat...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Conributors
• Preface
• 1. Rational-Emotive Consultation: The Missing Link to Successful Consultation
• 2. Teaching Parents and Teachers RET Through Direct Service to Client
• 3. Problem-Centered Consultee-Client Consultation
• 4. Rational-Emotive Parent Consultation
• 5. Teacher Stress Management: A Rational-Emotive Therapy Approach
• 6. Rational-Emotive Consultation: A Model for Implementing Rational-Emotive Education
• 7. A Rational Perspective on the Problems of Students
• 8. A Rational-Emotive Model of Organizational Consultation
• Author Index
• Subject Index