Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling in Action

Windy Dryden, Michael Neenan

• Publisher: SAGE Publications Ltd
• Year: 2004
• Print ISBN: 9781412902137, 9781412902120
• eBook ISBN: 9781446227077
• Edition: 3
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: History & Theory in Psychology
• Index: Psychology

`The book is highly readable and makes extensive use of an actual case study in order to illustrate the approach? - Mark Edwards, Nurtuting Potential

`As the creator of Rational Emotive Therapy I have probably read more books dealing with its theory and practice than has anyone else. Of all these books, Windy Dryden and Michael Neenan?s is easily one of the best. In a remarkably concise way they have distilled most of the main principles and methods into a small, highly practical and exceptionally readable volume. Any counsellor or therapist will find this book unusually useful and valuable? - Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis Institute

Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling in Action, Third Edition is a brand new edition of this highly popular guide to a much used approach. Combining the theoretical with the practical, the book provides an accessible guide for newcomers to this form of counselling.

The book describes the way in which the REB approach helps clients to identify the self-defeating beliefs behind their problems and instead to think, feel and behave differently as a means of achieving valued goals. Fully revised and updated, the book includes an important client case study following therapeutic work with `Paula?, which introduces the reader to the strategies and techniques needed at every stage of the process. Here, the reader is given an insight into the nuts and bolts of the therapeutic session, including conversations between client and therapist to illustrate the counselling sequence, how to help the client achieve goals, and how to end the counselling process.

Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling in Action, Third Edition is invaluable for trainees of REB counselling, as well as those who want to incorporate elements of the approach into their own therapeutic work.

Part 1

THE BASIC PRINCIPLES OF RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOURAL COUNSELLING

In this first part of the book we will first consider the theoretical underpinnings of rational emotive behavioural counselling and then focus on the key practical elements of this counselling approach.

Theoretical Underpinnings of Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling

Historical Context

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) was originated in 1955 by Albert Ellis, a New York clinical psychologist. Ellis originally worked as a psychoanalyst and, while he enjoyed practising this mode of therapy, he later became dissatisfied with it because it was, in his words, ‘inefficient’ in that it took a long time and did not produce very effective therapeutic results. For a while Ellis experimented with the shorter-term psychoanalytic psychotherapy and with various eclectic approaches before he founded REBT. In doing so he was influenced more by philosophers than by psychologists, returning to a long-standing interest in practical approaches within the philosophic tradition. In particular he was influenced by the views of Epictetus, a Roman philosopher, who stated that ‘men are disturbed not by things but by their views of things’.

At that time in the mid-1950s most therapists were influenced by psychoanalytic theories and methods and thus, to emphasise the logical and cognitive disputing aspects of his therapeutic approach, Ellis called his method ‘rational therapy’. This caused problems in that it was generally assumed that rational therapy only involved a focus on cognition (that is, thoughts and beliefs). However, right from the start Ellis held that cognition, emotion, and behaviour were interrelated psychological processes and that his approach to therapy emphasised all three. In order to counter further unwarranted criticisms that were made about rational therapy, namely that it neglected emotion, Ellis retitled his approach to psychotherapy ‘rational-emotive therapy’ in 1961, a point which was stressed in the title of Ellis’s first major book on RET (as the approach came to be known), entitled Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy (Ellis, 1962). In 1993, Ellis changed the name of the therapy to Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) because he argued that commentators were neglecting its behavioural elements. This was never true of the therapy, and from the outset, in addition to focusing on clients’ emotions and beliefs, rational emotive behavioural counsellors encourage their clients actively to put into practice what they learn in therapy through the use of behavioural methods (Ellis, 1994).

Goals, Purposes and Rationality

According to REBC theory humans are happiest when they set up important life goals and purposes and actively strive to achieve these. In doing so, we had better acknowledge that we live in a social world and thus we are encouraged to develop a philosophy of enlightened self-interest. This involves pursuing our valued goals while demonstrating what Alfred Adler called social interest – a commitment both to helping others achieve their valued goals and to making the world a socially and environmentally better place in which to live.

