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From Beliefs to Behavior: A Scientific Perspective on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy

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Developed by American psychologist Albert Ellis in the 1950s, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), previously called rational therapy and rational emotional therapy, is an active-directive, philosophical, and empirically based psychotherapy method that aims to help individuals solve their emotional and behavioral problems and lead happier and more fulfilling lives (Ellis, 1994 & Ellis, 1995). According to REBT, it is largely the thoughts one has about events that lead to emotional and behavioral problems. By emphasizing the present moment, REBT teaches individuals how to examine and challenge unhelpful thoughts that create unhealthy emotions and self-defeating/self-sabotaging behaviors (AEI, 2024).

The REBT framework posits that people have both innately rational, i.e., self-helpful, socially helpful, and constructive, and irrational, i.e., self-defeating and unhelpful, tendencies. REBT suggests that people largely consciously and unconsciously generate emotional difficulties such as self-blame, self-pity, anger, hurt, guilt, shame, depression, and anxiety, and behavioral tendencies such as procrastination, compulsion, avoidance, dependency, and withdrawal through irrational and self-defeating thinking, emoting, and behaving (Ellis, 2001).

The main goals of REBT, which focuses on identifying individuals’ irrational beliefs and replacing them with more rational and functional beliefs, include showing individuals that, in the face of the unpleasant, disturbing, unfortunate events of life, they have a choice between feeling upset, frustrated, angry, and disturbed in a healthy, self-helpful way, or feeling terrified, frightened, panicked, depressed, self-loathing, and self-pitying in an unhealthy and self-defeating way (Ellis, 2003). In the present therapy sketch, the theoretical foundations of REBT will be discussed, its areas of application will be evaluated, and a comprehensive overview of how it works in a psychotherapeutic setting will be presented. 

How Does REBT Work?

REBT’s founder, Ellis, was significantly influenced by philosophers such as Immanuel Kant, Baruch Spinoza, Arthur Schopenhauer, and Karl Popper. That is why the theory of REBT holds not just to the empirical methods of science, but also incorporates some flexibility of philosophy to challenge dogmas (Ellis & Dryden, 2007). To emphasise that, the REBT theoretical background is built on the following foundations:

  1. Goals, Purpose, and Rationality

REBT’s first assumption is that people are born with the potential for rational and irrational thinking. With the understanding that people are not perfect beings, REBT suggests that humans are happiest when they establish life goals and purposes, as we are all goal-oriented. Driven from this point, rationality implies the act of achieving goals. These goals and purposes can be finishing college, finding a new job, or being in a happy relationship with loved ones, which is unique to each person. On the contrary, irrationality is the things that prevent us from achieving our goals. 

Furthermore, rational beliefs are evaluative cognitions that are expressed as preferences, desires, and wishes. These kinds of beliefs are called “rational” since they offer flexibility and do not hinder the achievement of basic goals and purposes. Irrational beliefs are domatic in nature and include “should, ought, and have to” phrases. It leads individuals to experience negative emotions, such as guilt, anger, and sadness, and prevents them from achieving their goals or purposes (Ellis & Dryden, 2007).

  1. Interaction of Psychological Process

According to REBT, reality is what the individual perceives as real. What is essential is what happens to the individual, but also what happens in the individual’s inner world or their world of perception. REBT enables individuals to become aware of their perceptions and expectations that contribute to emotional problems, and provides clients with various methods to restructure self-destructive beliefs and make them more realistic and practical. According to the theory, irrational beliefs can negatively affect individuals’ well-being, outlook on life, and future goals. REBT identifies three basic psychological dimensions of an individual’s functioning. These are thoughts, feelings, and actions. These three areas interact with each other, and a change in one affects the others (Ellis & Dryden, 2007). For example, 

  1. Activating Events: A is an existing reality, an event, or a person’s behavior or attitude. (for example: Failing an exam)
  2. Beliefs about event: B, which are beliefs about the event, are the rational or irrational thoughts of the individual that determine the C nature of their response to ( for example: I’m worthless)
  3. Consequences (emotional and behavioral response): Consequences are the person’s response to A. This reaction can be both emotional and behavioral, and it can be healthy or unhealthy (for example: Feeling sad and not studying)

This model illustrates the interplay between human thoughts and emotions. According to the approach, the difference between individuals who have psychological disturbances and those who do not is due to the way individuals evaluate events. REBT is based on the philosophy that “it is not the events that make us unwell, but our perspectives on events” (Ellis & Dryden, 2007). 

