Rational Emotive Therapy by Ellis briefly. Rational psychotherapy - types and techniques

Rational-emotional (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 to use a new name for his method - rational-emotional-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-emotional therapy, people are happiest when they set important life goals and objectives and actively strive to achieve them. However, when setting and achieving these goals and objectives, a person should 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, when the wishes of others are not respected and are not taken into account. Since people tend to be goal-driven, rational in RET means that which helps people achieve their main goals and objectives, while irrational is that which hinders their implementation. Thus, rationality is not an absolute concept, it is relative in its very essence (Ellis A., Dryden W, 2002).

RET is rational and scientific, but uses rationality and science to help people live and be happy. It is hedonistic, but welcomes not momentary, but long-term hedonism, when people can enjoy the present moment and the future, and can come to this with a maximum of freedom and discipline. She suggests that nothing superhuman most likely exists, and believes that a devout belief in superhuman powers usually leads to addiction and an increase in emotional stability. She also argues that there are no people "lower class" or worthy of damnation, no matter how unacceptable and anti-social 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.

A. A. Alexandrov identifies categories of patients who can be shown rational-emotional therapy:

1) patients with poor adjustment, moderate anxiety, and also with marital problems;

2) patients with sexual disorders;

3) patients with neuroses;

4) individuals with character disorders;

5) school truants, child delinquents and adult delinquents;

6) patients with 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 patient's somatic or neurological symptoms, but it helps the patient to change his attitude and overcome neurotic reactions to the disease, strengthens his tendencies to fight the disease (Fedorov A.P., 2002). As B. D. Karvasarsky notes, rational-emotional therapy is indicated primarily for patients capable of introspection, analysis of their thoughts. It involves the active participation of the patient at all stages of psychotherapy, establishing relationships close to partnership with him, which is helped by a joint discussion of the possible goals of psychotherapy, problems that the patient would like to solve (usually these are symptoms of a somatic plan or chronic emotional discomfort).

Getting started involves informing the patient about the philosophy of rational-emotional therapy, which states that it is not the events themselves that cause emotional problems, but their evaluation.

Ellis puts forward a number of criteria for psychological health.

1. Compliance with one's own interests. Reasonable and emotionally healthy people usually put their own interests first and put them at least a little above the interests of other people. They sacrifice themselves to a certain extent for the sake of those they care about, but never completely go into it.

2. Social interest. The social interest is rational and, as a rule, a personal interest, because most people, choosing to live and spend time in social groups or society, are forced to honor morality, respect the rights of others and promote social survival, otherwise they are unlikely to be able to create a world in which they themselves could live comfortably and happily.

3. Self-government. Healthy people usually tend to take responsibility for their lives and at the same time prefer to cooperate with others. They do not need any significant help and support and do not require it from others, although they may like IT.

4. High tolerance for frustration. Rational people give themselves and others the right to make mistakes. Even if they really do not like their own behavior or the behavior of other people, they do not tend to directly condemn themselves and others, but judge only unacceptable and intolerant actions. People who don't suffer from debilitating emotional distress do what St. Francis and Reynold Niebuhr do: fix those undesirable conditions they can change, accept what they can't change, and have the wisdom to tell one from the other.

5. Flexibility. Healthy and mature people are flexible, willing to change, non-fanatic and pluralistic in their views of other people. They do not set rigid and unchanging rules for themselves or for others.

6. Acceptance of uncertainty. Healthy men and women tend to recognize and accept the idea that we live in a world of probability and chance, where absolute certainty does not exist and may never exist. These people are aware that life in such a probabilistic and uncertain world is fascinating and exciting, but it is certainly not terrible. They like the order quite strongly, but they do not require an accurate knowledge of what the future will bring them and what will happen to them.

7. Devotion to creative pursuits. Most people feel healthier and happier when they are completely absorbed in something external to themselves and have at least one strong creative interest or activity that they consider so important that they organize a significant part of their life around it.

8. Scientific thinking. Less anxious individuals have more objective, realistic, and scientific thinking than more anxious individuals. They can deeply feel and act on feelings, but are able to regulate their emotions and actions, reflecting on them and evaluating their consequences depending on the extent to which they contribute to the achievement of short-term and long-term goals.

9. Self acceptance. Healthy people are usually glad that they are alive, and accept themselves only because they live and can enjoy it. They don't judge their inner worth by outer accomplishments or what others think of them. They sincerely choose unconditional self-acceptance and try not to evaluate themselves - neither their totality nor their being. They seek to enjoy, not to assert themselves.

10. Riskiness. Emotionally healthy people tend to take risks and try to do what they want, even if there is a high chance of failure. They are brave, but not reckless.

11. Delayed hedonism. Well-adjusted people usually seek both the pleasures of the present moment and those joys of life that the future promises; they rarely turn a blind eye to future losses for the sake of momentary gains. They are hedonistic, that is, they strive for happiness and avoid pain, but they admit that they still have to live for some time and that therefore they need to think not only about today, but also about tomorrow and not allow momentary pleasures to take hold of them.