Given that we tend to be goal-directed, rational in REBC theory ‘means primarily that which helps people to achieve their basic goals and purposes’, whereas irrational ‘means primarily that which prevents them from achieving these goals and purposes’ (Dryden, 1996: 306). While rationality is not defined in any absolute sense, it does have four major criteria: namely, it is (a) flexible and non-extreme; (b) pragmatic; (c) logical; and (d) reality-based. Thus, a more extended definition of rationality would be, first, that which is flexible and non-extreme; secondly, that which helps people to achieve their basic goals and purposes; thirdly, that which is logical; and fourthly, that which is empirically consistent with reality. Conversely, an extended definition of irrationality would be, first, that which is rigid and non-extreme; secondly, that which prevents people from achieving their basic goals and purposes; thirdly, that which is illogical; and fourthly, that which is empirically inconsistent with reality.

Responsible Hedonism

REBC theory argues that as humans we are basically hedonistic in the sense that we seek to stay alive and to achieve a reasonable degree of happiness. Here hedonism does not mean ‘the pleasures of the flesh’ but involves the concept of personal meaning; a person can be said to be acting hedonistically when she is happy acting in a way that is personally meaningful for her. The concept of responsible hedonism means once again that we are mindful of the fact that we live in a social world and that ideally our personally meaningful actions should help to make the world a better place in which to live, or at the very least should not unduly harm anyone.

REBC theory makes an important distinction between short- and long-range hedonism. We are likely to be at our happiest when we succeed in achieving both our short-term and our long-term goals. Frequently, however, we defeat ourselves by attempting to satisfy our short-term goals while at the same time sabotaging our long-term goals. Thus, for example, we often strive to avoid discomfort when it would be advisable for us to experience discomfort because doing so would help us to achieve our long-term goals. Rational emotive behavioural counsellors encourage their clients to achieve a balance between the pursuit of their short- and long-range goals, while being mindful of the fact that what represents a healthy balance for a given person is best judged by that person.

Enlightened Self-interest

REB counsellors have often been accused of advocating selfishness since they actively encourage their clients to pursue happiness. However, this criticism is not accurate if we define selfishness as ‘the ruthless pursuit of one’s goals while cynically disregarding the goals and viewpoints of others’. Rather, REB counsellors encourage their clients to demonstrate enlightened self-interest (or healthy self-care), which involves putting themselves first most of the time while putting others, and particularly significant others, a close second. Enlightened self-interest also sometimes involves putting the desires of others before our own, particularly when the welfare and happiness of these others are of great importance to them and our desires are not primary. Self-sacrifice is discouraged unless the person wants to sacrifice herself and finds personal meaning and happiness in doing so.

Philosophic and Scientific Emphasis

Rational emotive behavioural theory stresses that we are born philosophers. We have the ability to think about our thinking and to realise that we are highly influenced by our implicit philosophies of life which are either flexible and undogmatic or musturbatory and absolutist. REBC theory agrees with the ideas of George Kelly (1955) that we are also scientists and are able to appreciate that our philosophies are basically hypotheses about ourselves, other people, and the world, which need to be tested. This is best done together with our philosophical abilities, particularly our ability to think critically about the logical and illogical aspects of our thought.

While Ellis (1976) has argued that humans have a strong tendency to think and act irrationally, he has stressed that we also have the ability to think critically about our thinking and behaviour and to correct the illogicalities in our thinking as well as to judge whether or not our hypotheses are consistent with reality. Rational emotive behavioural theorists do, however, appreciate that reality cannot be judged in any absolute manner but is best regarded as accurate if it is seen as such by a group of neutral observers (the principle of consensual reality).

Humanistic Outlook

REBC is not only philosophical and scientific in orientation but it takes a specific humanistic-existential approach to human problems and their solutions. This view conceptualises humans as holistic, indivisible, goal-directed organisms who have importance in the world just because we are human and alive. It encourages us to accept ourselves unconditionally with our limitations while at the same time encouraging us to work towards minimising our limitations. REBC agrees with the position of ethical humanism which ‘encourages people to live by rules emphasising human interests over the interests of inanimate nature, of lower animals or of any assumed natural order or deity’ (Ellis, 1980: 327). However, this does not mean being ecologically or environmentally insensitive, advocating the mindless slaughter of animals or being disrespectful of others’ religious views. Furthermore, this outlook acknowledges that we are human and are in no way superhuman or subhuman.

