Free «REBT» Essay Sample
Table of Contents
Assignment Questions
a) Describe a hypothetical case which you will apply REBT with.
A case that will be rather appropriate for using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is becoming parents for a young couple. Often, such an issue becomes a psychological problem for both a woman and a man. However, mostly, it is a stress for men. For instance, an analyzed men’s name would be Johnson, and he has lately become a father. In fact, Johnson still is not ready for such a responsibility. Moreover, he is not ready for being awake most nights and listening to a tiny creature crying. What is more, he is not ready to accept the metamorphoses that happened to his wife after pregnancy. In addition to it, parents of Johnson’s wife have always been against him. From the very beginning of Johnson and Catheline’s relationship, her parents have not appreciated it. It is probably the greatest problem and challenge for the man, since the problems that are caused by his unpreparedness to become a father is his internal conflict, which is easier to overcome and to solve. In contrast to it, the conflict that occurs between Johnson and Catheline’s parents is an external and long-term one. The difficulty of solving external conflicts lies in the fact that such conflicts depend on two sides but not only on the man as the internal one.
The problem is that Catheline’s parents constantly interfere with the relationships and personal life of the married couple. Johnson’s wife has had a very close relationship with her father and mother and had been living with her parents up until four years ago. Both her father and mother did not accept Catheline’s relationship with Johnson, and this disapproval started from the time when they first saw each other. Johnson is unable to give the rational explanation of such their attitude to him. Hence, in spite of the fact that he does not see any reasons for them to behave in such a way with him, Johnson still has tried to achieve their respect in many ways.
In the beginning Catheline even hesitated if she should continue her relationship with her sweetheart because of tough reaction of her parents. On occasion, the couple even kept their relationship undisclosed in order to avoid the predictable reaction of her family. Fortunately, it turned out to be more evident to them that they should finally ignore her parents’ disapprovals of their love and pursue their personal wishes.
b) Explain the A-B-C framework of REBT using an example that is unrelated to the hypothetical case’s problem/issue.
REBT uses the A-B-C framework in order to define the correlation between activating occasions, which stand for ‘A’; people’s beliefs concerning them, which stand for ‘B’; and the cognitive, behavioral or emotional consequences of human beliefs, which stand for ‘C’ (Gavița & Cělin, 2013). Besides, the A-B-C framework is also used in a number of versions of cognitive behavioral therapy or cognitive therapy, where it is also related to shed light on the function of cerebral activities or predilections in mediating amid expressive responses and experiences (Olufemi, 2013).
The framework differentiates between results of rational beliefs regarding negative episodes that give way to vigorous negative feelings, and results of irrational beliefs with reference to negative occasions that set in motion detrimental negative emotions (Dryden, 2013).
It will be much easier to examine the usage of A-B-C framework with the help of an example. For instance, a person has a panic of making speeches and introductions., a person is conceivably not confident of the etiquette, worries that he or she will not recall someone’s name or other information, or simply feels too nervous to even make forewords or introduce himself or herself to others. A person should remember that in occasions, where introductions are necessary, one may keep away from communication or kill time waiting for other people to introduce themselves.
After a short talk between the client and the therapist, which should be conducted in order to define the activating occasions (A) for a fear, they should develop a list of so called ‘must’ and ‘must not’ avowals (Ellis & Dryden, 2007), which, in fact, are the irrational beliefs (B) that a person tells himself or herself in the state of affairs, which makes a person feel bad about himself/herself. The list of ‘must’ and ‘must not’ avowals may look in the following way:
- I must be comprehended in a proper way by others. Otherwise, I am of no value.
- I must be proficient in a social context. Otherwise, I am no good.
- I must not make faults in communal situations. Otherwise, I am silly.
Of course, there exists the useful and comfortable technique in order to work on the ‘must’ and ‘must not’ avowals. The main point of this technique lies in writing down the statements on alphabetical listing cards with more coherent statements that should be written on the overturn of each card (Dryden, DiGiuseppe, & Neenan, 2010). Each ‘must’ and ‘must not’ statement should be accompanied with 4 or 5 healthier alternate beliefs created by the person and his or her therapist. The person must make the cards in order to look at them for a few minutes every day for practicing his or her new way of thinking.
In the end, the person will realize that it is not a necessity of making speeches and introductions, which makes him or her nervous. In contrast, it is the demand, which he/she puts on himself/herself that it obliged to go in a proper way. This stage stands for C. Even if the person never gets better at making speeches and introductions, at least he or she can be less worried about the entire experience.