Read Rational Emotive Therapy by Ellis. Ellis' rational emotive therapy
Albert Ellis born September 27, 1913 in Pittsburgh. His relationship with his parents was not very close; His mother suffered from bipolar disorder, which forced Ellis to care for and raise his younger sister and brother himself.
He graduated from the City University of New York in 1934. It was during this time that Ellis wrote extensively on the topic of sexuality. Interested in psychology, the young scientist entered Columbia University, where he received a master's degree in 1943 and a doctorate in clinical psychology in 1947. Ellis was initially an ardent supporter of the psychoanalysis of Sigmund Freud, but the work of Karen Horney, Alfred Adler and Erich Fromm had such a strong influence on him that he doubted the correctness of the creator of psychoanalysis and eventually completely abandoned his ideas.
After the final break with Freud, Albert Ellis created his own type of psychotherapy, which he first called rational, and later - rational-emotive behavior therapy, or REBT. Today his approach is considered the founder of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy. In 1959, the scientist founded the non-profit Institute for Rational Living.
Ellis was active in the sexual revolution of the 1960s and was a committed atheist. However, having collaborated with a number of religious leaders in the development of REBT, the psychologist became convinced that belief in a higher power has a highly positive psychological effect. However, this did not make the scientist a believer, but his atheistic beliefs began to play an increasingly smaller role in his life, and in the end Ellis came to the conclusion that the best results in psychotherapy come from the opportunity to choose.
Many of Ellis's early ideas were met with harsh criticism from his colleagues, but in the second half of his life the psychologist enjoyed universal recognition as the forerunner of cognitive behavioral psychotherapy.
More and more specialists found his methods very effective and efficient. Today, Albert Ellis is considered one of the most influential people in the history of psychology. The scientist died on July 24, 2007.
ABC model
Albert Ellis believed that every day a person observes and interprets events that occur and over time these interpretations are transformed into irrational judgments, according to which he acts in the future. These judgments determine what consequences a certain event will lead to. The figure below shows Albert Ellis' model of ABC theory.
1. A. Your boss wrongly accuses you of theft and threatens to fire you.
2. B. Your reaction: “How dare he? He has no reason to blame me!”
3. C. You are filled with rage.
ABC model clearly shows that event B leads to event C, rather than A directly triggers event C. You are not angry because you have been wrongfully accused and threatened; You are angry about your belief that you should not be treated in this way, which arose in Step B.
Scientific definition
Cognitive behavioral therapy believes that psychological problems arise from erroneous conclusions that prevent a person from acting effectively. During psychotherapeutic sessions, organized in a strictly structured manner, the patient becomes aware that his feelings and thoughts influence his behavior and begins to change them.
Three irrational judgments
According to Ellis, all people are characterized by three types of irrational judgments, no matter how different their behavior in a particular case. Any belief of a person contains a demand either for himself, or for other people, or for the world around him. The psychologist called these three beliefs we share absolute necessities:
1. I must do everything right and win the approval of others, otherwise I am worthless.
2. Others should treat me well, kindly, fairly and thoughtfully and treat me the way I would like them to be treated. Otherwise, they are bad people and deserve to be condemned and punished.
3. The world should give me everything. I should have what I want, when I want it, and not have anything I don't want. If I don’t get what I want, it means everything is simply terrible and unbearable.
The first irrational judgment often leads to feelings of anxiety, guilt, disappointment and depression. The second causes passive aggression, anger and violence. The third leads to procrastination and feelings of self-pity. If these beliefs are flexible and not too intrusive, the person's behavior and emotions are likely to be quite healthy; otherwise, irrational judgments can lead to serious psychological problems and even neurosis.
The role of discussion
The main goal of Albert Ellis' rational-emotive behavior therapy is to help the patient transform irrational judgments into rational ones. This is achieved by discussing them. For example, a therapist asks a patient, “Why do you think others should treat you kindly?” . Trying to answer this question, a person gradually begins to understand that in fact there are no rational reasons for this belief to be realized.
It is important to know!
Ellis believed that everyone has a tendency to think irrationally, but the frequency, duration and intensity of such thinking can be reduced by knowing three important things:
1. People don't just get upset, they get upset because of the inflexibility of their own beliefs.
2. Whatever the reason for the upset, the person continues to feel this way because he cannot get rid of irrational ideas about life.
3. You can improve your psychological state only through hard, focused work on changing these beliefs, and this requires active and long-term practice.
Accepting reality
To maintain mental health, a person must accept reality as it is, even if it is not very pleasant. Psychotherapists who practice REBT (rational emotive behavioral therapy) help patients achieve acceptance on three different levels.
1. Unconditional self-acceptance. A person must admit that he can make mistakes, that he is not flawless and that there are no objective reasons for him not to have any flaws. This circumstance does not make him any more or less important or significant than other people.
2. Unconditional acceptance of others. A person must acknowledge and accept that from time to time others will treat him unfairly and there is no reason why this should never happen. The people who treated him unfairly are no worse or better than others.
3. Unconditional acceptance of life. A person must recognize and accept that his life will not always be as he expected and hoped, and there is no reason to hope that everything in it will be the way he wants. Life, no matter how unpleasant and difficult it may sometimes seem, is never completely terrible and unbearable.
Today, rational emotive behavior therapy is considered one of the most popular forms of psychotherapy and the foundation for modern cognitive behavioral therapy.
From book Paul Kleinman "Psychology. People, concepts, experiments »
Some cognitive psychotherapists, such as Paul DuBois and Alfred Adler, used almost exclusively intellectual techniques in their work, such as persuasion and training. Other cognitive scientists, such as George Kelly, worked primarily with emotive techniques, such as fixed role-play. Some cognitive-behavioral psychotherapists—Emmelkamp being one of them—have primarily used behavioral methods, such as in vivo desensitization. Cognitive-behavioral approach to psychotherapy and counseling: Reader / Comp. T.V. Vlasova. - Vladivostok: State Institute of Moscow State University, 2009. - P. 19
RET theory states, as mentioned above, that thoughts, emotions and feelings are inextricably linked. Therefore, from its very inception, RET has paid equal attention to all three modalities (cognitive, emotive and behavioral). It became the first truly multimodal psychotherapy school. Right there. - P. 20
RET freely borrows techniques from other therapeutic systems, but only those that do not contradict the basic theory of RET are accepted. When talking about techniques, Ellis emphasizes that REBT therapists are particularly concerned with the short-term and long-term effects of specific therapeutic techniques: they will rarely use techniques that have immediate positive results but negative long-term consequences. Ellis A., Dryden W. The practice of rational-emotional behavioral therapy. 2nd ed./Trans. from English T. Saushkina. - St. Petersburg: Publishing House "Rech", 2002. - P. 193
Currently, there are a huge number of cognitive, emotional and behavioral techniques, but according to Ellis, they are not “pure”. This means that each contains cognitive, emotional, and behavioral elements, but one of them is predominant. Ellis A., Humanistic psychotherapy: A rational-emotional approach / Trans. from English - St. Petersburg: Sova, 2002. - P. 211
Let's look at the basic RET techniques.