Two Basic Biologically Based Tendencies

Rational emotive behavioural theory hypothesises that as humans we have a biologically based tendency to think irrationally as well as a similar tendency to think rationally. It thus differs from other approaches to counselling in emphasising the power of these biologically based tendencies over the power of environmental conditions to affect human happiness, although it by no means neglects the contribution of these environmental conditions to influence human emotion and behaviour. The view that irrational thinking is largely determined by biological factors, albeit always interacting with influential environmental conditions, rests on the seeming ease with which humans think crookedly and the prevalence of such thinking even among those humans who have been rationally raised. Ellis has noted in this regard that ‘even if everybody had had the most rational upbringing, virtually all humans would often irrationally transform their individual and social preferences into absolutistic demands on (a) themselves (b) other people and (c) the universe around them’ (Ellis, 1984a: 20).

Two Fundamental Human Disturbances

Ellis has noted that human psychological problems can be loosely divided into two major categories: ego disturbance and discomfort disturbance. Ego disturbance relates to the demands that we make about ourselves and the consequent negative self-ratings that we make when we fail to live up to our self-imposed demands. Furthermore, ego-disturbance issues may underpin what at first glance appear to be demands made of others or of life conditions. Thus, I may be angry at you because you are acting in a way which I perceive as a threat to my ‘self-esteem’. The fact that my anger is directed outwardly towards you serves in this way to protect my own ‘shaky self-esteem’.

Discomfort disturbance, on the other hand, is more related to the domain of human comfort and occurs when we make dogmatic commands that comfort and comfortable life conditions must exist.

As will be shown later in this part of the book, the healthy alternative to ego disturbance rests on a fundamental attitude of unconditional self-acceptance where a person fully accepts herself as a human being and who cannot be given a single global rating. The healthy alternative to discomfort disturbance rests on a philosophy of a high frustration or discomfort tolerance where we are prepared to tolerate frustration or discomfort, not for its own sake, but as a way of overcoming obstacles to the pursuit of our basic goals and purposes.

Psychological Interactionism

Rational emotive behavioural theory states that a person’s thoughts, emotions and actions cannot be treated separately from one another. Rather, they are best conceptualised as being overlapping or interacting psychological processes. This is the principle of psychological interactionism. Thus, when we think about something we have a tendency to have an emotional reaction towards it and also a tendency to act towards it in some way. Also, if we have a feeling about a person then we are likely to have some thought about him and also, again, a tendency to act towards him in a certain manner. Similarly, if we act in a certain manner this is often based on my thoughts and feelings towards either an object or a person.

REBC is perhaps best known for the emphasis that it places on cognition and for its cognitive restructuring components. While it is true that it does emphasise the power of cognition in human happiness and disturbance, it does so while fully acknowledging the affective and behavioural components of human functioning. It stresses that these three fundamental human psychological processes almost always interact and often in complex ways (Ellis, 1985). Similarly, while the practice of rational emotive behavioural counselling is perhaps known for its cognitive restructuring methods, these are by no means the sole ingredients of the approach and REB counsellors frequently use emotive-evocative and behavioural methods to encourage clients to change their thinking.

REBC and Constructivism

While some critics (e.g. Mahoney, 1988) have argued that REBC is a rationalist approach to counselling and psychotherapy (i.e. that it holds that there is an objective reality and that people should be helped to view this reality), Ellis (1989) has argued that in fact REBC is a constructivist counselling approach. Thus, REBC theory holds that while people may well be influenced by their culture and family groups to have certain preferences, they construct rigid demands about their preferences. Indeed, as will be shown later, REBC theory does not have an elaborate viewpoint about how people acquire their disturbances, arguing that people bring their tendencies to construct demands and other irrational beliefs to their experiences, which other theories might argue cause them to be disturbed.

