Post-September 11th Perspectives on Religion, Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti

The purpose of this article was for selected Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) cognoscenti to examine the impact of the events of September 11th, 2001, on their beliefs about religion, spirituality, and their personal philosophy—including the role of evil in the universe and the implications of these issues on their use of REBT. The degree of consistency of the author’s views with classical REBT theory and philosophy was examined. The authors are current or former members of the Albert Ellis Institute’s International Training Standards and Policy Review Committee, of which Albert Ellis, REBT’s founder, is also a member. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling & Development, Fall 2004, Volume 82. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association. We regret to inform readers that Stephen G. Weinrach died in April 2004. Stephen G. Weinrach expressed gratitude to Jacqueline Mirabile, Laura Hutelmyer, and Phylis Wright of Villanova University’s Falvey Memorial Library for valuable research assistance. Jesse Clancy and Bethany Coover provided deeply appreciated and important editorial support.     

Rational emotive behavior therapy successes and failures: Eight personal perspectives

Eight experts in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) provided personal examples of their own successes and failures in applying REBT to themselves. The experts actively talked to themselves both rationally and irrationally. Understandably, there were far more shoulds, oughts, musts, and have to’s in the narratives in which the experts described when they failed to use REBT than when they succeeded in using REBT. Rational self-talk was more prevalent in the examples of how REBT was successfully used by the experts. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling & Development, Summer 2001, Volume 79. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association.     

Rational emotive behavior therapy: A Tough-Minded therapy for a Tender-Minded profession

Objections to Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) seem to exceed the mere rational preference for one approach over another. Ziegler suggested that James’s dichotomy between Tough- and Tender-Mindedness might explain REBT’s appeal to some and its failure to attract others. REBT is a predominantly Tough-Minded therapy, but the counseling profession is largely Tender Minded. In this article, the author examines why Tender-Minded counselors may not accept REBT, what common misperceptions of REBT may contribute to this rejection, and how the two might be reconciled. Intervention strategies for Tender-Minded counselors are suggested. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling & Development, January/February 1995, Volume 73. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association. Stephen G. Weinrach, who maintained a private practice in Havertown, Pennsylvania, was a professor of counseling and human relations at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, and a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York. He died in 2004. This article was based in part upon a presentation entitled, “Obstacles to a Wider Acceptance of RET,” given at the World Congress on Mental Health Counseling/35th Anniversary Conference on Rational-Emotive Therapy, Keystone, Colorado, June, 1990. The author extended his appreciation to his copresenters, Albert Ellis, Janet L. Wolfe, and Daniel J. Ziegler, as well as Michael E. Bernard, Joanne Christopher, Windy Dryden, Gerald L. Gandy, Martin Gerstein, and Allen Ivey.     

RATIONAL EMOTIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY AFTER ELLIS: PREDICTIONS FOR THE FUTURE

The 9 members of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy’s International Training Standards and Review Committee (of which Albert Ellis is currently one) predict the status of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) after the death of Albert Ellis, its progenitor. Most respondents addressed whether REBT will exist in its own right or be subsumed under the broad umbrella of Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Reprinted from Journal of Mental Health Counseling, 17, 413–427, 1995. AMHCA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Mental Health Counselors Association. Stephen G. Weinrach was a professor of counseling and human relations at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania. He died in 2004. The authors expressed their appreciation to Martin Gerstein and Allen Ivey for their generous contributions to a draft version of this article. Colleen Deeter provided valuable editorial assistance in the preparation and coordination of this project.     

Changing rational-emotive therapy (RET) to rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)

Reasons are given for changing the name of Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and for bringing its behavioral aspects into more prominence. Excerpted from “Changing Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET) to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT).Behavior Therapist, 1994,16(10), 1–2, and fromReason and Emotion in Psychotherapy, Rev ed. updated. New York Carol Publishing, 1994. Reprinted with permission.     

Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion,Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti: A Response to My Colleagues

This is a discussion and evaluation of the views of the authors of the article “Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion, Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti.” Several of the authors are shown to endorse most of the main principles and practices of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) but also to hold some of its important views on unconditional self‐acceptance and unconditional other‐acceptance lightly and inconsistently.     

