Selected Essays And Book Reviews
COUN 612 - Theories and Techniques of Counseling I
Lessons 17. Cognitive Theories: Ellis {871 words}
1. Discuss personality as seen by Albert Ellis (a cognitive therapist). A person's life philosophy will cause them to believe certain things. That will lead to self-talk and, then, to troublesome emotions. Troublesome emotions are the problem, not the behaviors. The therapist often needs to redefine the problem to get at the emotions. If people are healthy, then they will have an enlightened hedonism (make decisions for good long-term happiness), be atheistic, rational and logically thinking, and they should have a scientific-empirical mind. They should be willing to change their concept of truth based on their experiences.
2. Discuss the causes of problems from Ellis' point of view. Most people believe that Activating events (A) cause Consequent emotions (C). Ellis says that this is not true, and he uses the example of a teacher chastising two students for talking and getting different responses. The belief about the event (A) is what causes the problematic emotions (C). In reality, "A" interacts with beliefs, "B", to cause "C". Beliefs may be a philosophy other than enlightened hedonism, irrational ideas or beliefs, and self-talk. Two people will not be driven to the sameemotion by the same event but by their beliefs about the event. Therefore, "A's" do not cause "B's". They interact with "B's" to cause "C's".
3. Discuss the theory of therapy from Ellis' point of view. The theory of therapy is based on ABCDE (Activating causes, Beliefs, Consequent emotions, Disputing irrational thinking, and Effects that are cognitive and then emotional). The ABCDE of RET can be used in Christianity, too.
4. Discuss the process of therapy from Ellis' point of view. The solution is to get people to think rationally. People must dispute their irrational beliefs in such a way that it will lead to a change in how they think. To Ellis, the therapeutic relationship is not important for promoting change. However, the client must trust the therapist and believe that the therapist supports the client (battling jointly against the client's irrational self-defeating thoughts and behavior). The steps to therapy are listed below.
A. Identify the emotion that is problematic. Focus on what the client is feeling. Find what makes the client feel this way. If the client identifies a situation or behavior as the problem, the therapist should reframe it as, something you are saying to yourself about "X" (situation or behavior) is making you feel unhappy, sad, frustrated, or angry.
B. Begin to discern the irrational thoughts behind the emotion.
C. Teach the client A-B-C (activating events, beliefs, consequenting emotions) directly and explicitly.
D. Support your teaching with examples: blind man in elevator, students in classroom, or crippled girl).
E. Insight number 1: Conclude that self-defeating thinking creates negative emotions.
F. Elicit other examples of negative (undesired) emotions from the client's life. Note that much of therapy is attending to these situations, having the client bring additional situations into therapy for analysis, and eventually having the client analyze the situations in real-time.
G. Insight number 2: Conclude that the client is continually causing his own problems by continually reindoctrinating himself with negative thinking. Make it personal to the client and let them know that their problems are their own fault.
H. As examples are brought up, dispute them and argue with the client to show them how to argue with themselves against irrational thinking. Thinking is irrational because it: (a) cannot be empirically proved, (b) is self-refuting, and (c) confuses wants and needs. People only need a little, but they tend to want a lot. Irrational thinking includes "shoulds, oughts, musts, and other absolutistic statements.
I. Insight number 3: Conclude that the client needs to work hard and practice in order to get better and to change beliefs.
J. Give homework for analyzing negative emotions by the A-B-C-D-E method, where "A" is activating event, "B" are the rational and irrational beliefs about the event, "C" is consequent emotion, "D" is disputing the irrational thoughts, and E are the cognitive and emotional effects.
5. Discuss the techniques of therapy from Ellis' point of view. The techniques are: (a) logical analysis (question irrational thinking, challenge the client to prove that irrational thinking is correct), (b) diversion (from excessive rumination - do and think other things), (c) skill building to deal with deficiencies and failures (this is cognitive-behavioral), (d) rational emotive imagery (to deal with fear by viewing self dealing with fear rationally), (e) homework to test assumptions, and (f) throughout therapy ((1) repetition; work and practice, (2) fading of therapist participation and more demands for client self-analysis as therapy progresses, and (3) moving from inelegant to elegant RET - inelegant RET is dealing with particular thoughts and emotions and elegant RET is conversion to a different philosophy of life.).
Tom of Bethany
"He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life." (I John 5:12)
"And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart." (Jeremiah 29:13)
Index to Selected Essays And Book Reviews
Lesson 18. Cognitive Theories: Beck's Treatment of Depression
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