Psychologist Theory

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

Roderick A. Murphy

Lincoln University

February 02, 2013

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

This paper is a short explanation of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). The therapy was developed by Psychologist Albert Ellis. He believed that people contribute to their only psychological problem; also by the way they interpret events and situations, caused by specific symptoms. REBT based on the theory that cognitions, emotions, and behaviors interrelate significant and have a mutual cause and effect connection. The key concepts are the view of human nature, emotional disturbance, and the A-B-C framework.

REBT assume that human beings are born with the potential for mutually rational or irrational thinking. People have predispositions for self-preservation, pleasure, and other emotions that display their inner self. People also have propensity for self-destruction, avoidance of thought, procrastination and other self-defeating emotions that decrease the need to grow as an individual. REBT attempts to help people accept themselves as creatures who will continue to make mistake, and at the same time they learn to exist in harmony with themselves.

REBT assume that people originally learn irrational beliefs from others during childhood, therefore creating an illogical dogma of themselves. People re-enforce this belief by the processes of autosuggestion and self-repetition. It is believed that early indoctrinated unreasonable thoughts by a person is due to the person own recurrence thoughts of one self, rather than a parent’s recurrence behaviors or attitudes.

The center of REBT is the A-B-C framework, which provides a useful tool for understanding the person feelings, thoughts, events, behaviors and attitudes. “A” is the existence of the fact. “B” is the person’s belief about the fact (A). “C” is the emotional and behavioral consequence of the person (healthy or unhealthy). The concept is that the belief (B) of the existence...