Where REBC as a constructivist approach to counselling differs from other constructivist approaches is in its position that some constructions are better for the individual than other constructions. Thus, it argues that some constructions can be clearly seen as unempirical, illogical and self-defeating (e.g. where a person constructs a belief that she is a failure for having failed an important exam). Conversely, REBC theory holds that other alternative constructions are more empirical, sensible and self-enhancing (e.g. when that same person constructs a belief that failing the exam only proves that she is a fallible human being who can both succeed and fail, but cannot be defined by either experience).

Thus, REB counsellors encourage their clients to take responsibility for their constructions and help them to stand back and view these constructions and change them when they are clearly unempirical, illogical and self-defeating. Furthermore, REB counsellors are explicit about the therapeutic constructions that they bring to the practice of counselling, inviting (but not demanding) their clients to share these constructions.

The ABC Framework

The ABC framework is the cornerstone of REBC practice and therefore merits detailed attention. There are, in fact, two different types of A in REBT. The first, known as the ‘Situational A’ refers to an objective description of what occurred in the situation in which the person disturbed himself. The second is known as the ‘Critical A’ and refers to the subjective aspect of the situation about which the person disturbed himself. Most frequently, a Critical A involves an inference about what happened in the Situational A.

B stands for beliefs. These are evaluative cognitions or constructed views of the world which are either rigid or flexible and extreme or non-extreme. When these beliefs are rigid they are called irrational beliefs and take the form of musts, absolute shoulds, have to’s, got to’s and so on. When your clients adhere to such rigid beliefs they will also tend to make irrational conclusions from these irrational premises. These irrational conclusions are extreme and take the form of: (a) awfulising – meaning more than 100 per cent bad, worse than it absolutely should be; (b) low frustration tolerance – meaning that your clients believe that they cannot envisage enduring situations or having any happiness at all if what they demand must not exist actually exists; and (c) depreciation – here your clients will depreciate themselves, other people, and/or life conditions.

When your client’s beliefs are flexible they are called rational beliefs in REBC. Flexible beliefs often take the form of desires, wishes, wants, and preferences, which your clients do not transform into dogmatic musts, shoulds, oughts, and so on. When your clients adhere to such flexible rational beliefs they will tend to make rational conclusions from these rational premises. These conclusions are non-extreme and take the form of (a) anti-awfulising – here, for example, your clients will conclude ‘it’s bad, but not terrible’ rather than ‘it’s awful’ when faced with a negative event; (b) high frustration tolerance – here your clients may say ‘I don’t like it, but I can bear it’; and (c) acceptance – here your clients will accept themselves and other people as fallible human beings who cannot legitimately be given a single global rating. Also your clients will accept the world and life conditions as complex, composed of good, bad, and neutral elements, and thus will also refrain from giving the world a global rating.

C in the ABC framework stands for emotional, behavioural and thinking consequences of your client’s beliefs about A. In REBC, the C’s that follow from irrational beliefs about negative A’s will be disturbed and are called unhealthy negative consequences, and C’s that follow from rational beliefs about negative A’s will be non-disturbed and are termed healthy negative consequences (Ellis, 1994). Unhealthy negative emotions are unhealthy for any one or more of the following reasons: they lead to the experience of a great deal of psychic pain and discomfort; they motivate one to engage in self-defeating behaviour; they prevent one from carrying out behaviour necessary to reach one’s goals; and they are associated with thinking that is skewed and distorted. Conversely, healthy negative emotions are healthy for any one or more of the following reasons: they alert one that one’s goals are being blocked but do not immobilise one; they motivate one to engage in se...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Preface
• Part 1 The Basic Principles of Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling
• Part 2 The Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling Sequence
• Part 3 The Rational Emotive Behavioural Counselling Process
• Appendix 1 Possible Reasons for not Completing Self-Help Assignments
• Appendix 2 How to Maintain and Enhance Your Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Gains (Albert Ellis, 1984b)
• References
• Index