12. Dystopianism. Healthy people accept it as a fact that utopia is unattainable and that they will never be able to get everything they want or get rid of everything that hurts. They are not trying to fight for unrealistic total happiness, perfection and joy, or to completely get rid of anxiety, depression, self-reproach and cruelty.

13. Responsibility for your emotional disorders. Healthy individuals take much of the responsibility for their emotional problems on themselves rather than defensively blaming others or social conditions for their own self-destructive thoughts, feelings, and actions (Ellis A., Dryden W, 2002).

THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE PSYCHOTHERAPIST WITH THE CLIENT

Rational-emotional therapy focuses on problem solving. As A.A. Alexandrov notes, patients take a dictatorial, dogmatic, absolutist position: they demand, they insist, they dictate. Emotional disorder appears when individuals have a strong belief that their desires must be satisfied. Their demands, their dictates, are that they must succeed; other people must approve of them. They insist that others treat them fairly. They dictate how the world should be and demand that it be more acceptable.

In the process of presenting complaints, the therapist invites the client to choose which problem needs to be solved first. RET is an active-directive therapy. The active-directive style is expressed in the fact that the therapist leads the client through clearly structured stages of therapy, vigorously suppresses sidetracking, offers methods and solutions, not being afraid to demonstrate the way of mastering individual methods and techniques. The client is initially directed towards the strategic goal - the adoption of a new, rational philosophy, the replacement of irrational attitudes with rational ones in the problem area.

At the very beginning of therapy, the client can be given, for example, the following instructions: “The therapy that we are starting is aimed at teaching you to manage your emotions and get rid of negative experiences. In the early stages of the work, you will be given the opportunity to understand the ways in which you yourself created your negative feelings. You can also change these ways and thereby experience other, positive emotions. All this will require you to be active in your work both here in the office and at home, since therapy involves doing homework, listening to audio recordings, reading special literature. I cannot be a magician and a magician who, with the wave of an eye, relieves you of illness and problems. I can be a guide that will help you get on the road to your desired goal ”(Fedorov A.P., 2002).

Rational-emotional therapy is impossible without the patient's self-disclosure, so the therapist must create conditions conducive to this process. He monitors and realizes what the difficulties of self-disclosure are connected with: with fears of publishing facts, with insufficient experience of self-disclosure, with a rigid stereotype of behavior, behind which an irrational attitude such as: “A man must solve his problems himself” may be hidden. In such cases, the psychotherapist should once again explain the essence of rational-emotional therapy, which requires sincerity, openness in the discussion of actual painful and avoided topics.

Without establishing a full-fledged contact between the doctor and the patient, the methods used may not give the desired effect, then the therapy will be directed to goals that are irrelevant to the patient. Consideration of the pace of progress, support and assistance to the client, both through verbal interventions and on a non-verbal level, can all contribute to the client's self-disclosure.

At the same time, rational-emotive therapy does not emphasize empathic support as much as, for example, Rogers' client-centered therapy does. According to the RET, one must, of course, accept patients, but at the same time one should criticize them, point out shortcomings in their behavior. Warmth and support often help patients live happier lives with unrealistic concepts. Ellis considers active-directive, cognitive-emotional-behavioral "attack" on self-defeating obligations and orders of patients to be effective. The essence of effective psychotherapy, according to RET, is the combination of complete tolerance for the patient (unconditional acceptance of the client) with the struggle against his self-defeating ideas, traits and actions.

When starting to work on the patient's belief system, the therapist first of all seeks to identify his irrational attitudes. As we already know, the presence of irrational attitudes means the existence of a rigid connection between descriptive and evaluative cognition - a connection that implies a one-way development of events. Therefore, the use by patients of such words as “should”, “should”, “necessary” (“tyranny of must”) helps to identify rigid emotional-cognitive schemes. They are the object of "therapeutic attacks". Often the therapist "leads" the patient in a conversation to the use of these words, expresses hypothetical sentences containing them in order to force the patient to recognize their power over himself (Aleksandrov A.A., 1997).

After identifying irrational attitudes, the therapist proceeds to reconstruct the belief system; In this case, the impact is carried out at three levels: cognitive, emotional and behavioral.

Impact at the cognitive level. Rational-emotional therapy attempts to show patients that they are better off giving up perfectionism if they want to live a happier and less anxious life. She teaches them to be aware of their “must”, “should”, “should”; to separate rational beliefs from irrational (absolutist) ones; apply the logical-empirical method of science to oneself and one's problems; accept reality, no matter how cruel and harsh they may be. RET helps patients hone their cognitive processes. It is explanatory and didactic.

Rational-emotional therapy uses a Socratic type of dialogue between the patient and the therapist. Cognitive debate is used. This technique includes proving the validity of the patient's irrational attitude. The task of the psychotherapist is to clarify the meaning and demonstrate its logical inconsistency. In the process of such a dispute, a secondary gain can be revealed, which gives the preservation of the irrational attitude. RET encourages discussion, explaining and identifying the causes of inefficient thinking, and teaches semantic accuracy. For example, if a patient is rejected, this does not mean that he will always be rejected; if the patient fails, this does not mean that he cannot succeed (Aleksandrov A. A., 1997).