Reducing REBT’s “Wince Factor:” an insider’s perspective

The author discusses three aspects of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) that occasionally make him wince. They are: REBT does not adequately address issues relating to diversity-sensitive counseling; there is a tendency for some REBT adherents to display poor interpersonel skills, and lack a philosophical commitment to the interdependence of humans on one another; and, there is a tendency for REBT to promise more than it can deliver. A list of 15 recommendations and wishes for a “new and improved” version of REBT are included. Reprinted from Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 14(1), 63–78, 1996. The author expressed his appreciation to Dominic DiMattia and Ellen Finkelstein who provided valuable suggestion to a draft version of this article and to Windy Dryden who initiated this dialog and saw it through to its publication. Stephen G. Weinrach was a professor of counseling and human relations at Villanova, PA and a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York. He maintained a private practice in Havertown, PA. He died in 2004.     

NINE EXPERTS DESCRIBE THE ESSENCE OF RATIONAL-EMOTIVE THERAPY WHILE STANDING ON ONE FOOT

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of agreement among a panel of rational-emotive therapy (RET) experts about the essence of RET. The panel of experts consisted of the 9 members of The International Training Standards and Review Committee of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York. The question that the experts were asked was an adaptation of a Talmudic story known in Jewish lore as “While Standing on One Foot.” Responses were assigned to either of 2 categories: general cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) or RET-specific. There seems to be a range of responses that capture the essence of RET. A strong case can be made for subsuming many aspects of CBT under RET because much of what is associated with CBT has its origins in RET. The confusion about where RET ends and general CBT begins goes to the very heart of RET’s status today. Reprinted from Journal of Counseling & Development, March/April 1996, Volume 74. ACA. Reprinted with permission. No further reproduction authorized without written permission from the American Counseling Association. Stephen G. Weinrach, who maintained a private practice in Havertown, Pennsylvania, was a professor of counseling and human relations at Villanova University, Villanova, Pennsylvania, and a Fellow of the Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy in New York. The author was grateful to Michael Bernard, Raymond DiGiuseppe, Windy Dryden, Albert Ellis, Howard Kassinove, G. Barry Morris, Ann Vernon, and Janet Wolfe for their responses on which this article was based. The author expressed particular appreciation to Martin Gerstein, Jeffrey K. Messing, Ellen Finkelstein, Joanne Christopher, and Colleen Deeter, who provided valuable editorial assistance. Raymond DiGiuseppe and Windy Dryden made the publication of this study possible through their generous assistance and incisive knowledge of rational-emotive therapy.     

Irrational Beliefs and Unconditional Self-Acceptance. III. The Relative Importance of Different Types of Irrational Belief

In two studies, one correlational (N = 158) and one experimental (N = 128), using college students, it was found that Need for Achievement, Need for Approval and Self-Downing were the most important irrational beliefs of the General Attitude and Belief Scale predicting unconditional self-acceptance. The Need for Comfort, Demand for Fairness and Other-Downing subscales were found to be less influential. The findings were discussed in terms of Ellis’ theoretical formulation of four higher-order types of irrational belief processes (demandingness, awfulizing, low-frustration tolerance and self-downing), empirical research on different irrational belief themes, the distinction between ego disturbance and discomfort disturbance in REBT and the distinction between sociotropy and autonomy in different forms of depression.     

Post‐September 11th Perspectives on Religion,Spirituality, and Philosophy in the Personal and Professional Lives of Selected REBT Cognoscenti

The purpose of this article was for selected Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) cognoscenti to examine the impact of the events of September 11th, 2001, on their beliefs about religion, spirituality, and their personal philosophy—including the role of evil in the universe and the implications of these issues on their use of REBT. The degree of consistency of the authors' views with classical REBT theory and philosophy was examined. The authors are current or former members of the Albert Ellis Institute's International Training Standards and Policy Review Committee, of which Albert Ellis, REBT's founder, is also a member.     

