REBT

"This paper illustrates the potential uses of poetry therapy for practitioners interested in
cognitively based psychotherapies. Separate brief discussions of cognitive therapy and the
uses of poetry and poetry therapy are presented. The congruence between these two
approaches is addressed. Sample exercises and poems as illustrations are presented that
demonstrate this congruence."

Since its conception by famed psychologist Albert Ellis, rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) has become a mainstream approach to psychotherapy. This paper will examine the theory behind REBT, how it appeals to the author as an approach to therapy, concerns the author has in its use, a review of the literature on the efficacy of REBT, and limitations on REBT research. Furthermore, a case study on the use of REBT with a client experiencing interpersonal issues and depression will be discussed as a demonstration of the therapy in practice. Family systems therapy, feminist therapy, and Adlerian therapy will then be integrated into the case study to offer a more balanced approach to treatment that includes considerations for generational, cultural, and social influences. Although REBT is not as multifaceted an approach as this author prefers in a therapeutic orientation, incorporating elements and techniques from other therapies can be useful in its implementation.

[A later version of this paper appears in Manu Bazzano and Julie Webb (eds) Therapy and the Counter-Tradition (Routledge, 2016).]

Why should therapists read Søren Kierkegaard? In our largely secular age, in which the latest generation of religion’s ‘cultured despisers’ often seem to speak for the cultural mainstream, what has psychotherapy to learn from an unorthodox nineteenth century Lutheran with an uncompromising view of the importance of a proper ‘God-relationship’? There can be no denying the influence of Kierkegaard on important psychotherapeutic figures as diverse as Ludwig Binswanger, Rollo May, Carl Rogers, R. D. Laing and Ernest Becker.  His insightful diagnoses of anxiety and despair have been a significant influence, via Heidegger, on existential psychotherapy. As one therapist recently told me, Kierkegaard is a source of great insight provided we ‘ignore the religious stuff’. Yet therapists who insist on taking their Kierkegaard safely secularised are missing a trick. In this article, I shall argue that it is in some of his lesser known, explicitly ‘religious’ writings, that Kierkegaard offers some of his most important insights for therapeutic practice. I have argued elsewhere that Kierkegaard offers a rich conception of ‘proper self-love’ that I believe has important implications for therapy. Central to this account is the application to ourselves of the trust, hope and forgiveness that are central to his accounts of love of God and neighbour.  But here I shall concentrate primarily on a perhaps surprising theme from this famous diagnostician of anxiety and despair: what the reflections on ‘the lilies and the birds’ in Kierkegaard’s ‘upbuilding’ discourses can teach us about contentment and self-acceptance and their relation to gratitude and patience.

The aim of this article is to present a succinct review and evaluation of the main areas of contention in the false memory debate and, from this basis, to suggest ways in which the best from both sides can be utilized. We examine the potential pitfalls of therapy in terms of the fallibility and suggestibility of autobiographical memory and therapists and therapeutic techniques as the architects of false memories. We then evaluate the case for false memory formation examining if some researchers hold misconceived views of psychotherapy, if experimental studies lack ecological validity, and the effect of trauma on memory. Finally, we explore how the potential pitfalls of therapy can be avoided in practice, reflecting on the usefulness of British Psychological Society guidelines, how clinicians can implement research findings, and how research on the false memory debate can be improved. We conclude that the way forward is researcher–clinician collaboration in the development of ecologically valid research paradigms.

Conflict in marriage like any other institution is inevitable. Conflicts between married couple are normal and not necessarily disruptive. However, conflict becomes disruptive based on the way and manner it is handled. Marital harmony is crucial to every society. Inability to resolve marital conflict appropriately can lead to devastating consequences not only to the family and the society but also to a nation as a whole. This paper discussed conflict, conflict resolution and models of approaching conflict resolution. It also discussed marriage, marital conflict and their causes. Lastly, the paper examined Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) and how it can be used as a collaborative style in marital conflict resolution.

In a paradigm shifting presentation at the American Psychological Association’s conference in Chicago in 1956, Albert Ellis argued for addressing the important role cognition plays in the creation and maintenance of emotional and behavioral disturbance. This presentation then appeared in a 1958 article in the Journal of General Psychology titled “Rational Therapy”. This marked his official departure from psychoanalysis and earned Ellis the distinction of being the field’s first cognitive behavior therapist. His work welded ancient and modern philosophy, especially Stoicism, with clinical strategies and techniques from behavior therapy. Ellis proposed that attitudes, beliefs, and philosophical ideas, what we now commonly refer to as cognitions, were at the core of emotional and behavioral disturbance. Over the next 60 years, Ellis developed, refined, and disseminated the theory and practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT: Ellis, 1962, 1994). Subsequent to and independent ...

Robin Williams touched so many lives by making people laugh.  The mention of his name brings images of the characters like Mrs. Doubtfire to mind.  For over four decades, he made a huge impression on many lives. It is difficult to comprehend how someone brought happiness to so many people only to struggle with depression and alcoholism.

Albert Ellis began practicing group therapy with deviant adolescents utilizing a psychoanalytic approach in the early year of 1949 at the New Jersey State Diagnostic Center. For many of the same reasons he criticized individual therapy using psychoanalysis, he had similar views about conducting group therapy with psychoanalysis.