Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), developed by Albert Ellis in 1955, is a short-term psychotherapy aimed at identifying and challenging self-defeating thoughts to replace them with healthier beliefs. The ABC model is central to REBT, illustrating how activating events (A) lead to beliefs (B) that result in emotional and behavioral consequences (C). REBT is particularly effective for issues such as anxiety, depression, and phobias, emphasizing the importance of rational thinking in managing emotions and behaviors.

1. RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOUR
THERAPY (REBT)-ALBERT ELLIS
Mrs. Deepali Gaurav Borde
CSSM

2. Introduction : Who is Albert Ellis?
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3. ❏ Albert Ellis (September 27, 1913 – July 24, 2007) was an
American psychologist who in 1955 developed Rational
Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).
❏ He held MA and PhD degrees in clinical psychology from
Columbia University and the American Board of Professional
Psychology (ABPP).
❏ He also founded and was the President of the New York
City-based Albert Ellis Institute for decades.
❏ He is generally considered to be one of the originators of the
cognitive revolutionary paradigm shift in psychotherapy and
an early proponent of cognitive-behavioral therapies
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4. REBT
● Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is a short-term
form of psychotherapy that helps you identify
self-defeating thoughts and feelings, challenge the
rationality of those feelings, and replace them with
healthier, more productive beliefs.
● REBT focuses mostly on the present time to help you
understand how unhealthy thoughts and beliefs create
emotional distress which, in turn, leads to unhealthy
actions and behaviors that interfere with your current life
goals.
● Once identified and understood, negative thoughts and
actions can be changed and replaced with more positive
and productive behavior, allowing you to develop more
successful personal and professional relationships.
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5. Basics of REBT
● The fundamental principles of REBT are best understood by an
appreciation of the ABC model. This model assumes that as
individuals we disturb ourselves about experiences by the beliefs we
hold.
● REBT is a self-help / self-management type of therapy.
● REBT is popular because it makes sense to most people, and they
can and do use it.
● REBT is also the only cognitive-behavioral therapy that encourages
people to examine their philosophy of life – their goals, values, etc.
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6. REBT: The Basic
R = Rational Most people realize that when they think more rationally and
reasonably, their life goes better. So this piece makes sense to them.
E = Emotive Most people understand that their emotions are affected by
what happens to them and how they think about those events.
B = Behaviour Most people accept that what they do (their behavior) affects
how they think and feel.
T = Therapy but it can also mean Teaching or Training.
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7. According to Ellis, these are other common irrational assumptions:
• The idea that one should be thoroughly competent at everything.
• The idea that is it catastrophic when things are not the
way you want them to be.
• The idea that people have no control over their happiness.
• The idea that you need someone stronger than yourself to
be dependent on.
• The idea that your past history greatly influences your present life.
• The idea that there is a perfect solution to human problems, and it’s
a disaster if you don’t find it.
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8. REBT can be particularly helpful for people living
with a variety of issues, including:
● depression
● anxiety
● addictive behaviors
● phobias
● overwhelming feelings of anger, guilt, or rage
● procrastination
● disordered eating habits
● aggression
● sleep problems etc..
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9. A-B-C Model
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10. A-B-C MODEL
A:
ACTIVATING
EVENT
C:
CONSEQUENCES
B:
BELIEFS
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11. CONTINUE..
A - Activating Event or objective situation
The first column records the objective situation, that is, an event that ultimately
leads to some type of high emotional response or negative dysfunctional thinking.
B - Beliefs
In the second column, the client writes down the negative thoughts that occurred to
them.
C - Consequence
The third column is for the negative feelings and dysfunctional behaviors that ensued.
The negative thoughts of the second column are seen as a connecting bridge between the
situation and the distressing feelings. The third column C is next explained by describing
emotions or negative thoughts that the client thinks are caused by A. This could be anger,
sorrow, anxiety, etc. 11

12. ● Ellis believes that it is not the
activating event (A) that
causes negative emotional
and behavioral consequences
(C), but rather that a person
interprets these events
unrealistically and therefore
has an irrational belief system
(B) that helps cause the
consequences (C).
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13. REBT Example
IRRATIONAL BELIEF
A: You are told by your boss that
he is unhappy with your work
B: I’m a failure
C: Anxiety and depression
RATIONAL BELIEF
A: You are told by your boss
that he is unhappy with your
work
B: I did my best
C: Disappointmented but
confident that things will get
better 13

14. continue..
Here, we can interpret any event (A) according to rational/irrational
beliefs (B).
- If our beliefs(B) are irrational, we will suffer greatly (an undesirable C)
-But if our beliefs(B) are generally rational, we will suffer less and
rebound faster (a more desirable C)
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15. Therapeutic Relationship
● Ellis believes that the best way to develop a therapeutic relationship is to
help solve the client’s immediate problem.
● Ellis identifies the activating events, irrational beliefs, and emotional and
behavioural consequences (ABC).
● Ellis may do this for 2 or 3 sessions and then possibly work on longer
issues.
● The relationship between client and therapist is important in REBT.
● With patient who are unfamiliar with REBT, the therapist often introduces
the purpose of therapy.
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16. Role of Counsellor
● Challenge the clients to validate his/her
ideas
● Use logical analysis to minimize the clients
irrational beliefs
● Show how this ideas can be replaced with
more irrational ideas.
● teach the client how to apply the scientific
approach to thinking so that he/she can
observed and minimize the irrational ideas
and illogical deductions which foster
self-destructive ways of feeling and
behaving.
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17. The methods involved in REBT include:
● Disputing irrational beliefs in a systematic and logical
way.
● Changing one’s language from should and musts to
preferences.
● Using humour to reduce the exaggerated effects of
irrational thoughts and beliefs.
● Doing cognitive homework to identify absolutistic
beliefs behind their problem. This can include
assignments to observe their self-fulfilling prophecies,
reading self-help books and listening to tapes of
earlier counselling sessions to critique their original
self-defeating beliefs.
•I MUST come across well
to others or else I'm
worthless.
•I MUST be socially
competent or else I am no
good.
•I MUST not make mistakes
in social situations or I am a
misfit.
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18. This theory tells us:
1.How we think affects how we feel.
2.How we feel affects how we behave.
3.How we behave affects how we live our lives
4.Change the thought = Change the Consequence.
5.REBT therapists – while acknowledging the client’s past – work in the here and
now.
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