Cognitive techniques.
The most common technique is debating (challenging) irrational ideas. There are three subcategories of challenge: detection, debate, and discrimination.
Detection involves looking for dysfunctional attitudes that lead to self-destructive emotions and behaviors. Cognitive-irrational attitudes can be detected due to explicit or not directly expressed signs of the demands of “must”, “must”, “must”. In addition, Ellis pays attention to explicit and implicit phrases such as “This is terrible!” or “I can’t stand it,” which indicate derivatives of existing primary and secondary irrational beliefs.
Debating is a series of questions that the therapist asks the client to help him give up his irrational idea. The therapist requires his clients to use reason, logic, and facts in defending their beliefs. The purpose of this survey is to explain to clients why their irrational beliefs do not stand up to scrutiny. Nelson-Jones lists some discussion questions that therapists should ask clients and clients should ask themselves:
“What irrational belief do I want to discuss and what irrational belief do I want to abandon?”
“Can I rationally defend this belief?”
“What evidence is there for the truth of this belief?”
“What evidence is there that this belief is wrong?”
“Why is this terrible?”
“Why can’t I stand it?”
“How does this make me a disgusting (weak) person?”
“Why should I always do everything badly in the future?”
“What effective new belief (philosophy) can I replace my irrational belief?” Nelson-Jones R. Theory and practice of counseling - St. Petersburg: Peter Publishing House, 2000. - P. 121
According to Nelson-Jones, the desired cognitive outcome of discussing certain irrational beliefs and their derivatives is to produce an optimal set of preferred beliefs or effective new philosophies associated with each belief. Desired emotional and behavioral results must be obtained from effective new philosophies, and these results must interact with those philosophies. Right there. - P. 121
Discrimination refers to the therapist's assistance to the client in defining clear differences between nonabsolute values and absolutist ones. The formal version of debating, which includes several main components, is known as DIV (Disputing Irrational Views). DIV is one example of cognitive homework that is often given to clients between sessions after they have been taught how to do it.
Clients may use audiotapes to facilitate the discussion process. They can listen to audio recordings of therapy sessions and record their own discussions about their irrational ideas.
There are three cognitive techniques that therapists often suggest to clients to help reinforce a new rational philosophy:
Listening to audio cassettes with recordings of RET lectures on various topics;
Doing RET with others, where the client uses RET to help their friends and family solve their problems.
Many semantic methods are also used. Definition techniques are sometimes used, the purpose of which is to help the client use language in a less self-defeating way. For example, instead of saying “I can’t...” Ellis suggests using the expression “I haven’t learned yet.” Ellis A., Dryden W. The practice of rational-emotional behavioral therapy. 2nd ed./Trans. from English T. Saushkina. - St. Petersburg: Rech Publishing House, 2002. - P. 207 Quite often they use pros and cons techniques. Here, clients are encouraged to list both negative and positive things about a specific concept, such as “smoking.”
RET therapists use a variety of imagery techniques. They often resort to rational-emotional imagination and the method of time projection.
Emotional techniques.
RET therapists offer their clients an emotional attitude towards unconditional acceptance, a variety of humorous methods, stories, fables, poems, aphorisms, mottos and witticisms.
REBT therapists believe that clients themselves are able to help themselves move from intellectual insight to an emotional method of vigorously challenging their irrational views. Strength and energy play a big role in the widespread shame attack RET exercises. Ellis describes these exercises as follows: Clients deliberately try to behave “indecently” in public in order to learn to accept themselves and tolerate the subsequent discomfort. Since clients are not harming themselves or others, a small violation of social rules often serves as an appropriate exercise in shame management. Ellis A., Dryden W. The practice of rational-emotional behavioral therapy. 2nd ed./Trans. from English T. Saushkina. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Rech", 2002. - P. 209
Risk taking exercise falls into the same category. Clients deliberately take calculated risks in areas where they want to make a difference. Along with such exercises, repetition of rational self-affirmations with feeling and force is often used.
Behavioral techniques.
RET has encouraged the use of behavioral techniques (especially homework) since its inception in 1955 because it recognizes that cognitive changes are often facilitated by behavioral changes.
Behavioral techniques used in RET include the “stay there” exercise, which provides the client with the opportunity to tolerate chronic discomfort by remaining in an unpleasant situation for an extended period of time; exercises in which the client is encouraged to force himself to start doing things right away, without putting them off until later, while at the same time undergoing the discomfort of fighting the habit of putting everything off until tomorrow; using rewards and punishments to encourage the client to undertake an unpleasant task in pursuit of delayed goals; From time to time, RET employs Kelly's style of therapy, where clients are encouraged to behave "as if" they were already thinking rationally, so that they can learn through experience that change is possible.
We have listed the main techniques used in RET. In addition, there are techniques that are avoided in RET. Below we give examples of such techniques named by A. Ellis and W. Dryden. These include:
Techniques that make clients more dependent (excessive warmth of the therapist as strong reinforcement, creation and analysis of replacement neurosis);
Techniques that make clients more gullible and suggestible (perceiving the world through rose-colored glasses);
Techniques are verbose and ineffective (psychoanalytic methods of free association);
Methods that help the client feel better in a short time, but do not guarantee stable improvement (empirical techniques, Gestalt therapy techniques);
Techniques that distract clients from working on their dysfunctional worldview (relaxation, yoga, etc.);
Techniques that may inadvertently reinforce a philosophy of low frustration tolerance (gradual desensitization);
Techniques in which ancient philosophy is present (suggestion healing and mysticism);
Techniques that attempt to change the activating event "A" before showing the client how to change their irrational beliefs "B" (family therapy techniques);
Techniques that do not have sufficient empirical support (neurolinguistic programming, non-directive therapy, rebirthing). Ellis A., Dryden W. The practice of rational-emotional behavioral therapy. 2nd ed./Trans. from English T. Saushkina. - St. Petersburg: Publishing house "Rech", 2002. - P. 212
Cognitive psychotherapy emerged as an independent field in the 1960s. Currently, it is one of the most common areas. Cognitive psychotherapy, based on the most modern developments in the field of scientific psychology, is based on two fundamental ideas about a person:
- a) as a thinking and active person;
- b) reflective and capable of changing oneself and one’s life.
The central category of cognitive psychotherapy is thinking in the broad sense of the word. The main postulate is that it is a person’s thinking (the way he perceives himself, the world and other people) that determines his behavior, feelings and problems. For example, a person who is convinced that he is helpless, when faced with difficulties and problems, will experience feelings of anxiety or despair, a state of disorganization, and therefore try to avoid independent decisions and actions. Such a person constantly has thoughts flashing through his head: “I can’t handle it,” “I’m not capable,” “I’ll disgrace myself,” “I’ll let him down,” etc. Moreover, these thoughts and beliefs may be in direct contradiction with his real capabilities and abilities. However, they are the ones who determine his behavior and performance results.
Restructuring such irrational beliefs and situationally arising thoughts allows you to get rid of difficult experiences and makes it possible to learn how to more constructively solve various life problems. This is exactly the kind of work that is necessary for people suffering from severe emotional problems: anxiety, depression, attacks of irritation and anger. Cognitive psychotherapy has developed a system of highly effective technologies, techniques and exercises aimed at restructuring maladaptive thinking and developing the ability to think more realistically and constructively.
Although cognitive psychotherapy as an evidence-based approach is new, its origins go back to ancient times. One of the fathers of cognitive psychotherapy can be considered Socrates, a sage who became famous for his dialogues, in which he masterfully revealed the errors and distortions of the human mind, thereby helping people get rid of the unbearable fear of death, inconsolable sadness or self-doubt. In every nation there were such sages who had the skills to work with erroneous beliefs, failures of logic and “idols of consciousness” (Francis Bacon). However, in cognitive psychotherapy this art is transformed into a thoughtful and scientifically based system of assistance.
The cognitive model of psychotherapy is based on the idea that emotional disorders are a consequence of both a person’s certain predisposition to them (heredity, as well as experiences acquired in early childhood), and the circumstances of his current life (the influences he experiences, to which he reacts).
Aaron Beck (born 1921) is an American psychotherapist and founder of cognitive psychotherapy. After graduating from Brown University and Yale Medical School, A. Beck began his career in medicine. Initially he was attracted to neurology, but then he turned to psychiatry. While conducting research to validate Freud's theory of depression, A. Beck began to ask questions about the theory itself and soon became disillusioned with it. A. Beck encouraged his patients to focus on so-called “automatic thoughts” (the meaning of the term will be explained later).
Beck's main works: “Cognitive therapy and affective disorders” (1967), “Cognitive therapy for depression” (1979), “Cognitive therapy for personality disorders” (1990).
Rational-emotive psychotherapy (RET) is a method of psychotherapy developed in the 1950s. clinical psychologist Albert Ellis. Initially called rational psychotherapy, since 1962 this method has been called rational-emotive therapy ( rational-emotive therapy).
Albert Ellis (born 1913) received his bachelor's degree in 1934 from City College of New York; He received his Master's and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in 1943 and 1947 from Columbia University. A. Ellis underwent psychoanalytic training and three years of personal analysis. Unlike A. Beck, A. Ellis was more inclined to consider irrational beliefs not by themselves, but in close connection with the unconscious irrational attitudes of the individual. Further observations led him to the idea of negative thoughts as a source of emotional disturbances. In 1958, A. Ellis founded the Institute of Rational Living, and in 1968 - the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Field of Rational Psychotherapy. A. Ellis - winner of numerous awards; has published over 600 articles, book chapters and reviews. He is the author or editor of over fifty books and a consultant to twelve psychotherapy journals.
In addition to A. Beck and A. Ellis, Martin Seligman (explanatory style), Jeffrey Young (early maladaptive schemas), Leon Festinger (the theory of cognitive dissonance), Marsha Linen (cognitive-dialectical psychotherapy of borderline personality disorder) made great contributions to the development of the cognitive-behavioral direction ) and many others.
In this publication we will not dwell on the differences between individual branches of one direction, especially since the boundaries are becoming more and more blurred. A. Beck's cognitive psychotherapy also included behavioral techniques, so we will consider the terms “cognitive” and “cognitive-behavioral” as synonyms.
The basic formula of cognitive therapy is presented in Fig. 3.
Rice. 3. A - activating event; B - intermediate variables (thoughts, attitudes, beliefs, rules) that predetermine a certain perception of the event; C - consequences of the event, including both emotional (Ce) and behavioral components (Cb)
For example:
A - Maria has a headache.
B - Maria thought: “I’m having a stroke.”
Xie - Maria began to panic.
St. Mary ran to the hospital to undergo an examination.
The cognitive model of psychopathology attributes a central role to unproductive thinking in the occurrence of protracted depressive, anxious, and aggressive reactions. Cognitive distortions lead to the fact that an individual does not adequately reflect reality, and therefore his coping with difficult situations, such as various types of losses, threats, obstacles, is difficult, which increases their negative impact on him.
Cognitive behavioral psychotherapy aims to change, first of all, emotions and behavior by influencing the content of thoughts. The possibility of such changes is based on the connection between thoughts and emotions. From a CBT perspective, thoughts (beliefs) are the main factor determining emotional state and behavior. How a person interprets an event is the resulting emotion he has in this situation. It is not external events and people that cause us negative feelings, but our thoughts about these events. Influencing thoughts is a shorter route to achieving change in our emotions and therefore behavior.
The emergence of maladaptive cognitions (attitudes, thoughts, rules) is associated with the patient’s past, when, perceiving them, he did not yet have the skill to conduct a critical analysis at the cognitive level, did not have the opportunity to refute them at the behavioral level, since he was limited in his experience and had not encountered still with situations that could refute them, or received certain reinforcements from the social environment.
Cognitive psychotherapy involves mutual cooperation between the therapist and the patient in a relationship between them that approaches a partnership. The patient and psychotherapist must at the very beginning reach an agreement regarding the goal of psychotherapy (the central problem to be corrected), the means of achieving it, and the possible duration of treatment. For psychotherapy to be successful, the patient must, in general, accept the basic tenet of cognitive psychotherapy about the dependence of emotions and behavior on thinking: “If we want to change feelings and behavior, we must change the ideas that caused them.”
The term "maladaptive cognition" applies to any thought that causes inappropriate or painful emotions that make it difficult to solve a problem, leading to maladaptive behavior. Maladaptive cognitions, as a rule, are of the nature of “automatic thoughts”; they arise without any preliminary reasoning, reflexively, and for the patient they always have the character of well-founded, unquestioned beliefs. They are involuntary and do not attract his attention, although they direct his actions.
Cognitions can be at different levels. The most superficial of them is the level of automatic thoughts, the fundamental is the deepest beliefs.