Mindfulness,Self-Esteem,and Unconditional Self-Acceptance

Ellis (Ellis, A. (1996), Psychotherapy, 22(1), 149–151) has been a longstanding critic of the concept of self-esteem and has offered the notion of unconditional self-acceptance as an alternative. Other researchers have suggested that cultivating mindfulness––attention directed towards one’s immediate experiences with an attitude of non-judgment––also offers a healthier alternative to self-esteem (Ryan, R. M., & Brown, K. W. (2003) Psychological Inquiry, 14(1), 71–76). This study examined the relationship between mindfulness, self-esteem, and unconditional self-acceptance. A sample of 167 university students completed two measures of everyday mindfulness, and measures of self-esteem and unconditional self-acceptance. Positive correlations were found between mindfulness, self-esteem, and unconditional self-acceptance. Mindfulness skills may offer a means to cultivate unconditional self-acceptance and to shift from an emphasis on self-esteem as a measure of worth. This paper was based on data collected for the first author's Master's project.     

Mourning the divorce: A project in Marin County,California

A brief counseling program is described for divorcing parents and their offspring living in Marin County, California, where the divorce rate is perhaps the highest in the United States. Counseling was based on the notion that marital disruption produces a mourning which needs to be treated.This report was prepared by the American Institutes for Research on a contract from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children, Youth and Families. Jane Palches Kraft, M.S.W., was director of the project. Reprint requests should be directed to this journal's editor at Department of Psychiatry, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA 30912. Reprinted with permission.     

A solution-focused approach to rational-emotive behavior therapy: toward a theoretical integration

A theoretical integration of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and solution-focused therapy is described. It is suggested that the integrative conceptualization underscores these models’ complementary aspects by addressing the limitations of each and enhancing their respective strengths. The clinical theory and process of the integrative model is explicated along with a case example. Directions for future theory building, research, and practice are considered. Address correspondence to Jeffrey T. Guterman, Barry University, 11300 NE 2 Avenue, Adrian Dominican School of Education, Counseling Program, Powers Building, Miami Shores, FL 33161–6695, USA; e-mail: jguterman@mail.barry.edu     

Why teach ethics in science and engineering?

The following views were presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Seminar “Teaching Ethics in Science and Engineering”, 10–11 February 1993 organized by Stephanie J. Bird (M.I.T.), Penny J. Gilmer (Florida State University) and Terrell W. Bynum (Southern Connecticut State University). Opragen Publications thanks the AAAS, seminar organizers and authors for permission to publish extracts from the conference. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the opinions of AAAS or its Board of Directors.     

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy: The Past,Present, and Future

The intent of this article is to describe the significant contributions Albert Ellis made to rational emotive education and to a preventative approach to psychotherapy, which represents a major shift from many other counseling theories. The author notes that REBT as a preventative mental health approach was very important to Albert Ellis because he believed that it would extend the influence of REBT, but unfortunately he and other REBT practitioners have not put enough systematic emphasis on training teachers to implement rational concepts into the curriculum. Given the number of children and adolescents needing mental health services, this is an area that should be emphasized and would extend Al’s legacy. The article also addresses Dr. Ellis’ contributions in the area of parenting, where once again he was a pioneer in teaching parents how to deal with their irrational beliefs that interfere with effective parenting. The author concludes with a discussion about “where we go from here,” focusing on training at the university level, developing a standardized REE program that includes a train the trainer component, becoming more of a presence in the field of health care, and putting more emphasis on the therapeutic relationship which may attract more people to the theory.     

A Synopsis of Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT); Fundamental and Applied Research

The article presents a synopsis on rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT), its fundamental theoretical framework, its applications, and future directions. The paper is organized according to the following structure: in part one, REBT fundamental/basic research is discussed; in the second part clinical/applied research in REBT is presented, including aspects of efficacy and effectiveness, discrimination of disorders for which REBT works most effectively, and its relations to other therapies. Uses and misuses of REBT and their impact on research and future developments are presented as well. While it is true that REBT research has many shortcomings, the overgeneralization and/or magnification of the negative, and the minimization of the positive are dysfunctional beliefs that maintain the false idea in the field that REBT has few empirical studies and that REBT research is in serious trouble. A balanced approach, analyzing both the strengths and weakness, suggest that REBT has hundreds of research articles and that high-quality studies tend to support REBT’s basic theory and efficacy. However, to strengthen this conclusion and to fully explore the potential of REBT, shortcomings of REBT research need to be corrected, and high-quality studies promoted. This is particularly important since, although effective, cognitive-behavioral psychotherapies have not yet reached “the desired standard” of efficacy and effectiveness, as about 30–40% of people are still nonresponsive to these interventions Thus, REBT could be a platform of reinvigorating empirical studies on the efficacy/effectiveness and theory of cognitive-behavioral models of psychopathology and human functioning. Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Biobehavioral and Integrative Medicine Programs, New York, USA.     