3. Two Basic Biological Tendencies

According to REBT, we are all prone to irrational beliefs even though we are all bright and competent.  For example, a student might believe, “If I don’t get perfect grades, I’m worthless.” This is not a logical thought, but it’s still common, and it can cause stress. These irrationalities are not just found in individuals, they are also in society. For instance, many education systems and families often reward only top achievements. Even though we can eliminate one irrational belief, we will likely adopt another one. We might have insight into the irrational beliefs, but it helps only partially for us to change. For example, the student may understand that this thought is not real, but can still feel anxious or depressed when they get a lower grade than expected. Another tendency is that we can learn self-defeating behaviors more easily, and sometimes we find ourselves falling back into them, even after putting in so much effort to overcome these challenges. For example, the person may have learned to stop procrastinating and study more regularly. But during exam periods, they might go back to avoidance behaviors like staying up all night, which increases anxiety (Ellis & Dryden, 2007). 

REBT helps individuals recognize, challenge, and replace irrational beliefs with more rational and flexible ones. REBT aims to introduce everyone to changing their thought to something more realistic and build emotional strength by helping people accept discomfort, such as  “Failure is uncomfortable, but I can handle it and learn from it.” 

4. Two Fundamental Human Disturbances

According to REBT, people often expect too much from themselves, others, or life (Ellis & Dryden, 2007). When these strong expectations aren’t met, they feel upset. These problems usually fall into two types:

a. Ego Disturbance

This happens when someone feels bad about themselves. For example, if they fail a test, they might say, “I’m a failure” instead of “I failed the test.” They think their whole worth depends on their success. They also may start thinking they are “bad” or “less valuable” because they didn’t meet their own goals. This is called self-damnation, which is giving yourself a negative label and seeing yourself as not good enough.

b. Discomfort Disturbance (or Low Frustration Tolerance)

This happens when people think life must always be easy and comfortable. For instance, if someone has to wait in a long line, they might feel very angry and say, “This is unbearable!”  They believe that things must go their way, and if not, they can’t handle it. But in reality, life is sometimes hard, and learning to accept discomfort is important for emotional health.

REBT explains ego disturbance as a situation where a person links their self-worth to one success, an event, or another person’s approval. In this case, the person sees their mistakes or failures as a sign that they are not good enough. REBT helps the person challenge this belief and understand that their actions do not define their whole identity. It teaches that we can accept ourselves unconditionally, even when we make mistakes (Ellis & Dryden, 2007).

How Does REBT Change Irrational Beliefs to Rational Ones?

Individuals often think that an activating event directly causes their emotional or behavioral reaction (consequences), without considering the perception of the event.  However, REBT suggests that the person’s beliefs, thoughts, and interpretations about that event lead to these responses, and it aims to explore and challenge these beliefs using the techniques below:

  • Identification of Irrational Beliefs: The first step is to recognize irrational thoughts, such as “I should never fail in an exam.”
  • Questioning Irrational Beliefs: The second step involves questioning beliefs to explore the correctness of the belief. The example would be “Where is the proof that I should never fail?” 
  • Replacing Irrational Beliefs: The final step is to distinguish between rational and irrational beliefs. For instance, “I’d prefer to get good grades, but I can handle failure and learn from it to study more efficiently” is a rational belief, unlike “I must succeed or I’m worthless.”

With REBT, individuals replace irrational beliefs with rational and more flexible ones. This new belief system becomes part of a more realistic and supportive way of living, which helps the client face challenges with confidence and emotional balance (Ellis & Dryden, 2007).

What Are the Working Areas of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy?

REBT aimed at helping individuals identify and change their irrational beliefs, has a wide range of applications. Because REBT is an approach focused on education and action, it is recognized as an effective method in various situations and mental health issues. Below, the main working areas of REBT are discussed alongside scientific studies:

Depression:

REBT has been repeatedly shown to be an effective therapeutic approach in reducing depressive symptoms. In a study conducted by David et. al. (2008), it was found that REBT provided a significant effect in the treatment of depression, and this effect was maintained at six-month follow-up. In addition, REBT was also found to have a symptom alleviation effect in adolescents diagnosed with depression (Zhaleh et. al., 2014). The reason why REBT is recognized as an effective method in the treatment of depression is that it emphasizes the following teaching techniques:

  • Challenging irrational beliefs
  • Separating individuals from their behaviors
  • Identifying cognitive errors
  • Practicing acceptance

Anxiety Disorders:

A 2014 study revealed that REBT reduces anxiety symptoms by reducing both catastrophic thoughts and negative automatic thoughts through questioning irrational beliefs (DiGiuseppe et. al., 2014). Moreover, REBT is known to be effective in the treatment of anxiety-based problems such as generalized anxiety disorders, social phobia, and test anxiety (Warren & Dowden, 2012). On the other hand, REBT is also used to restructure irrational thoughts about the disease in individuals coping with chronic physical illnesses (diabetes, cancer, hypertension, etc.). A study conducted in 2014 found that REBT is effective in dealing with emotions such as anxiety, helplessness, hopelessness, and guilt caused by the disease (Livheim et al., 2014). It is suggested that thoughts such as ‘’this disease is unbearable’’ or ‘’I am powerless’’ can be restructured through REBT, thereby increasing psychological flexibility and quality of life.