Deep beliefs are a fundamental level of belief, usually formed in childhood. The formation of deep attitudes is significantly influenced by the characteristics of intrafamily relationships. Deep beliefs are difficult to correct.
Intermediate beliefs occupy a position between deep beliefs and superficial beliefs. They are formed on the basis of deep-seated beliefs, more often formulated as rules, assumptions, life principles.
Automatic thoughts are a stream of thinking that exists in parallel with a more overt stream of thoughts (A. Beck, 1964). Automatic thoughts arise spontaneously and are not based on reflection (thinking, thinking). People are more aware of the emotions associated with certain automatic thoughts than the thoughts themselves. However, this is easy to learn. Meaningful thoughts evoke specific emotions depending on their content. They are often short and fleeting and can take verbal and/or figurative form. People usually accept their automatic thoughts as truth, without thinking or soberly evaluating them. Identifying and assessing automatic thoughts, as well as rational (adaptive) responses to them, contribute to improving the patient’s well-being (Judith Beck, 2006). Automatic thoughts are formed under the influence of intermediate and deep-seated beliefs; there can be a huge number of them: the deeper the level, the fewer attitudes. All attitudes can be imagined as an inverted pyramid, the base of which is automatic thoughts, and the top is deep-seated attitudes. A cognitive map is a graphically presented relationship between attitudes at different levels that lead to problems in the emotional and/or behavioral sphere.
In Fig. Figure 4 shows an example of a cognitive map of a patient suffering from alcohol dependence (According to R. McMullin “Workshop on Cognitive Therapy”).
Rice. 4
Graphically, the relationship between settings at different levels is shown in Fig. 5 (see p. 80).
Formulated a number of provisions that are actively used in practical correctional psychology. One of these principles, often quoted by Ellis, is the statement: “It is not things that hinder people, but the way they see them” (Epictetus).
Based on emphatically scientific approaches in the structure of individual consciousness, A. Ellis strives to free the client from the bonds and blinders of stereotypes and clichés, to provide a freer and more open-minded view of the world. In the concept of A. Ellis, a person is interpreted as self-evaluating, self-supporting and self-speaking.
A. Ellis believes that every person is born with a certain potential, and this potential has two sides: rational and irrational; constructive and destructive, etc. According to A. Ellis, psychological problems appear when a person tries to follow simple preferences (desires of love, approval, support) and mistakenly believes that these simple preferences are the absolute measure of his success in life. In addition, man is a creature extremely susceptible to various influences at all levels - from. Therefore, A. Ellis is not inclined to reduce all the changing complexity of human nature to one thing.
RET identifies three leading psychological aspects of human functioning: thoughts (cognitions), feelings and behavior. A. Ellis identified two types of cognitions: descriptive and evaluative.
Descriptive cognitions contain information about reality, about what a person has perceived in the world; this is “pure” information about reality. Evaluative cognitions reflect a person’s attitude towards this reality. Descriptive cognitions are necessarily connected with evaluative connections of varying degrees of rigidity.
Biased events themselves evoke positive or negative emotions in us, and our internal perception of these events is their assessment. We feel what we think about what we perceive. are the result of cognitive impairments (such as overgeneralization, false conclusions, and rigid attitudes).
The source of psychological disorders is a system of individual irrational ideas about the world, learned, as a rule, in childhood from significant adults. A. Ellis called these violations irrational attitudes. From the point of view of A. Ellis, these are rigid connections between descriptive and evaluative cognitions such as prescriptions, demands, mandatory orders that have no exceptions, and they are absolutist in nature. Therefore, irrational attitudes do not correspond to reality both in strength and in quality of this prescription. If irrational attitudes are not realized, they lead to long-lasting emotions that are inadequate to the situation and complicate the individual’s activities. The core of emotional disorders, according to Ellis, is self-blame.
An important concept in RET is the concept of “trap”, i.e. all those cognitive formations that create unreasonable neurotic anxiety. A normally functioning person has a rational system of evaluative cognitions, which is a system of flexible connections between descriptive and evaluative cognitions. It is probabilistic in nature, expresses rather a wish, a preference for a certain development of events, and therefore leads to moderate emotions, although sometimes they can be intense, but do not capture the individual for a long time and therefore do not block his activities or interfere with the achievement of goals.
The emergence of psychological problems in a client is associated with the functioning of a system of irrational attitudes.
Ellis's concept states that although it is pleasant to be loved in an atmosphere of acceptance, a person should feel vulnerable enough in such an atmosphere and not feel uncomfortable in the absence of an atmosphere of love and complete acceptance.
A. Ellis suggested that positive emotions (such as feelings of love or delight) are often associated with or the result of an internal belief expressed in the form of the phrase: “This is good for me.” Negative emotions (such as anger or depression) are associated with the belief expressed by the phrase: “This is bad for me.” He believed that the emotional response to a situation reflects the “label” that is attached to it (for example, it is dangerous or pleasant), even when the “label” is not true. To achieve happiness, it is necessary to rationally formulate goals and choose adequate means.
Ellis developed a kind of “neurotic code”, i.e. a complex of erroneous judgments, the desire to fulfill which leads to psychological problems:
1. There is a strong need to be loved or approved by every person in a significant environment.
2. Everyone must be competent in all areas of knowledge.
3. Most people are mean, corrupt and despicable.
4. A disaster will occur if events take a different path than the person programmed.
5. Human misfortunes are caused by external forces and people have little control over them.
6. If there is a danger, then you should not overcome it.
7. It is easier to avoid certain life difficulties than to face them and bear responsibility for them.
8. In this world, the weak always depends on the strong.
9. A person’s past history should influence his immediate behavior “now.”
10. You shouldn't worry about other people's problems.
11. It is necessary to solve all problems correctly, clearly and perfectly, and if this is not the case, then a disaster will occur.
12. If someone does not control their emotions, then it is impossible to help them.
A. Ellis proposed his personality structure, which he named after the first letters of the Latin alphabet “ABC theory”: A - activating event; B the client's opinion about the event; C - emotional or behavioral consequences of the event; D - subsequent reaction to the event as a result of mental processing; E - final value conclusion (constructive or destructive).
This conceptual scheme has found wide application in practical correctional psychology, since it allows the client himself to conduct effective self-observation and self-analysis in the form of diary entries.
Analysis of the client's behavior or self-analysis according to the scheme "event - perception of the event - reaction - reflection - conclusion" has a high productivity and a learning effect.
The "ABC diagram" is used to help a client in a problematic situation move from irrational attitudes to rational ones. The work is being built in several stages.
The first stage is clarification, clarification of the parameters of the event (A), including the parameters that most emotionally affected the client and caused him to have inadequate reactions.