Unconditional Self-Acceptance and Responses to Negative Feedback

Rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT; Ellis, 1995) contends that esteeming oneself—favorably or unfavorably—is illogical (implying an objective basis for evaluating global worth) and counterproductive (making one prone to depression in the wake of setbacks, anxiety otherwise). A healthier outlook requires unconditional self-acceptance (USA). We evaluated predictions regarding USA in a nonclinical university student sample. Consistent with REBT, participants scoring high on a USA questionnaire, controlling for self-esteem level, reported being low in proneness to depression and in self-esteem lability. They also were more objective in evaluating their performance on a public speaking task and were less apt to denigrate people who provided negative evaluations of their speeches. Predictions regarding impression management, willingness to try another speech, and mood or state self-esteem reactivity to feedback were not supported. Discussion focused on implications for research on USA as well as applied implications for therapy or prevention programs.     

Irrational Beliefs and Unconditional Self-Acceptance. II. Experimental Evidence for a Causal Link between Two Key Features of REBT

In a test of two key features of REBT, causal relationships between irrational beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance were experimentally investigated in a sample of 106 non-clinical participants using a priming technique. Priming participants with statements of irrational belief resulted in a decrease in unconditional self-acceptance whereas priming participants with statements of rational belief resulted in an increase in unconditional self-acceptance. In contrast, priming participants with statements about unconditional self-acceptance did not result in an increase in rational thinking and priming participants with statements about conditional self-acceptance did not result in an increase in irrational thinking. The present study is the first to provide evidence of a causal link between rational/irrational thinking and unconditional/conditional self-acceptance. The findings have important implications for the core hypothesis of REBT and underscore the advantages of experimental over correlational studies in theory-testing.     

RATIONAL-EMOTIVE DISPUTING AND THE FIVE-FACTOR MODEL: PERSONALITY DIMENSIONS OF THE ELLIS EMOTIONAL EFFICIENCY INVENTORY

This study investigates the relationship between three types of disputes used in Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), and the five personality domains of the Five Factor Model of Personality. A sample of 194 subjects was assessed for the use of three categories of REBT disputes using the Ellis Emotional Efficiency Inventory (EEEI), and for the Big Five personality dimensions using the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI). Disputing against “awfulizing” was found to correlate inversely with Neuroticism. Disputing against “self-downing” was found to correlate positively with both Extraversion and Conscientiousness. Disputing against “low frustration tolerance” was found to correlate positively with Agreeableness and Openness. Implications for REBT practice and research are discussed.     

The legacy of Adolf Meyer’s comparative approach: Worcester rats and the strange birth of the animal model

The breeding of albino rats had an enormous impact on experimental psychology in the twentieth century: Rats were, and for many questions still remain, the “standard animal” for laboratory research in neurology, psychology, and physiology. Albert Meyer was one of the figures most responsible for developing the albino rat as an experimental model. Despite Meyer’s pioneering work with albino rats, his rat research has received only sparse attention. Little is known about the way in which the animal served Meyer’s more famous psychiatric program. In this article, the author discusses the role that albino rats played in Meyer’s animal research. He then turn to the contrast between the way in which Meyer viewed the animal’s role in research and the way rats were later used as a laboratory “standard” to assure scientific generality. This comparison highlights the changes that occurred in comparative psychology in the twentieth century, and it further clarifies some of the concerns associated with the use of animal models today. Reprinted from Jaan Valsiner (ed.).Thinking in Psychological Science: Ideas and Their Makers. Transaction Publishers. Previously published inFrom Past to Future, Vol. 4(1),Animal models in human psychology: The uses of comparative methodologies, pp. 23–36. @ 2003 Frances L. Hiatt School of Psychology, Clark University. Author: Cheryl A. Logan, Ph.D., Departments of Psychology and Biology, P. O. Box 26170, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, Greansboro, NC. The author is graterful for permission to quote from the Adolf Meyer papers, which was granted by The Alan M. Chesney Medical Archives at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions.