In 1955, Dr. Albert Ellis started a revolution in the treatment of emotional problems with the introduction of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT). Since then, countless people have benefited from its emphasis on emotional health and meaningful living.
As a prospective client, this pamphlet is designed for your benefit. It clarifies possible questions you may have about REBT, as well as our respective roles of the client and REBT therapist.
Please remember to ask me about any additional questions you may have about this powerful and effective therapy!
What is REBT ?
REBT is a practical, action-oriented approach to coping with problems and enhancing personal growth.
It places a good deal of its focus on the present: on currently-held attitudes, painful emotions and maladaptive behaviours that can sabotage a fuller experience of life.
REBT also provides people with an individualised set of proven techniques for helping them to solve problems. As a REBT practitioner, I will work closely with you, seeking to help uncover your individual set of attitudes, expectations and personal rules that may frequently lead to emotional distress.
I will then provide a variety of methods to help you reformulate these unhelpful attitudes into more sensible, realistic and helpful ones by employing powerful REBT techniques proven to be effective at helping people with their challenges.
Ultimately, REBT helps people to develop a philosophy and approach to living that can increase their effectiveness and happiness at work, in parenting and educational settings, in living successfully with others, and in enhancing their own health and personal welfare.
Don’t you need to uncover the past to deal with psychological issues?
Contrary to popular conceptions of psychotherapy, REBT follows a more evidence-based, approach to helping others.
And while REBT therapists do recognise that we may be strongly influenced by events in early life, it is important to understand that the past is with us in the form of beliefs that we carry in our head in the present.
REBT hones in on the attitudes that are harmful in our current emotional life and behaviours – whether they arose in the distant reaches of our youth or within the past few weeks.
REBT believes that the “nuttiness” of our past exerts its influence in our current-day thinking patterns and attitudes. Although we cannot change the past, we can change how we let the past influence the way we are today and the way we want to be tomorrow.
In this sense, REBT is an optimistic approach to living and to solving problems.
Aren’t feelings of anxiety, anger, and depression normal?
Of course! But it is the quality of those feelings and the effects they have in our lives that is important.
Experiencing intense irritation and displeasure when things go wrong can motivate you to change frustrating conditions.
In contrast, feelings of rage, on the other hand, often land you in a smouldering stew, where either you feel immobilized by anger, or you act in ways that are impulsive and self-defeating.
Similarly, a bit of anxiety or some degree of concern about facing a challenging situation or person can add an edge of excitement that sharpens performance. But excessive anxiety can interfere with thinking, action, and ultimately, success.
With REBT’s focus on accepting things we cannot change, doesn’t it encourage the preservation of the status quo?
One of REBT’s favourite maxims is: “Grant me the courage to change the things I can change, the serenity to accept those that I cannot change, and the wisdom to know the difference.”
REBT seeks to empower individuals both by helping them more effectively handle their own painful emotions, by enabling them to change their own behaviour and improve their world where possible.
When we get too upset, it is much more difficult to behave in constructive ways. By gaining better control over upsetting emotions, we become far more able to act assertively and change bad outside circumstances.
What are the roles and responsibilities of the therapist and client?
REBT practitioners are very concerned about establishing a helpful, supportive, and facilitative alliance with people. So, my role as your therapist is to do everything possible, using my experience and training as a psychologist, to become your ally in overcoming challenges and managing distressing life situations.
In therapy, I will take an active, authentic role as your partner in change, albeit one with expertise in how that change can be enhanced!
As a client, your role will be to come to therapy with an open mind, an appetite for change, and a willingness to experiment with new thinking, behaviour and life choices.
Thank you for reading!
For more answers to your questions, drop me a line on my email