A = (A0 + Ac) => B,
where A0 is an objective event (described by a group of observers);
Ac - subjectively perceived event (described by the client);
B is the client’s assessment system, which determines which parameters of an objective event will be perceived and will be significant.
At this stage, a personal assessment of the event occurs. Clarification allows the client to differentiate between events that can and cannot be changed. At the same time, the goal of correction is not to encourage the client to avoid a collision with an event, not to change it (for example, moving to a new job in the presence of an insoluble conflict with the boss), but to become aware of the system of evaluative cognitions that make it difficult to resolve this conflict, rebuild this system and only after This means making a decision to change the situation. Otherwise, the client remains potentially vulnerable in similar situations.
The second stage is the identification of the emotional and behavioral consequences of the perceived event (C). The purpose of this stage is to identify the entire range of emotional reactions to an event (since not all emotions are easily differentiated by a person, and some are suppressed and not realized due to the inclusion of rationalization and others).
Awareness and verbalization of experienced emotions may be difficult for some clients: for some - due to vocabulary deficits, for others - due to behavioral deficits (the absence in the arsenal of behavioral stereotypes usually associated with moderate expression of emotions. Such clients react with polar emotions, or strong love, or complete rejection.
Analysis of the words used by the client helps identify irrational attitudes. Usually, irrational attitudes are associated with words that reflect the extreme degree of emotional involvement of the client (nightmarish, terrible, amazing, unbearable, etc.), having the nature of a mandatory prescription (necessary, must, must, obliged, etc.), as well as global assessments of a person or object or events.
A. Ellis identified the four most common groups of irrational attitudes that create problems:
1. Catastrophic installations.
2. Installations of mandatory obligation.
3. Installations for the mandatory fulfillment of one’s needs.
4. Global assessment settings.
The goal of the stage is achieved when irrational attitudes are identified in the problem area (there may be several of them), the nature of the connections between them is shown (parallel, articulatory, hierarchical dependence), making the multicomponent reaction of the individual in a problem situation understandable.
It is also necessary to identify the client’s rational attitudes, since they constitute a positive part of the relationship, which can be expanded in the future.
The third stage is the reconstruction of irrational attitudes. Reconstruction should begin when the client easily identifies irrational attitudes in a problem situation. It can occur: at the cognitive level, the level, the level of behavior - direct action.
Reconstruction at the cognitive level includes the client’s proof of the truth of the attitude and the need to maintain it in a given situation. In the process of this type of evidence, the client sees even more clearly the negative consequences of maintaining this attitude. The use of auxiliary modeling (how others would solve this problem, what attitudes they would have) allows us to form new rational attitudes at the cognitive level.
When reconstructing at the level of imagination, both negative and positive imagination are used. The client is asked to mentally immerse himself in a traumatic situation. With a negative imagination, he must experience the previous emotion as fully as possible, and then try to reduce its level and realize through what new attitudes he managed to achieve this. This immersion in a traumatic situation is repeated many times. The training can be considered effectively completed if the client has reduced the intensity of the emotions experienced using several options. With positive imagination, the client immediately imagines a problematic situation with a positively colored emotion.
Reconstruction through direct action is a confirmation of the success of modifications of attitudes carried out at the cognitive level and in the imagination. Direct actions are implemented according to the type of flood techniques, paradoxical intention, and modeling techniques.
The fourth stage is consolidation through homework done by the client independently. They can also be carried out at the cognitive level, in the imagination or at the level of direct action.
RET is primarily indicated for clients who are capable of introspection, reflection, and analysis of their thoughts.
Correction goals. The main goal is to assist in revising the system of beliefs, norms and ideas. A private goal is liberation from the idea of self-blame.
In addition, A. Ellis formulated a number of desirable qualities, the achievement of which by the client can be a specific goal of psychocorrectional work: social interest, self-interest, self-government, tolerance, flexibility, acceptance of uncertainty, scientific thinking, self-acceptance, ability to take risks, realism.
Psychologist's position. The position of a psychologist working in line with this concept is, of course, directive. He explains and convinces. He is an authority who refutes erroneous judgments, pointing out their inaccuracy, arbitrariness, etc. He appeals to science, to the ability to think and, as Ellis puts it, does not engage in absolution, after which the client may feel better, but it is not known whether he actually feels better.
Requirements and expectations from the client. The client is assigned the role of a learner, and accordingly his success is interpreted depending on his motivation and identification with the role of the learner.
The client is expected to go through three levels of insight:
1. Superficial - awareness of the problem.
2. In-depth - recognition of one's own interpretations.
3. Deep - at the level of motivation to change.
In general, the psychological prerequisites of RET are as follows:
recognition of the client’s personal responsibility for their problems;
acceptance of the idea that there is an opportunity to decisively influence these problems
recognition that the client's emotional problems stem from his irrational beliefs about himself and the world;
detection (awareness) by the client of these ideas;
the client's recognition of the usefulness of serious discussion of these ideas;
agreement to make efforts to confront one's illogical judgments;
client's consent to use RET.
Technicians
RET is characterized by a wide range of psychotechniques, including those borrowed from other areas.
1. Discussion and refutation of irrational views.
The psychologist actively discusses with the client, refutes his irrational views, demands evidence, clarifies logical grounds, etc. Much attention is paid to softening the client’s categorical attitude: instead of “I should” - “I would like”;
instead of “It will be terrible if...” - “It probably won’t be very convenient if...”; instead of “I am obliged to do this work” - “I would like to do this work at a high level.”
2. Cognitive homework is associated with self-analysis according to the “ABC model” and the restructuring of habitual verbal reactions and interpretations.
3. Rational-emotive imagination. The client is asked to imagine a difficult situation for him and his feelings in it. Then it is proposed to change how you feel about the situation and see what changes in behavior this will cause.
4. Role play. Disturbing situations are played out, inadequate interpretations are worked out, especially those that carry self-accusation and self-deprecation.
5. "Attack on fear." The technique consists of homework, the purpose of which is to perform an action that usually causes fear or psychological difficulties in the client. For example, a client who experiences severe discomfort when communicating with a salesperson is asked to go to a large store with many departments and ask to show him something in each department.
Rational-emotive therapy (RET) was created by Albert Ellis in 1955. Its original version was called rational therapy, but in 1961 it was renamed RET, since this term better reflects the essence of this direction. In 1993, Ellis began using a new name for his method: rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT). The term “behavioral” was introduced in order to show the great importance that this direction attaches to working with the actual behavior of the client.
