Rational Emotive Behaviour
Education (REBE) is a powerful teaching tool to use in the classroom at any
level. It is based on REBT (Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy). It’s been
around a long time, and started out as RET (Rational Emotive Therapy) in
the 1960’s.
Dr. Albert Ellis created the theory
and his counselling paradigm, the ABC Theory of Emotional (and
behavioural) Disturbance, provides us with a framework for our teaching and
counselling practice. As with all effective teaching it helps to know what we
are doing and why. So, step one in our learning journey would be to understand
what the ABC Theory is.
ABC easy as 1,2,3…
It might appear easy, but there’s
more to it than meets the eye. And therein lies the genius of Albert Ellis as
he took all his reading, thinking and psychotherapy practice and put it into a
little package, a formula for us to use in the classroom. Indeed, Albert Ellis
said a long time ago that:
‘The future of psychotherapy is in
the school system.’
So, acquaint yourself with the ABC
theory and begin your learning journey and remember whilst you may readily
understand what the model is on first impressions, it will take a lot longer to
fully appreciate what it means and this will come with practice and again as
Ellis said we all need to ‘practice, practice, practice’ to
get better at what we do.
And the other Albert, Albert
Einstein said:
‘If you can't explain it simply,
you don't understand it well enough.’
The ABC Theory has a lot of layers
to it and when you get to the point where you can do as Einstein said, you’re
on your way. And of course, we never stop learning and the more we engage with
the ABC Theory the more we will learn and discover!
The ‘A’ bit
‘A’ represents whatever happens
that may evoke some kind of emotional and behavioural response to it e.g., I
didn’t do so well in my driving test. Or at school a child is not included in a
game at lunch break, or a child finds that when she looks in her school bag at
recess, her drink and snack is not there! Any happening or event is the A
component of the ABC Theory, the Activating event.
The ‘B’ bit
‘B’ represents what we believe; our
personally constructed philosophy, what we think about ourselves, others, and
life in general. The beliefs we have may not be something we are aware of and
the ABC Theory helps us to identify what they are and to decide if they are
helpful or unhelpful.
Ellis called unhelpful thinking
irrational as it stops us achieving our goals i.e., for happiness and success.
And helpful thinking, he called rational thinking. Any thinking, rumination
about or perception, interpretation of an event or happening is the B component
of the ABC Theory, what we Believe.
The ‘C’ bit
‘C’ represents how we respond
emotionally and behaviourally to an event, A. When a child is not included in a
game at recess for example, the event A of the ABC Theory, how she might feel
and behave is the C component of the ABC Theory. Does she feel a little
disappointed or does she feel enraged? What does she decide to do? How we might
feel and behave in response to A, the Activating event, is the
emotional Consequence of A.
And there’s more ... The D, E and F
bits!
‘D’ represents the process of
challenging the identified beliefs at ‘B’ which are causing us emotional and
behavioural distress at C. This stage of the ABC’s, the ‘D’ bit, stands
for Disputation, where we challenge (Dispute) the veracity of what
we believe at B. Are you still with me? It’s worth persisting so on to the ‘E’
bit!
‘E’ represents a new way of seeing
or thinking about things because we’ve learned to appreciate that what we
believed at ‘B’ of The ABC Theory, is not helpful as it is associated with
extreme emotional and behavioural upset. Once we identify the habits of
thinking that ail us, and we work hard to dispute them, we can replace them
with more helpful, rational ones. We have a new and improved way of regarding
or thinking about uninvited happenings, new effective rational thinking
E.
‘F’ represents a new, improved
better way of Feeling about things at A, because the
irrational beliefs we once held at B of the ABC model, have been challenged
(disputed) and changed to more rational ones.
And there we have it, the ABC
Theory of Emotional (and behavioural) Disturbance … and the D’s, the E’s, and
the F’s!
A simple example of the application
the ABC (& D and E) Theory for your consideration follows.
A - A driver on the road lets
someone in who doesn’t acknowledge the courteous act.
B – The driver thinks, ‘How rude!
He should have waved back. What an #$%^&!!’
C- The driver feels extreme
annoyance and anger and waves his fist at the other driver.
D – The drivers thinking at B is
challenged e.g., why should he have waved back? Could there be
any reasons why he didn’t? Is it so bad that you can’t stand it? Can you think
of other things that could happen worse than this? Where do you think this sits
on your catastrophe scale?
E – Next time emotions are kept in
check because the driver now thinks, ‘people don’t always have to do what I
think they should. This is not a big deal so I won’t make it one. He’s not
‘bad’ because he didn’t acknowledge me.’
F – The driver experiences a
modified, improved way of feeling about what’s happened as at B, irrational
beliefs have been identified, challenged, and changed.
Know your ABC’s (and D’s and E’s)!
There are many articles available
that will help you develop a greater depth of understanding and appreciation of
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy and its application in schools through
Rational Emotive Behaviour Education. I can recommend some articles that will
help you on your learning journey which you can request via the email address
provided.
So, think about the above and
consider if it is something you can work with in your teaching or counselling
practice. Does it sit well with what you know about Social Emotional Behaviour
Wellbeing teaching and learning? Can you incorporate your new learning into
current practice?
P.S. You can find more information
here www.rebtnetwork.org
Giulio is a member of the International Committee for The Advancement of Rational Emotive Education.
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