On the other hand IBs would be something like this:
"It is really unfair that I lost my job, but it absolutely should not have
happened to me. It is a real disaster. Who will ever want to employ a useless
person like me? How will I ever be able to bring some income and comfort into my
life without a job? I am doomed, my life means nothing without my job".
The rBs and iBs coexist side by side as you can see on the graph below. However,
as stated earlier, much depends on our threshold which will determine which set
of our beliefs will be the one to overrule the other.
*C = consequence
As stated earlier, the way that we will feel and act after experiencing a bad
event in our life will be heavily dependent on our personal A+B (i.e. our
interpretation of the events and our beliefs about our interpretations).
If we have been rational overall after experiencing a bad event it is likely
that we will feel bad, but not disturbed, and that means that we will act to
promote happiness in ourselves after recovering from the initial shook. However,
if we have been irrational overall, that means that we will become too disturbed
to act in a self-helping way.
In REBT-CBT we see two kind of negative emotions: one we call healthy negative
emotions and the other we call uhealthy negative emotions.
Many studies now show that the more unhealthy negative emotions the person has,
the more irrational the person is. It is not clear yet if the emotions are the
cause of the rationality or vise versa.
However, what is clear is that when
people suffer from unhealthy negative emotions, they no longer suffer from them
or reduce them, once they have replaced their irrational cognition with rational
cognition.
The following emotions are regarded by REBT-CBT as healthy negative emotions:
sadness, concern, healthy anger, regret, disappointment, concern about
relationship and healthy envy.
Introduction for Clients to REBT - CBT treatment sessions
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Whereas the following emotions are regarded as unhealthy negative emotions:
depression, anxiety, unhealthy anger, shame, hurt, jealousy, unhealthy envy. *D = disputing irrational beliefs At this stage you will know what your Bs are and now you need to test them to see if they are rBs or iBs. Their are three systems by which you can do this: 1. "Empirical" disputing, where you ask yourself questions such as: Where is the evidence that shows that my beliefs are true? Where is the universal law that shows that my beliefs are true? 2. "Logical" disputing, where you ask yourself questions such as: Is it sensible to demand all that I will for? Is it logical to turn my desires into demands? 3. "Pragmatic" disputing, where you ask yourself questions such as: Have my beliefs helped me so far? Have my beliefs been able to help me find solutions to my problems? *E = Effect At this stage you will be able to create your own rBs which will replace your iBs. You will learn to use cognitive and behavioural modifications techniques that will reinforce your rBs, which in turn will effect your moods and actions for the better over time. That is to say, are you not only going to feel better but will become better. Now don't think that this kind of therapy is an easy fix, it is not. In order to feel the therapy's full rewards you will have to work on yourself, (using the skills you have learned with me) well after the therapy has ended. After all, you will need to change the cognition of a lifetime to the new cognition and that is not easy. However, just because it is not an easy option it doesn't mean it's impossible. In other words, don't only think about the short term gains that you may have from the therapy, but also think about the long term gains that you can give yourself by adopting your new rBs. "People are not disturbed by things, but by the view they take of them" (Epictetus, 55 AC to 135 AC) |
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