According to rational emotive therapy theory, people are happiest when they set important life goals and objectives and actively try to achieve them. In addition, it is argued that when setting and achieving these goals and objectives, a person must keep in mind the fact that he lives in society: while defending his own interests, it is necessary to take into account the interests of the people around him. This position is opposed to the philosophy of selfishness, where the wishes of others are not respected or taken into account. Based on the premise that people tend to be driven by goals, rational in RET means that which helps people achieve their basic goals and objectives, while irrational is that which interferes with their implementation. Thus, rationality is not an absolute concept, it is relative in its very essence (A. Ellis, W. Dryden, 2002).
RET is rational and scientific, but uses rationality and science to help people live and be happy. It is hedonistic, but it welcomes not immediate, but long-term hedonism, when people can enjoy the present moment and the future and can achieve this with maximum freedom and discipline. She suggests that there is probably nothing superhuman and that devout belief in superhuman powers usually leads to dependence and increased emotional stability. She also argues that no people are "inferior" or worthy of damnation, no matter how unacceptable and antisocial their behavior may be. It emphasizes will and choice in all human affairs, while accepting the possibility that some human actions are determined in part by biological, social, and other forces.
Indications for rational-emotional therapy. Rational-emotional therapy is indicated in the treatment of various diseases in the etiology of which psychological factors are decisive. These are primarily neurotic disorders. It is also indicated for other diseases that are complicated by neurotic reactions. A.A. Aleksandrov identifies categories of patients for whom rational-emotive therapy may be indicated: 1) patients with poor adaptability, moderate anxiety, and marital problems; 2) sexual disorders; 3) neuroses; 4) character disorders; 5) truants from school, child delinquents and adult criminals; 6) borderline personality disorder syndrome; 7) psychotic patients, including patients with hallucinations when they are in contact with reality; 8) individuals with mild forms of mental retardation; 9) patients with psychosomatic problems.
It is clear that RET does not have a direct effect on the somatic or neurological symptoms present in the patient, however, it helps the patient change his attitude and overcome neurotic reactions to the disease, strengthens his tendency to fight the disease (A.P. Fedorov, 2002).
As B.D. Karvasarsky notes, rational-emotional therapy is indicated primarily for patients who are capable of introspection and analysis of their thoughts. It involves the active participation of the patient at all stages of psychotherapy, establishing relationships with him that are close to a partnership. This is helped by a joint discussion of possible goals of psychotherapy, problems that the patient would like to resolve (usually these are symptoms of a somatic plan or chronic emotional discomfort). Getting started involves educating the patient about the philosophy of rational-emotive therapy, which states that emotional problems are caused not by the events themselves, but by the appraisal of them.
While behavioral psychotherapy aims to achieve behavior change by influencing the external environment of a person, rational-emotive therapy aims to change, first of all, emotions by influencing the content of thoughts. The possibility of such changes is based on the connection between thoughts and emotions. From an RET perspective, cognition is a major determinant of emotional state. Normally, thinking includes and is stimulated to some extent by feelings, and feelings include cognition. How an individual interprets an event is the resulting emotion he has in a given situation. It is not external events and people that cause us negative feelings, but our thoughts about these events. Influencing thoughts is a shorter route to achieving change in our emotions and therefore behavior. Therefore, rational-emotive therapy, as defined by A. Ellis, is “a cognitive-affective behavioral theory and practice of psychotherapy.”
The essence of A. Ellis’s concept is expressed by the traditional formula A-B-C, where A – activating event – stimulating event; В – belief system – belief system; C – emotional consequence – emotional consequence. When a strong emotional consequence (C) follows an important arousing event (A), then A may appear to cause C, but in fact it does not. In fact, the emotional consequence arises under the influence of the person’s B - belief system. When an undesirable emotional consequence occurs, such as severe anxiety, its roots can be found in what A. Ellis calls a person’s irrational beliefs. If these beliefs are effectively refuted, rational arguments are made and their inconsistency is shown at the behavioral level, then anxiety disappears (A.A. Alexandrov, 1997).
A. Ellis distinguishes two types of cognitions: descriptive and evaluative. Descriptive cognitions contain information about reality, information about what a person has perceived from the world around him. Evaluative cognitions are attitudes toward this reality. Descriptive cognitions are connected with evaluative cognitions by connections of varying degrees of rigidity. From the point of view of rational-emotional therapy, it is not objective events themselves that cause positive or negative emotions in us, but our internal perception of them, their assessment. We feel what we think about what we perceive.
From the point of view of RET, pathological disturbances of emotions are based on aberrations of thought processes and cognitive errors. Ellis proposed using the term “irrational judgment” to refer to all the different categories of cognitive errors. He included such forms of errors as exaggeration, simplification, unfounded assumptions, erroneous conclusions, and absolutization.
Rational and irrational ideas. Rational ideas are evaluative cognitions that have personal significance and are preferential (i.e., non-absolute) in nature. They are expressed in the form of desires, aspirations, preferences, predispositions. People experience positive feelings of satisfaction and pleasure when they get what they want, and negative feelings (sadness, concern, regret, irritation) when they don’t get it. These negative feelings (the strength of which depends on the importance of what is desired) are considered a healthy reaction to negative events and do not interfere with achieving goals or setting new goals and objectives. So these ideas are rational for two reasons. Firstly, they are flexible, and secondly, they do not interfere with the implementation of the main goals and objectives.
Irrational ideas, in turn, differ from rational ones in two respects. Firstly, they are usually absolutized (or dogmatized) and expressed in the form of rigid “must”, “must”, “must”. Second, they lead to negative emotions that seriously interfere with the achievement of goals (eg, depression, anxiety, guilt, anger). Healthy ideas underlie healthy behavior, while unhealthy ideas underlie dysfunctional behavior, such as withdrawal, procrastination, alcoholism, and substance abuse (A. Ellis, W. Dryden, 2002).
The emergence of irrational judgments (attitudes) is associated with the patient’s past, when the child perceived them without yet having the skill to conduct a critical analysis at the cognitive level, without being able to refute them at the behavioral level, since he was limited and did not encounter situations that could refute them , or received certain reinforcements from the social environment. People easily come up with absolute requirements for themselves, for other people and for the world as a whole. A person makes demands on himself, on others and on the world, and if these demands are not met in the past, present or future, then the person begins to bully himself. Self-deprecation involves the process of a general negative evaluation of one's self and condemnation of one's self as bad and unworthy.
According to the RET theory, all irrational ideas can be divided into three categories: (1) absolutist demands made on one’s own personality, (2) absolutist demands made on surrounding (other) people, (3) absolutist demands made on the surrounding world.
1. Requirements for yourself. Typically expressed in statements of the following type: “I must do everything perfectly and must be approved by all significant others.” Beliefs based on this requirement often lead to anxiety, depression, feelings of shame and guilt.
