Matric No: 249085076
M.Sc Psychology
Theories and Evaluation in Counseling Psychology
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is one of the cognitive-behavioral therapies developed in 1955 by
a psychologist named Albert Ellis. It is mainly used in psychotherapy but can also be used in counseling in a
less clinical context to address mild to moderate challenges in daily life. Unlike its long-term application in
psychotherapy, counseling use is typically short-term, more practical, and goal-oriented compared to the more
structured and clinical approach used in psychotherapy.
REBT posits that our cognition, emotion, and behavior are interconnected. To understand how people interpret
or perceive events and situations in their lives and how these impact them, it is essential to explore the beliefs
they hold about those experiences and how those beliefs affect their emotions.
The primary goal of REBT is to help individuals develop rational responses to distressing situations that can
cause negative feelings such as stress or depression. It seeks to assist individuals in replacing the irrational
beliefs they hold about these situations with more rational ones.
Main Beliefs in REBT
Here are the three main beliefs REBT therapists base their therapies on:
1. Unconditional Self-Acceptance: Valuing oneself regardless of failures or achievements.
2. Unconditional Other-Acceptance: Accepting that people around us are bound to make mistakes
without judging them.
3. Unconditional Life Acceptance: Embracing life as it happens, including the challenges that come with
it.
The ABC Model
The ABC Model is a core concept in REBT, explaining that our beliefs about events in our lives impact our
emotions and behaviors, leading to psychological distress.
● A stands for Activating Event: The situation that triggers a response.
● B stands for Belief: The belief or understanding of the event, where negative thoughts originate.
● C stands for Consequence: The emotional and behavioral reaction to our belief about the event.
In REBT, beliefs are classified as rational or irrational. Rational beliefs are logical, realistic, and promote
well-being, while Irrational beliefs are rigid, unrealistic, and inhibit an individual’s ability to respond to events in
a psychologically healthy way.
The Three Basic MUSTs
Albert Ellis identified three main types of irrational beliefs (a.k.a. the Three Basic MUSTs) in REBT:
1. Demanding Approval: The belief that one must win the approval of others; otherwise, they are a failure.
2. Demanding Comfort: The belief that others must treat us exactly as we treat them, and if they don’t,
they should be criticized.
3. Demanding Success: The belief that one must get exactly what they want at the exact time they want it.
These irrational beliefs place absolute "musts" on the events in an individual’s life, exaggerating the negative
outcomes when things do not go their way. Such individuals may believe setbacks or failures are intolerable
and often set excessively high expectations for themselves, others, and life events.
Techniques Used in REBT
REBT therapists identify and dispute irrational beliefs, helping individuals develop healthier responses to life
events.
1. Disputing: The therapist disputes an individual’s irrational beliefs using direct questioning to assess
their validity, explore alternative perspectives, and encourage replacement with rational beliefs.
○ Logical Disputing: Questions whether the belief makes sense or is realistic.
○ Empirical Disputing: Probes whether there is any evidence to support the belief.
○ Pragmatic Disputing: Examines whether the belief helps the individual achieve their goals or feel
fulfilled.
2. Cognitive Restructuring: The process of replacing irrational beliefs with rational ones, achieved
through behavioral or emotive techniques like role-playing, exposure to belief triggers, rational-emotive
imagery, meditation, journaling, etc.
Albert Ellis acknowledged the pervasive nature of irrational thinking in humans. While it is impossible to
eliminate all traces of such thinking, REBT seeks to reduce its frequency, duration, and intensity by instilling
three insights:
1. Individuals do not get upset by events but by their irrational beliefs about those events.
2. Individuals will continue to feel upset as long as they cling to these irrational beliefs.
3. The only way to feel better is to practice getting rid of those beliefs.
Applications of REBT
In counseling, REBT is effective in addressing mild to moderate challenges such as anxiety, stress,
depression, anger, and relationship issues.
CRITICISM
While REBT has been effectively used in counselling over the years and has been yielding results, just like
most theories, it has its own shortcomings.