Impact on an emotional level. The therapist uses various ways of dramatizing preferences and shoulds so that patients can clearly distinguish between these two phenomena - “it would be better” and “should”, for which there is a role-playing game that shows patients what false ideas guide them and how this affects their relationship with other people. The therapist may use simulations to show patients how to accept different ideas. Using humor, the therapist absurdizes irrational thoughts and, through unconditional acceptance, shows that patients accept them despite the presence of negative traits, which gives clients an impulse to accept themselves. The therapist uses emotionally charged dissuasion, leading patients to discard some absurd ideas and replace them with more reasonable concepts.

The therapist encourages risk-taking behavior:

a) invites patients of a psychotherapeutic group to tell frankly to one of its participants what they think of him. As a result, patients are convinced that it is actually not so risky;

b) encourages patients to self-disclosure by offering, for example, to talk about deviations in their sexual life. This experience convinces them that others can accept them despite their shortcomings;

c) invites patients to get in touch with their "shameful" feelings, such as hostility, which gives them the opportunity to reveal the thoughts that precede these feelings.

The therapist may also use sensory gratification techniques, such as cuddling with other group members. This is not done for momentary pleasure, but to show patients that they are able to perform pleasurable actions that they would never have dared to do before, for pure pleasure, without feeling guilty, even if others do not approve of them for this. (Aleksandrov A. A., 1997).

Impact at the behavioral level. Behavioral methods, notes A.A. Alexandrov, are used in rational-emotional therapy not only to eliminate symptoms, but also to change the cognitions of patients. Thus, the tendency of patients to perfectionism can be reduced by the following tasks of the therapist:

a) take risks, such as trying to date someone of the opposite sex;

b) intentionally fail in solving a problem, for example, deliberately speak badly in front of the public;

c) imagine yourself in situations of failure;

d) enthusiastically take up activities that the patient considers especially dangerous.

Giving up patients' demands that others treat them fairly and that goodness and justice rule the world can be achieved by offering them the following tasks:

a) to stay in bad circumstances for a while and learn to accept them;

b) perform difficult tasks (for example, entering a university or a prestigious job);

c) imagine yourself in a situation of deprivation of something and at the same time not feel upset;

d) indulge in some pleasant activity (go to the movies, meet friends) only after completing an unpleasant but necessary task (a French lesson or completing a report for your boss), etc.

RET often uses operant conditioning to get rid of bad habits (smoking, overeating) or changing irrational thinking (for example, condemning oneself for smoking or overeating) (Aleksandrov A.A., 1997).

Other behavioral techniques used in RET include:

1) the "Stay there" exercise, which provides the client with the opportunity to endure the chronic discomfort of being in an unpleasant situation for a long time;

2) exercises in which the client is encouraged to force himself to get down to business immediately, without putting it off until later, while at the same time suffering from the discomfort of fighting the habit of putting everything off until tomorrow;

3) the use of rewards and punishments to induce the client to take on an unpleasant task in pursuit of his delayed goals (severe punishments are especially helpful in the case of strongly resistant clients);

4) from time to time the client is encouraged to behave as if he already thinks rationally, so that he can understand from his own experience that change is possible (Ellis A., Dryden W, 2002).

In the most general terms, in order to achieve a change in worldview, Ellis recommends the following to clients.

1. Recognize that they create their own psychological problems to a large extent and, although environmental conditions may play a significant role in their problems, they are usually taken into account in the process of change in the second place.

2. Fully recognize that they are able to thoroughly cope with their own difficulties.

3. Understand that emotional disorders are mainly due to irrational, absolutist and dogmatic views.

4. Define your irrational beliefs and distinguish between them and their rational alternative.

5. Challenge these irrational beliefs using realistic, logical, and heuristic methods, as well as by feeling and acting against them.

6. Work to internalize new, effective perspectives using a variety of cognitive, emotional, and behavioral change methods.

7. Continue the process of changing irrational beliefs and using multimodal methods throughout your life.

TECHNIQUES THAT ARE AVOIDED IN RATIONAL EMOTIONAL THERAPY

So, RET is a multimodal form of therapy that welcomes the use of cognitive, emotional and behavioral modality techniques. However, due to the fact that the choice of therapeutic techniques is based on theory, in practice some techniques are not used or are used extremely rarely. Among them, the following should be highlighted (Ellis A., Dryden W, 2002):

1. Techniques that make clients more dependent (for example, the therapist's excessive warmth as a strong reinforcer, the creation and analysis of a replacement neurosis).

2. Techniques that make people more gullible and suggestible (for example, seeing the world through rose-colored glasses).

3. Techniques that are verbose and ineffective (eg, psychoanalytic methods in general and free association in particular, which encourage the client to give lengthy descriptions of the activating experience, or "A").

