Dr. Hank Robb explains to dispute beliefs and not your thoughts at the SMART Recovery Annual Conference in Cincinnati.

1. Annual Conference
Welcome!

2. Disputing Your “B’s” Not Your “T’s”
Hank Robb, Ph.D., ABPP
Annual SMART Recovery Conference 2015
Cincinnati, Ohio

3. A-B-C’s of REBT
A is the “Activating Event” (often “Adversity”)
B is what you are “Believing” ABOUT your A
C is the Emotional, Behavioral or Cognitive “Consequence”
you experience about A BECAUSE of your B about A.

4. Did you see a “T” in that A-B-C?
Maybe, but it would have been at “C.” It
might have been one of those “Cognitive
Consequences.” However, in REBT we focus
on the importance of what people are
BELIEVING (that’s “B”) rather than what
they thinking (that’s “T”)

5. Believing verses Thinking
Think this thought: “I am a banana.”
Do you BELIEVE that thought?

6. Believing verses Thinking
There seems to be a difference
between what we think
And what we BELIEVE

7. And, when it comes to THOUGHTS,
the important REBT question is not
what thought you are thinking but
what thought you are
BELIEVING

8. A-B-C’s of REBT
(A Thought Experiment)
Suppose:
A = You get something you don’t want or don’t
get something you do want.
B = You BELIEVE BOTH “this is something I
don’t like” and “this MUST NOT” happen.
How would you likely feel, act and think?

9. All or None verses More or Less
When analyzing what we are
believing, it is more useful to ask if
we are believing it strongly or lightly
rather than asking if we are
believing it totally or not at all.

10. All or None verses More or Less
Believing something strongly simply
means you are taking it VERY
SERIOUSLY while believing
something lightly means not taking it
VERY SERIOUSLY even if you are
still experiencing it.

11. A-B-C’s of REBT
(A Thought Experiment)
Suppose:
A = You get something you don’t want or don’t get
something do you want.
B = You BELIEVE BOTH “this is something I don’t like”
and “this MUST NOT” happen.
you believe one lightly and the other strongly.
How would you likely feel, act and think?

12. A-B-C’s of REBT
Disputing what you are believing can mean working
hard not to take certain thoughts, images, feelings
and urges (i.e. action tendencies) VERY
SERIOUSLY rather than trying get rid of them. That
is what it can mean to “dispute your B’s” rather than
“dispute your T’s” or any other experience that
shows up at “C.”

13. A-B-C’s of REBT
And when would we not take certain feeling
“C’s”, thought “C’s,” image “C’s” or urge “C’s”
VERY SERIOUSLY?
When doing so interferes with living the life
we are most deeply interested in living.

14. EYES ON THE PRIZE
Would you rather be “right” in your life
Or would you rather be effective in your life?

15. If you want to be EFFECTIVE
focus on believing (i.e. taking seriously) thoughts,
images, feelings and urges that increase
effectiveness rather than believing thoughts, images,
feelings and urges that reduce effectiveness.
EYES ON THE PRIZE!

16. Do this and you won’t be disputing
your thoughts, images, feelings or
urges to behave.
You’ll be disputing your
BELIEFS!

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18. 2015 Sponsors
Thank you!