It’s strong emphasis on rational and irrational thinking
The very first element of REBT that struck me is the classification of beliefs into “rational” and “irrational”
beliefs. However, this raises a critical question: “What can be objectively identified as rational or irrational
thinking”.
What is considered “rational” for an individual living in one city or country, could be considered irrational for
another person living in another country, hence another aspect where REBT failed is putting into cognisance
the cultural interpretation of rational and irrational beliefs.
For Example: In the United States people invited to a wedding are expected to pay for their own food and
entertainment. Couples' weddings will naturally expect that those invited would foot their bills and when
someone comes without bringing their share of the money, they are seen as disrespectful and inconsiderate. In
Nigeria, the opposite is the case. The celebrants are naturally expected to foot the bill of everyone attending
including taking care of the food and drinks. It is considered irresponsible and improper for the couples to
demand any form of financial compensation from their invited guests.
Therefore, REBT’s strong emphasis on rational and irrational beliefs is not culturally sensitive. It oversimplifies
emotions by not considering how diverse our environment and experiences can shape our response to events.
Responses to triggering events are not always based on irrational beliefs. There could also be some
physiological response to triggers, cultural factors, or situational factors that also play significant roles.
Example of Physiological response: Wiping one's hand after shaking a HIV patient which could be as a
result of fear and not an irrational belief.
Example of cultural factors: In the South Eastern part of Nigeria, fighting an Osu (an outcast) is believed to
make one spiritually and physically unclean. Given the context that it is founded in culture, it is not an irrational
belief but REBT will classify it as one.
Example of situational factors: An Individual can be going through a tough divorce and in addition to his case,
also gets sacked from work. His perspective to being sacked might not necessarily stem from that one problem
but from a build up of stressful events.
It is also evident that REBT’s strong emphasis on rational and irrational thinking did not take into cognisance
people with diagnosed or undiagnosed mental illness/disorders such as psychosis, personality disorders or
severe depression. REBT operates on the assumption that individuals receiving the therapy are stable, normal
and in touch with reality. For individuals with these mental disorders, their beliefs will always be altered
because of the underlying psychological problem and because their belief might also be a symptom of their
condition, it will render REBT ineffective.
It’s Direct Approach.
While its direct approach might work for some individuals, it might come off as confrontational or invalidating to
some individuals, especially the emotional sensitive and the avoidant ones. This can greatly discourage them
thereby reducing the effectiveness of the therapy.
Another concern is the potential of the therapist's bias to come into play. Since what is rational and irrational
can be complex and different for different people, what the therapist might consider rational, might be irrational
to the individual taking the therapy.
Imagine a Nigerian therapist counseling an American couple who feel that their guests should be condemned
for not paying for their food at their wedding.
It’s limited focus on emotions
Emotions are complex and cannot be simply classified as rational and irrational responses or beliefs until they
are broken down, explored and analysed.
REBT prioritizes logic while failing to recognise the presence of deep emotional connections and unconscious
processes such as trauma. This results in a surface level treatment of an individual thereby rendering the
counseling session unproductive and in some cases, counter-productive.
REBT’s strengths lie in its goal and action oriented approach on helping individuals replace irrational beliefs
with rational beliefs to help them deal logically with life experiences. However, Its strong emphasis on
rationality, limited applicability, lack of cultural sensitivity and its direct approach reduces its effectiveness. For a
counseling session to be effective, an approach that assesses individuals as unique beings and takes into
consideration the diversity of human nature, will be more effective at generating meaningful results.
REFERENCES
1. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Network. (n.d.). What is Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy
(REBT)? Retrieved from https://www.rebtnetwork.org/whatis.html
2. Cherry, K. (2023, April 18). Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). Verywell Mind. Retrieved from
https://www.verywellmind.com/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-2796000
3. Marquette University. (2023, February 22). What are the five theories of counseling? Retrieved from
https://online.marquette.edu/education/blog/what-are-the-five-theories-of-counseling