4. Methods that help the client feel better in a short time, but do not guarantee stable improvement (for example, separate empirical techniques in which feelings are fully expressed in a dramatic, cathartic and abreactive manner are part of the methods and basic techniques of Gestalt therapy, dangerous in that they may encourage people to put into practice the philosophy behind emotions such as anger).

5. Techniques that distract clients from working on their dysfunctional worldview (eg, relaxation, yoga, and other cognitive distraction techniques). They can, however, be used together with cognitive challenge to give way to shifts in philosophy.

6. Techniques that may inadvertently reinforce a philosophy of low frustration tolerance (eg gradual desensitization).

7. Techniques in which there is an anti-scientific philosophy (for example, suggestion therapy and mysticism).

8. Techniques that attempt to change the activating event (A) before demonstrating to the client how one can change one's irrational beliefs (C) (eg, individual family therapy techniques).

9. Techniques without sufficient empirical support (eg, NLP, non-directive therapy, rebirthing).

Example. Using a boolean argument.

Here Ellis challenges the client's irrational belief that if he treats his friend very well and fairly, then the friend simply has to treat him the same way. Ellis uses mostly logical arguments.

Ellis. Suppose you accurately describe the situation with your friend - he treats you vilely and meanly after all the time you have done good towards him. Why does it follow from the fact that you behave well towards him that he should return kindness to you?

Client. Because it would be dishonorable of him if he acted differently!

Ellis. Yes, we agree with this. He is really dishonest, and you are decent. Can you jump around like this: “Since I am decent towards him, he must be decent towards me”?

Client. But he is wrong if he acts dishonestly, when I - decently.

(At this point, Ellis and his client have opposite goals. Ellis keeps asking the client why his friend should be decent to him, and the client keeps saying that his friend is wrong and dishonest, which Ellis doesn't ask.)

Ellis. I agree. But from the fact that you are decent and supposedly honest, and from the fact that he uses your decency, does it still follow that he must be honest and treat you decently?

Client. Logically follows.

Ellis. Truth? For me it looks like complete absurdity.

Client. Like this?

(It is typical for Ellis to change emphasis. He claims that the client's belief is illogical, and waits for the client to ask why before expanding on this topic, he wants to get the client to ask: "Why do you say that?")

Ellis. Well, it is logical and consistent that it would be preferable if he treated you decently when you do him good. But aren't you making the illogical - or "magic" - jump: "Since it would be preferable if he behaved decently towards me, then he is absolutely obliged to do so"? What universal "logical" law leads to yours, "He absolutely must do this"?

Client. Probably none.

Ellis. In logic, we get the necessary conclusions, for example: "If all men are people and John is a man, then he must be a man." Your "logic" says: "People who are treated fairly often act decently towards others; I act decently towards others; I act decently towards my friend, so it is absolutely essential that he behave in the same way towards me.”

Is this a logical conclusion?

(Here is another typical Ellis strategy. He starts by remarking in a didactic manner. As in this case, this remark illustrates a rational idea (here a logical idea). He then contrasts it with the client's irrational idea (here an illogical idea), but does not tells the client that his idea is illogical, but encourages him to think for himself by asking, "Is this a logical conclusion?" This passage is worth studying in detail because it is very typical of Ellis' effective discussion.)

Client. I think no.

Ellis. Moreover, you seem to be arguing that since your friend has treated you dishonorably when you have only done him good, his actions make him a mean person. Is this reasoning logical?

(Ellis extracts the belittling of the other from the "must" and "must" of his client.)

Client. Why not?

(As you will see, Ellis answers the client's question right away. You could encourage the client to try to answer his own question before going on a didactic note.)

Ellis. It's illogical because you're generalizing too much. You jump from his low deeds - or even from one of his traits - to an assessment of his essence, his totality as "low". Why does such an overgeneralization follow from several of his actions?

(Here Ellis states a logical fallacy the client is making by showing him how that fallacy is represented in his belief about a friend, and finally asking him about the logic of that belief.)

Client. Now I see that it shouldn't.

Ellis. So what conclusion can be drawn instead?

(Here Ellis encourages the client to be active in their reasoning.)

Client. Well, I might think that he is not his main actions. He is a man who often, but not always, behaves indecently.

Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913, Pittsburgh - July 24, 2007, New York) was an American psychologist and cognitive therapist.

Albert Ellis grew up as the eldest child in a Jewish family in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where his parents emigrated from Russia in 1910. Parents moved to New York and divorced when the boy was 12 years old. All further life of Ellis is connected with this city. He graduated from City University (Bachelor of Business) and after graduating tried business and writing for a while, but soon became interested in psychology. At the end of the 30s. he enrolled in clinical psychology at Columbia University (M.A. in 1943), defended his thesis (Ph.D., 1946), and received additional psychoanalytic training at the Karen Horney Institute. Ellis was greatly influenced by Karen Horney, as well as Alfred Adler, Erich Fromm, and Harry Sullivan, but by the mid-1950s he had become disillusioned with psychoanalysis and began developing his own approach. In 1955, this approach was called rational therapy.

The author of rational emotive behavior therapy, an approach in psychotherapy that considers negative emotions and dysfunctional behavioral reactions as appearing not as a result of experience in itself, but as a result of the interpretation of this experience, that is, as a result of incorrect cognitive attitudes - irrational beliefs ( English "irrational beliefs" - see Model ABC (psychotherapy)). He was also known as a sexologist and one of the ideologists of the sexual revolution.

Ellis founded and until recently headed the Albert Ellis Institute in New York, until the organization's board removed him from his position. Albert Ellis, despite being completely deaf, continued active work independently. On January 30, 2006, a New York court ruled that it was illegal to remove him from office.

Books (4)

Humanistic psychotherapy. Rational-emotional approach

The book introduces the reader to one of the most popular areas of psychotherapy in our time - rational-emotional therapy (RET). Its founder, Albert Ellis, believes that all people are prone to building illogical, irrational mental combinations, which are called “mystical thinking” within the framework of RET. Ellis argues that virtually all human problems are the result of mystical thinking, subjugation to the numerous "shoulds", "shoulds" and "shoulds". Of course, a person has to face real problems, but the horror and exorbitant severity of the experiences that accompany them are fictitious, illusory demons.

RET claims that a person can control and influence their emotional reactions, feelings and behavior. Since he himself unwittingly causes himself to suffer, he can also force himself to stop suffering.

Do not put pressure on my psyche!

"What can I do to keep from losing my temper?" - Psychologists often ask a question. To not pay attention? Know how to relax? Pronounce self-hypnosis formulas? joke?

Of course, all this deserves serious attention, the authors of the book believe. But the main thing is to study situations when our nerves “stretch like a string”, be able to recognize the signs of an approaching “emotional whirlwind” and then dodge its destructive power, and if you are still caught by a flurry that “whistles your nerves”, then the book will provide you with a rich arsenal of verbal techniques that put everything and everyone in their place.

Practicing Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

The book begins with an overview of the general therapeutic model of rational-emotional behavioral therapy, and then describes its various therapeutic modalities, including individual, marital, family, and sexual therapy.

Replete with real-world case studies illustrating the use of REBT in a variety of settings, this book is intended for clinical psychologists and counselors, as well as anyone who helps people and is interested in therapy in their line of work.

Psycho-training according to the method of Albert Ellis

The main idea of "Psychotraining..." is to resist the temptation to become unhappy. This simple idea is supported by a clear program of actions that should be taken in a given situation.

Reader Comments

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Alexi/ 9.03.2018 Thank you, useful and entertaining. Are there any of his books in the audio version?

Timur/ 10/21/2017 For several years I sailed in search of literature and psychotherapists. For 2 months, I significantly changed my thinking on Ellis's books and negative emotions decreased significantly. Thanks for this)

Integrative psychotherapy Aleksandrov Artur Alexandrovich

Rational Emotive Therapy

Rational-emotive therapy (RET) is a method of psychotherapy developed in the 1950s. clinical psychologist Albert Ellis. RET has two goals: to help resolve emotional disturbances and to transform patients into more fully functioning, or self-actualizing, individuals. RET contributes to the replacement of rigid, rigid positions with flexible ones, which leads to the emergence of a new effective worldview. The essence of the Ellis concept is expressed by the formula A-B-C, where A - activating event - an activating event (activator, stimulus, motivator); B - belief system - belief system; C - emotional consequences - emotional and behavioral consequences. When a strong emotional consequence (C) follows a major activating event (A), then A may appear to cause C, but in reality this is not the case. In fact, the emotional consequence occurs under the influence of B - the person's belief system. When an undesirable emotional consequence (such as severe anxiety) occurs, its roots can be found in the person's irrational beliefs. If these beliefs are effectively refuted, given rational arguments and shown to be inconsistent at the behavioral level, anxiety disappears.

RET considers cognitions and emotions integratively: normally, thinking includes feelings and is to some extent dictated by them, and feelings include cognitions. In addition, Ellis emphasizes that thinking and emotions interact with behavior: people generally act on thoughts and emotions, and their actions influence thoughts and feelings. Therefore, RET, as Ellis defines it, is "a cognitive-affective behavioral theory and practice of psychotherapy."

The philosophical sources of RET go back to the Stoic philosophers. Epictetus wrote: "People are not upset by events, but by the way they look at them." Of modern psychotherapists, the forerunner of RET was Alfred Adler. “I am convinced,” he said, “that human behavior originates in ideas ... Man does not relate to the outside world in a predetermined way, as is often assumed. He always relates according to his own interpretation of himself and his real problem ... It is his attitude towards life that determines his connections with the outside world. In the first book on individual psychology, Adler formulated the motto: "Omnia ex opionione suspensa sunt" ("Everything depends on opinion"). It is difficult to express the most important principle of RET more concisely and precisely. Ellis also considered his predecessors Paul Dubois, Jules Degerin and Ernst Gokler, who used the method of persuasion.

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Albert Ellis

Psycho-training according to the method of Albert Ellis

HOW IS THIS BOOK DIFFERENT FROM OTHER BOOKS?