2. Demands on others. They are often expressed in statements such as: “People must be perfect, otherwise they are worthless.” This belief often leads to feelings of resentment and anger, violence and passive-aggressive behavior.
3. Requirements for the environment and living conditions. These demands often take the form of beliefs of this kind: “The world should be fair and comfortable.” These demands often lead to feelings of resentment, self-pity and problems with self-discipline (alcoholism, drug addiction, constant procrastination).
Catastrophization. Man tends to have these three basic irrational beliefs. catastrophize life events:" It's horrible– and not just unpleasant and uncomfortable – when I didn’t do the job as well as I did should do"; “It couldn’t be worse than what happened.”
Low frustration tolerance is another form of irrational belief, which can be called anxiety about discomfort. "I won't be able to bear it."
Global ranking is the tendency to evaluate oneself and others in “all or nothing” terms, to evaluate a person by individual, sometimes isolated, actions. “If I don’t do this job well, then I will always and under any circumstances fail the tasks assigned to me!”
From the point of view of A. Ellis, 4 main groups of such attitudes can be distinguished, which most often create problems for patients:
1. Must attitudes reflect the irrational belief that there are universal oughts that must always be realized regardless of what happens in the world around us. Such attitudes can be addressed to oneself, to people, to situations. For example, statements such as “the world should be fair” or “people should be honest” are often identified during adolescence.
2. Catastrophic installations often reflect the irrational belief that there are catastrophic events in the world that are assessed outside of any frame of reference. This type of attitude leads to catastrophization, i.e. to excessive exaggeration of the negative consequences of events. Catastrophic attitudes are manifested in the statements of patients in the form of assessments expressed to an extreme degree (such as: “terrible”, “unbearable”, “amazing”, etc.). For example: “It’s terrible when events develop in unpredictable ways,” “It’s unbearable that he treats me like that.”
3. Setting the mandatory implementation of your needs reflects the irrational belief that a person, in order to exist and be happy, must necessarily fulfill his desires, possess certain qualities and things. The presence of this kind of attitude leads to the fact that our desires grow to the level of unreasonable imperative demands, which as a result cause opposition, conflicts, and, as a result, negative emotions. For example: “I must be completely competent in this area, otherwise I am a nonentity.”
4. Evaluation setting is that people, and not individual fragments of their behavior, properties, etc. can be assessed globally. In this attitude, the limited aspect of a person is identified with the evaluation of the whole person. For example: “When people behave badly, they should be condemned,” “He is a scoundrel because he behaved unworthily.”
Since RET connects pathological emotional reactions with irrational judgments (attitudes), the fastest way to change the state of distress is to change erroneous cognitions. A rational and healthy alternative to self-deprecation is unconditional self-acceptance, which includes a refusal to give one’s own “I” an unambiguous assessment (this is an impossible task, since a person is a complex and developing being, and, moreover, harmful, since this usually interferes with the person’s achievement of his main goals). goals) and recognizing one's fallibility. Self-acceptance and high tolerance to frustration are the two main elements of the rational-emotional image of a psychologically healthy person.
Once formed, irrational attitudes function as autonomous, self-reproducing structures. The mechanisms that support irrational attitudes are present in the present tense. Therefore, RET concentrates not on the analysis of past reasons that led to the formation of one or another irrational attitude, but on the analysis of the present. RET examines how an individual maintains his symptoms by adhering to certain irrational cognitions, due to which he does not abandon them or subject them to correction.
Cognitive attitudes can be detected through signs of demandingness. In particular, Ellis looks for variations in “shoulds” that signal the presence of absolutist beliefs in clients. In addition, you need to pay attention to explicit and implicit phrases like “This is terrible!” or “I can’t stand it,” which indicate catastrophizing. Thus, irrational beliefs can be identified by asking the question, “What do you think about this event?” or “What were you thinking when all this was happening?” Analysis of the words used by the client also helps to identify irrational attitudes. Usually, irrational attitudes are associated with words that reflect the extreme degree of emotional involvement of the client (terrible, amazing, unbearable, etc.), having the nature of a mandatory prescription (necessary, must, must, obliged, etc.), as well as global assessments of a person, object or event . Identification of rational attitudes is also necessary, since they constitute that positive part of the attitude, which can subsequently be expanded.
Irrational cognitions can be changed. But in order to change them, it is necessary to first identify them, and this requires persistent observation and introspection, the use of certain methods that facilitate this process. Only the reconstruction of erroneous cognitions leads to a change in emotional response. In the process of REBT, a person acquires the ability to control his irrational cognitions at his own discretion, as opposed to the initial stage of therapy, when irrational attitudes control a person’s behavior.
A normally functioning person has a rational system of attitudes, which can be defined as a system of flexible emotional-cognitive connections. This system is probabilistic in nature, expressing rather a wish, a preference for a certain development of events. The rational scheme of attitudes corresponds to moderate strength of emotions. Although sometimes they can be intense, they do not capture the individual for a long time, therefore they do not block his activities or interfere with the achievement of goals. If difficulties arise, the individual easily recognizes rational attitudes that do not meet the requirements of the situation and corrects them.
On the contrary, from the point of view of A. Ellis, irrational attitudes are rigid emotional-cognitive connections. They have the character of a prescription, a requirement, a mandatory order that has no exceptions; they are, as A. Ellis said, absolutist in nature. Therefore, ordinary irrational attitudes do not correspond to reality, both in strength and in the quality of the prescription. In the absence of awareness of irrational attitudes, they lead to long-term unresolved situations, emotions, complicate the individual’s activities, and interfere with the achievement of goals. Irrational attitudes include a pronounced component of evaluative cognition, a programmed attitude towards an event.
Rational-emotive therapy, notes A.A. Aleksandrov, is not interested in the genesis of irrational attitudes, she is interested in what reinforces them in the present. A. Ellis argues that awareness of the connection between emotional disorder and early childhood events (insight No. 1, according to A. Ellis) has no therapeutic value, since patients are rarely freed from their symptoms and retain a tendency to form new ones. According to RET theory, insight #1 is misleading: it is not the arousing events (A) in people's lives that allegedly cause emotional consequences (C), but that people interpret these events unrealistically and therefore develop irrational beliefs (B ) about them. The real cause of disorder is therefore the people themselves, and not what happens to them, although life experience certainly has some influence on what they think and feel. In rational-emotive therapy, insight #1 is properly emphasized, but the patient is helped to see his emotional problems in terms of his own beliefs rather than in terms of past or present arousing events. The therapist seeks additional awareness—insights No. 2 and 3.
