CBT

• In the 1950s, Ellis was one of the first psychologist to develop a form of CBT. First called "rational therapy" emphasizing he saw mental problems develop due to irrational thoughts.

  Ellis renamed his therapy rational emotive therapy (RET) because the therapy focuses on resolving emotional problems and then later to rational emotional behaviour therapy (REBT)as the therapy also resolves behavioural problems
• REBT extends the ABC model to an ABCDEF model:

  1. D refers to DISPUTING irrational thoughts and beliefs
  2. E stands for the EFFECTS of disputing and EFFECTIVE attitude to life
  3. F is the new FEELINGS that are produced
• The central technique of REBT is to identify and dispute (challenge) irrational thoughts.

  E.g. a patient may talk about how unfair things seem.

  • It is not the activating event that causes unproductive consequences, it's the beliefs that lead to the self-defeating consequences.
  • REBT therefore focuses on disputing the irrational thoughts and replacing them with effective, rational beliefs.
• Examples of disputing beliefs:

  • Logical disputing = self-defeating beliefs do know follow logically from the information available.

  E.g. "does thinking this way make sense"

  • Empirical disputing = self-defeating beliefs may not be consistent with reality

  E.g. "can you prove this belief is accurate?"

  • Pragmatic disputing - emphasises the uselessness of self-defeating beliefs.

  E.g. "how is this belief likely to help you?"
• Effective disputing changes self-defeating beliefs into more rational beliefs. The client can move from catastrophising ("no-one will ever like me") to more rational interpretations of event ("they were probably just busy and couldn't see me"). This helps the client to feel better 😄 and eventually more self-accepting.
• Homework

  Clients are often asked to complete assignments between therapy sessions. This might include asking someone out on a date if they have a fear 😨 of rejection.

  Homework is vital in testing irrational beliefs against reality and putting new rational beliefs into practice
• Behavioural action 


  CBT often focuses on encouraging depressed clients to become more engaged in activities they enjoy. This is based on the idea 💡 that being active leads to rewards that act as an antidote to depression.

  
  

  A characteristic of depressed people is they no longer take part in activities they previously enjoyed. In CBT, therapists and clients identify enjoyable activities and anticipate and deal with any cognitive obstacles
• Unconditional positive regard

  Ellis (1994) recognised that convincing the client of their value as human was key to successful therapy. If the client feels worthless, they will be less willing to consider changing their beliefs and behaviour. However, if the therapist provides respect and appreciation regardless of what the client does and says (unconditional positive regard) this will facilitate a change in beliefs and attitudes