Every year, readers are introduced to hundreds of new books published in the Self-Help series, many of which are really useful. Why write another one? Especially since my book A New Path to Intelligent Life, co-authored with Robert A. Harper, has already sold a million copies? After all, not just to supplement the "Zone, Your Mistakes", which is read by millions of people? Why then?

There are several good reasons for this. Although Rational Emotive Therapy (RET), which I created in 1955, has now taken its rightful place in psychology, and psychotherapists (as well as psychoanalysts) are increasingly incorporating large portions of my techniques into their patient care program. , - unfortunately, it is often used in a somewhat "diluted" form.

Apart from my own writings on RET, no other book gives a clear presentation of its essence. Those books in which such attempts are made are, as a rule, written in a language that is difficult to understand for a wide range of readers. This publication aims to fill this gap.

The book sets specific goals. Moreover, they are solved - and this radically distinguishes my book from others devoted to the problems of mental and mental health.

This book encourages you to openly express the strong feelings that overwhelm you in difficult moments of life. But at the same time, it makes a clear distinction between the perfectly appropriate natural feelings of concern, sadness, disappointment, or irritation, and the misplaced, destructive feelings of panic, depression, rage, or self-pity.

This book will teach you how to deal with difficult life situations and how to stay in the saddle in any circumstances. But the most important thing is that this book not only gives a feeling of a better life, but it can really change your life for the better, provided that you stop shaking your own nerves and burdening yourself with guilt.

This book will not only teach you how to control yourself and keep your emotions under control, will not only show how you can stubbornly refuse to be unhappy in any (yes, yes, really in any!) situation, but will also explain in detail what exactly needs to be done to in order to gain control over yourself.

This book is based on the positions of scientific research thinking and real life views. She completely rejects mysticism, religiosity and utopian concepts, which in our time are actively preached in many publications on the topic "Help yourself."

This book will help you gain a new philosophical outlook on life instead of the naive Pollyanna-style "positive thinking" that can only handle temporary difficulties and is sure to fail you in the long run.

This book offers many methods of personal development that are not based on isolated, sometimes anecdotal "cases of life", but are verified through rigorous scientific research.

This book will show you how you create problems for yourself. However, it will not force you to waste time and energy on digging into your past, again and again mentally returning to your mistakes and mistakes. It will show you how you still needlessly spoil your own mood and what needs to be done at the moment in order to stop this.

This book will help you find the courage to take responsibility for what happens to you, without blaming everything on your parents, those around you, and the wrong upbringing.

This book lays out the basics of RET (as well as other types of cognitive and behavioral-cognitive therapy) in a simple and accessible way. It demonstrates that it is not the activating events in your life (A) but rather your belief system (B) that directly underpins emotional outcomes (C). You must gain the ability to challenge (D) your irrational beliefs (iBs) and change them. The book contains many emotive and behavioral techniques aimed at suppressing irrational ideas, changing the style of thinking and gaining a new effective philosophy of life (E).

This book shows how it is possible, while maintaining our desires, aspirations, preferences, goals and value system, while refusing excessive demands and commandments - all these categorical imperatives "should" or "should" that surround our desires and attachments, dooming us to useless suffering.

This book will help you gain independence and inner freedom, show you how to think for yourself, not succumbing to the suggestion of the way of thinking that others impose on you.

This book contains tons of useful RET exercises to help you rethink! and rebuild your life.

This book will tell you how to become reasonable in our unreasonable world; how to become happy in the most difficult and "unbearable" conditions - as much as you yourself want. It will convince us that a person is capable of refusing to become unhappy even in extremely sad situations - in poverty, under the threat of terror, in illness or in war; it persistently proves that a person is able to change in his favor not only the most difficult situations, but also, to a certain extent, the whole world.

This book will help to recognize the roots of perverse thinking inherent in fanaticism, intolerance, dogmatism, tyranny, despotism - and will teach you how to deal with such manifestations of neurosis.

The book offers a wide range of techniques aimed at taming strong and destructive emotions such as anxiety, depression, hostility, contempt or self-pity. More than any other psychotherapeutic school, RET is an eclectic school. At the same time, she is highly selective and does her best to eliminate dangerous and ineffective methods of psychotherapy from her practice.

RET is a school of practice. RET gets to the heart of the disorder quickly and effectively and tells you what to do to help yourself as quickly as possible.

This book will teach you how to become an honest hedonist and individualist - that is, how to take care of yourself first, while at the same time interacting successfully and kindly with others. It will help us not only preserve, but even put into consideration your personal goals and ideals, while remaining a full-fledged citizen of your country.

The book is simple and - I hope - exceptionally clear, but far from primitive. Her wisdom, gleaned from the most worthy philosophers and psychologists, is practical in an everyday way and at the same time very deep.

This book is a collection of therapeutic techniques developed from the most rapidly developing modern therapies - rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral, which are now widespread due to the benefits they have brought and bring to millions of patients and thousands of therapists. The book includes all the best that is contained in the methods of self-healing, on the basis of which these types of therapy were developed, in a form adapted for a wide range of readers - that is, this book is for YOU.

