REBTOZ

I was doing my rounds at school the other day. A young student (7 years old) had a waste paper bin over his  head. This sounds a bit like the intro of a joke (I went to the doctor the other day...). Anyway I spoke to the student and he told me he did this because 'I'm rubbish and that's where I belong.' On other occasions he had said to me that he was bad/naughty. This kind of talk would suggest to me (as a Rational Emotive Behaviour Educator) that the child has constructed a view of himself that is irrational and therefore self defeating. Somehow he has concluded that he has no worth ('I'm rubbish') which is reflected in his poor behaviour and in the tears he shed's when we talk about this.  So how do we help this sad (depressed?) young person mend his breaking (broken?) spirit?  Albert Ellis said 'the future of psychology and psychotherapy is in the school system' but 'the future' is yet to arrive it would seem. Educati...

Kids who present with anger, anxiety, depression have an A=C constructed view of the world, themselves and others e.g. I am angry (C) because you (A) made me angry. It was your fault I did what I did. This view is underpinned by an irrational set of core beliefs of which there are many. The main ones are: I must get what I want You must give me what I want And life should be easy These beliefs are learned, deeply (unconciously) embedded and students will not know this unless it is taught to them. That's where Rational Emotive Behaviour Education comes in. Educators at Para Hills Primary teaching REBT through Rational Emotive Behaviour Education We would like students to understand how their thinking, feeling and behaving are interconnected so that they can begin to learn how to manage themselves more effectively. I.e. we want them to understand that A+B=C which is Albert Ellis' ABC Theory of Emotional Disturbance. This is a useful theory and is a constructivi...