Stress:

REBT has been shown to reduce performance anxiety and stress-related irrational beliefs in studies conducted with athletes (Turner & Baker, 2013). Thanks to REBT, athletes have been found to strengthen their emotional regulation and gain cognitive flexibility in competitive environments.

Anger Management:

REBT also offers effective intervention methods in the context of anger management. In a study conducted by Gonzalez et al. (2004), it was reported that REBT-based group therapy significantly reduced aggression and anger levels in adolescents, and this effect was observable at the behavioral level.

Substance Use Disorder:

REBT has also been proven to be helpful in the treatment of substance use and addiction problems. In the study conducted by Engels et al. (2003), it was revealed that REBT can help in restructuring the irrational beliefs that underlie addictive thoughts.

Trauma and Grief:

REBT targets the personal distortions that emerge after trauma and provides positive results in individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the grief process. According to Ellis (2001), REBT helps individuals develop healthier adaptation strategies, especially by working on ‘’catastrophizing’’ and ‘’intolerability beliefs.’’

The above findings demonstrate that REBT is a flexible, scientifically grounded psychotherapy approach that can be used in various clinical and non-clinical settings. Furthermore, it is clear that REBT produces functional outcomes in both individual and group-based interventions, as well as in both young and adult individuals. The well-structured nature of REBT ensures that it can be easily adapted to different cultural and professional settings (David et al., 2010).

Takeaways:

  • REBT argues that the source of emotional and behavioral problems lies not so much in events themselves as in the individual’s irrational thoughts about those events, and aims to replace those thoughts with functional beliefs.
  • The fundamental goal of REBT is to help individuals recognize that they have the option to develop healthy and constructive emotional responses to the inevitable challenges of life.
  • REBT is an approach informed not only by scientific methods but also by philosophical thinking, enabling individuals to question their dogmatic beliefs and develop a more flexible and functional perspective.
  • REBT’s ABC model (Event-Belief-Reaction) demonstrates that it is not the event itself, but rather the beliefs about the event, that shape emotional and behavioral responses. This reveals that the root of psychological distress lies not in the events themselves, but in how we interpret them.
  • REBT is a holistic and humanistic approach that encompasses both the positive (love, sharing, self-actualization) and negative (self-harm, self-blame, avoidance of problems) aspects of human nature.
  • REBT, an effective treatment tool in many areas such as depression, anxiety, anger, stress, and substance abuse, improves individuals’ psychological well-being through the processes of identifying, discussing, and changing irrational beliefs.

References

  1. Ellis, A. (1994). Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy: Comprehensive Method of Treating Human Disturbances: Revised and Updated. New York, NY: Citadel Press
  2. Ellis, Albert (1995). “Changing rational-emotive therapy (RET) to rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)”. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy. 13 (2): 85–89. doi:10.1007/BF02354453. ISSN 0894-9085. S2CID 143101900. 
  3. Ellis, A. (2001). Feeling better, getting better, staying better. Impact Publishers
  4. Ellis, Albert (2003). Early theories and practices of rational emotive behavior theory and how they have been augmented and revised during the last three decades. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 21(3/4)
  5. REBT – Albert Ellis Institute. (2024). Albert Ellis Institute. https://albertellis.org/rebt-cbt-therapy/ 
  6. David, D., Szentagotai, A., Lupu, V., & Cosman, D. (2008). Journal of Clinical Psychology, 64(6), 728–746.
  7. Zhaleh N, Zarbakhsh M, Faramarzi M, Branch AA. Effectiveness of rational-emotive behavior therapy on the level of depression among female adolescents. 2014;4(4):102-107 J Appl Environ Biol Sci.
  8. Warren, R., & Dowden, S. (2012). Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and test anxiety. Cognitive Behaviour Therapist, 5(3), 153–167.
  9. DiGiuseppe, R., Doyle, K., Dryden, W., & Backx, W. (2014). A Practitioner’s Guide to Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy.
  10. Gonzalez, L., Nelson, R., Gutkin, T. (2004). Rational Emotive Therapy with aggressive adolescents. Journal of Rational-Emotive and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy, 22(3), 135–147.
  11. Engels, R. C. M. E., et al. (2003). Rational emotive behavior therapy and substance use prevention. Journal of Adolescence, 26(1), 95–104.
  12. Turner, M., & Barker, J. (2013). Examining the efficacy of rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) on irrational beliefs and performance anxiety in elite youth cricketers. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 25(1), 131–147.
  13. Livheim, F., Hayes, S. C., Ghaderi, A., et al. (2014). The effectiveness of acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) and REBT in chronic illness populations: A comparative review. International Journal of Psychology and Psychological Therapy, 14(1), 15–33.
  14. David, D., Lynn, S. J., & Ellis, A. (2010). Rational and Irrational Beliefs: Research, Theory, and Clinical Practice. Oxford University Press.
  15. Ellis, A., & Dryden, W. (2007). The practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (2nd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.