So, does this book really tell you how to learn to voluntarily refuse to be unhappy in any situation? At any? Really? Truth? Besides jokes? Yes, this is actually the case - if you sincerely listen (LISTEN) and work (WORK), perceiving and practicing the knowledge gained in practice.

Will you listen?

You will work?

Will you THINK?

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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND SCIENCE OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

State educational institution

Higher professional education

"Altai State Pedagogical Academy"

(GOU VPO AltGPA)

Institute of Pedagogy and Psychology

Department of Pedagogy and Psychology of Education

Specialty "Pedagogy and psychology"

Abstract on SBKT on the topic:

RATIONAL EMOTIONAL THERAPY A. ELLIS

Completed by a student of the 5th year of group 3 PP

Zubrikova Natalia

Checked by: Kholodkova O. G.

Barnaul - 2011

Introduction

1.1 ABC - scheme

Chapter 2

2.1 Position of the psychologist

Conclusion

Bibliography

Introduction

There are a lot of people in our world who cannot express themselves in any situation or deed. In this case, they have to follow the opinions of other people and do what they say. At the same time, they do not understand that by such actions they destroy their personality, do not allow it to be realized, thereby imposing various clichés, stereotypes on themselves, which, in their opinion, can provide a freer and unbiased view of the world. But it is not right to live by any stereotypes. It must be remembered that a person is a person who has his own potential. You need to give vent to your potential, and not try to hide it in the depths of consciousness.

According to A. Ellis, psychological problems appear when a person tries to follow simple preferences (desires for love, approval, support) and mistakenly believes that these simple preferences are the absolute measure of his success in life.

In this regard, A. Alice creates the RET theory in order to try to rid people of obsessive clichés and stereotypes and give free rein to their potential.

Chapter 1

1.1 ABC - scheme

RET founder A. Ellis formulated a number of provisions that are actively used in practical correctional psychology. One of these provisions, often quoted by Ellis, is the statement: "People are not disturbed by things, but by the way they see them" (Epictetus). Based on emphatically scientific approaches in the structure of individual consciousness, A. Ellis seeks 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 for love, approval, support) and mistakenly believes that these simple preferences are the absolute measure of his success in life. In addition, a person is a being extremely subject to various influences at all levels - from biological to social. Therefore, A. Ellis is not inclined to reduce all the changeable complexity of human nature to one thing. RET distinguishes three leading psychological aspects of human functioning: thoughts (cognitions), feelings and behavior. A. Ellis identified two types of cognition: 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 to this reality. Descriptive cognitions are necessarily connected with evaluative connections of varying degrees of rigidity. Non-objective events in themselves cause us positive or negative emotions, and our internal perception of these events - their assessment. We feel what we think about what we perceive. Disorders in the emotional sphere are the result of disturbances in the cognitive sphere (such as overgeneralization, false conclusions and rigid attitudes). 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 vile, corrupt, and despicable.

4. There will be a catastrophe 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 it should not be overcome.

7. It is easier to avoid certain difficulties in life than to deal with them and be responsible for them.

8. In this world, the weak always depend on the strong.

9. A person's past history should influence his immediate behavior "now".

10. Don'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 catastrophe will occur.

12. If someone does not control his emotions, then it is impossible to help him.

A. Ellis proposed his personality structure, which he named after the first letters of the Latin alphabet "ABC-theory": A - activating event; B - 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 - the 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.

An analysis of the client's behavior or introspection according to the scheme "event - perception of an event - reaction - reflection - conclusion" has a high productivity and a learning effect.

"ABC-scheme" is used to help the client in a problem situation to 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 inadequate reactions.

rational emotive psycho-correctional alice

A \u003d (A0 + Ac) \u003d B,

where A0 is an objective event (described by a group of observers);

Ac - subjectively perceived event (described by the client);

C - a client assessment system that determines which parameters of an objective event will be perceived and will be significant.

At this stage, a personal assessment of the event takes place. Classification 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, restructure this system, and only after This is a decision to change the situation. Otherwise, the client retains a potential vulnerability 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 other defense mechanisms).

Awareness and verbalization of experienced emotions can be difficult for some clients: for some, because of a vocabulary deficit, for others, because of a behavioral deficit (absence in the arsenal of behavioral stereotypes usually associated with a moderate expression of emotions). Such clients react with polarized emotions, or strong love, or complete rejection.

The analysis of the words used by the client helps to 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 character of a mandatory prescription (necessary, must, must, must, etc.), as well as global assessments of the person, object or events.

A. Ellis identified four most common groups of irrational attitudes that create problems:

1. Catastrophic installations.

2. Installations of obligatory obligation.

3. Installations of mandatory implementation of their needs.

4. Global evaluation 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 (parallel, articulatory, hierarchical dependence) is shown, which makes understandable the multicomponent reaction of the individual in a problem situation.

It is also necessary to identify the rational attitudes of the client, 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 proceed: at the cognitive level, the level of imagination, the level of behavior - direct action.

Reconstruction at the cognitive level includes proof by the client of the truth of the attitude, the need to preserve it in a given situation. In the process of this kind 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 in this case) makes it possible to form new rational attitudes at the cognitive level.

Reconstruction at the level of imagination uses both negative and positive imagination. The client is asked to mentally immerse themselves in a traumatic situation. With a negative imagination, he should 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. Such 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 experienced emotions with the help of several options for settings. With positive imagination, the client immediately presents a problem situation with a positively colored emotion.

Reconstruction with the help of direct action is a confirmation of the success of the modifications of attitudes carried out at the cognitive level and in the imagination. Direct actions are implemented according to the type of flooding techniques, paradoxical intention, modeling techniques.

The fourth stage is the consolidation of adaptive behavior with the help of homework tasks performed 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 shown to clients who are capable of introspection, reflection, and analysis of their thoughts.

Chapter 2 Main Goals of Correction

2.1 Position of the psychologist

The main goal is to assist in the revision of the system of beliefs, norms and ideas. The private goal is liberation from the idea of self-accusation.

In addition, A. Ellis formulated a number of desirable qualities, the achievement of which by the client can be a specific goal of psycho-correctional work: social interest, self-interest, self-government, tolerance, flexibility, acceptance of uncertainty, scientific thinking, self-acceptance, ability to take risks, realism.

The position of a psychologist working in line with this concept is, of course, directive. He explains, convinces. He is an authority that refutes erroneous judgments, pointing out their inaccuracy, arbitrariness, etc. He appeals to science, to the ability to think and, in the words of Ellis, is not engaged in absolution, after which the client may feel better, but it is not known whether it is actually easier for him.

Requirements and expectations from the client. The client is assigned the role of a student, and accordingly his success is interpreted depending on motivation and identification with the role of a student.

The client is expected to go through three levels of insight:

1. Superficial - awareness of the problem.

2. Deep - recognition of one's own interpretations.

3. Deep - at the level of motivation for change.

In general, the psychological prerequisites for RET are as follows:

Recognition of the client's personal responsibility for their problems;

Accepting the idea that there is an opportunity to decisively influence these problems

Recognition that the client's emotional problems stem from his irrational ideas about himself and the world;

Detection (comprehension) by the client of these representations;

Recognition by the client of the usefulness of a serious discussion of these views;

Agreeing to make an effort to confront your illogical judgments;

Consent of the client to the use of RET.

Chapter 3 Rational-Emotive Therapy Techniques

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, requires proof, clarifies the logical grounds, etc. Much attention is paid to softening the categoricalness of the client: instead of "I must" - "I would like"; instead of "It will be terrible if ..." - "Probably it will not 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 introspection 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 the self-feelings in 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-abasement.

5. "Attack on fear." The technique consists of a homework task, the meaning 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 seller is offered to go to a large store with many departments and in each department ask to show him some thing.

Conclusion

A. Alice created the most promising theory of RET. It helps people show their "I", promotes introspection and self-expression. This theory is actively used in psychology. Allows the psychologist to behave correctly and professionally with the client, noting all his undertakings and achievements.

A. Ellis formulated a number of desirable qualities, the achievement of which by the client can be a specific goal of psycho-correctional work: social interest, interest in oneself, self-government, tolerance, flexibility, acceptance of uncertainty, scientific thinking, self-acceptance, ability to take risks, realism.

Bibliography

1. Ellis A. The cognitive element of depression, which is unfairly neglected // Moscow Journal of Psychotherapy. 1994. No. 1.

2. Ellis A. The evolution of rational-emotive and cognitive-behavioral psychotherapy // The evolution of psychotherapy / Ed. L.M. Crawl.

M.: KLASS, 1998. T. 2. S. 304-330.

3. Ellis A. Humanistic psychotherapy. Rational-cognitive approach. St. Petersburg: SOVA; M.: EKSMO-PRESS, 2002. 272 p.

4. Adler A. Psychotherapy within the framework of individual psychology // Techniques of counseling and psychotherapy. Anthology / Ed. V. Sahakian. M.: APRIL-PRESS; EKSMO-PRESS, 2000. S. 56-104.

5. Beck A. Commentary on the report of J. Marmore "Psychotherapeutic process: common denominators of different approaches" // Evolution of psychotherapy / Ed. L.M. Crawl. M.: KLASS, 1998. T. 2. S. 131-145.

6. Horney K. Characterological analysis // Techniques of counseling and psychotherapy. Anthology / Ed. V. Sahakian. M.: APRIL-PRESS;

EKSMO-PRESS, 2000. S. 174-206.

7. Dubois P. Psychoneuroses and their mental treatment. St. Petersburg: K.L. Ricker, 1912. - 397 p.

8. Maslow, A.G. Motivation and personality / A. G. Maslow. - St. Petersburg: Eurasia, 1999. - 478 p.

9. Dewey Jones. Psychology and pedagogy of thinking / Dewey Jones. - M.: Mir, 1919. - 202 p.

10. Russell, B. N. The Art of Thinking/B. N. Russell. - M.: Idea-press, 1999.- 240 p.

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