A. Ellis explains this with the following example. The patient experiences anxiety during the therapy session. The therapist may focus on arousing events in the patient's life that appear to be causing anxiety. For example, the patient can be shown that his mother constantly pointed out his shortcomings, that he was always afraid of displeasure and scolding from teachers for a bad lesson answer, was afraid of talking to authority figures who might not approve of him and, therefore, because of all his past and present fears in situations A-1, A-2, A-3...A-N, he is now experiencing anxiety during a conversation with a therapist. After such an analysis, the patient may convince himself: “Yes, now I understand that I experience anxiety when I encounter authority figures. No wonder I’m anxious even with my own therapist!” After this, the patient may feel more confident and temporarily relieve anxiety.
However, notes A. Ellis, it will be much better if the therapist shows the patient that he experienced anxiety in childhood and continues to experience it now when confronted with various authority figures, not because they are authoritative or have some kind of power over him, but because consequence of the conviction that he must approve. The patient tends to perceive disapproval from authority figures as something terrible, and will feel hurt if he is criticized.
With this approach, the anxious patient will tend to do two things: first, he will move from “A” to considering “B” - his irrational belief system, and second, he will begin to actively dissuade himself of his irrational beliefs that cause anxiety. And then the next time he will be less committed to these self-defeating (“self-defeating”) beliefs when he encounters some authority figure.
Therefore, insight #2 is to understand that although the emotional disturbance is a past occurrence, the patient is experiencing it Now because he has dogmatic, irrational, empirically unfounded beliefs. He has, as A says. Ellis, magical thinking. These irrational beliefs of his are preserved not because he was once “conditioned” in the past, that is, these beliefs were fixed in him through the mechanism of conditional connection and are now preserved automatically. No! He actively reinforces them in the present – “here-and-now”. And if the patient does not accept full responsibility for maintaining his irrational beliefs, then he will not get rid of them (A.A. Alexandrov, 1997).
Insight #3 is to realize that only through hard work and practice can these irrational beliefs be corrected. Patients realize that to free themselves from irrational beliefs, insights No. 1 and No. 2 are not enough - it is necessary to repeatedly rethink these beliefs and repeatedly repeat actions aimed at extinguishing them.
So, the basic tenet of rational-emotive therapy is that emotional disturbances are caused by irrational beliefs. These beliefs are irrational because patients do not accept the world as it is. They have magical thinking: they insist that if something exists in the world, then it must be something different from what it is. Their thoughts usually take the following form of statements: if I want something, then it is not just a desire or a preference for it to be so, but must be, and if it is not so, then it is terrible!
Thus, a woman with severe emotional disturbances who is rejected by her lover does not simply view this event as unwanted, but believes that it is terrible, and she can't bear it her should not reject. What's her never no desired partner will love you. Considers himself unworthy of man, since her lover rejected her, and therefore condemnable. Such hidden hypotheses are meaningless and lack empirical basis. They can be refuted by any researcher. A rational-emotive therapist is likened to a scientist who discovers and refutes absurd ideas (A.A. Alexandrov, 1997).
The main goal of emotional-rational psychotherapy, according to A.A. Alexandrov, can be formulated as “refusal of demands”. To some extent, the author notes, a neurotic personality is infantile. Normal children become more intelligent as they mature and are less insistent on having their desires immediately satisfied. The rational therapist tries to encourage patients to limit their demands to a minimum and strive for maximum tolerance. Rational-emotive therapy seeks to radically reduce ought, perfectionism (striving for perfection), grandiosity and intolerance in patients.
Thus, in accordance with the ideas of the founder of rational-emotive therapy A. Ellis, disorders in the emotional sphere are the result of disorders in the cognitive sphere. A. Ellis called these disturbances in the cognitive sphere irrational attitudes. When an unwanted emotional consequence, such as severe anxiety, occurs, its roots can be found in the person's irrational beliefs. If these beliefs are effectively refuted, rational arguments are given, and their inconsistency is shown at the behavioral level, then anxiety disappears. A. Ellis consistently identified basic irrational ideas that, in his opinion, underlie most emotional disorders.
The ideas of A. Ellis are consistently developed in the works of his student G. Kassinov. From the point of view of cognitive intervention, G. Kassinov notes, the main problem that the therapist helps his client cope with is the tendency to over-request and over-demand. A patient with disturbances in the emotional sphere always demands from those around him: 1) that whatever he does is considered good, and that whatever he wants to achieve, he succeeds; 2) to be loved by those people from whom he wants to receive love; 3) to be treated well by other people; 4) so that the entire universe revolves around him and so that the world in which he lives is comfortable for life and never causes any grief or is a source of conflict. Thus, patients with emotional disorders do not accept reality as it is; they persistently demand that reality change in accordance with their demands and ideas about it. From the point of view of A. Ellis, irrational attitudes are rigid emotional-cognitive connections that have the nature of a prescription, requirement, order and therefore do not correspond to reality. The lack of implementation of irrational attitudes leads to long-term emotions that are inadequate to the situation, such as depression or anxiety.
When planning consultations with patients (clients), the psychologist should adhere to a certain stage in the work carried out. The entire counseling process can be divided into four stages.
At the first stage, the client’s emotional state is identified and clarified. In fact, this is the problem that the client expresses in the first minutes of the conversation.
At the second stage, it becomes clear what thoughts the client has regarding the current situation.
The third stage of RET is direct discussion, challenging irrational beliefs. At this stage, the Socratic dialogue used can be very effective.
At the fourth stage, a new philosophy is formed, it is determined which thoughts and emotions will be most appropriate in a given situation. And then tasks are given that will help the client change their beliefs, emotions and behavior, and also consolidate these positive changes.
The criterion for the success of the work carried out is a decrease in psycho-emotional stress, recorded by the psychological scales of Tsung and Beck, as well as knowledge of the theoretical foundations of RET.
Psychological work with such patients (clients) requires a refusal to present demands, dictates and ultimatums to others, replacing them with requests, wishes and preferences. The main task is to wean patients from dramatizing their failures, from displaying panic, and from presenting excessive demands to society. Realism-oriented treatments try to train the client to seek approval by making real progress in the real world. When the patient accepts reality, he feels better. Following the correction of clients’ irrational attitudes, adequate behavioral models are mastered by reinforcing the acquired skills with a system of rewards, as well as by simulating situations that require the possession of appropriate behavioral skills. A normally functioning person has a rational system of attitudes, which is a system of flexible emotional-cognitive connections and which is probabilistic in nature. A rational system of attitudes corresponds to a moderate strength of emotions.
So, rational-emotive therapy strives for a radical reduction of should, perfectionism, grandiosity and intolerance in patients.
