rational settings. Rational Emotional Behavioral Therapy by Albert Ellis

Recipe for Happiness by Albert Ellis

“The best years of your life are when you decide

that your problems belong to you.

You don't blame them on the mother, the environment or the president.

You realize that you are in control of your own destiny.”

A. Ellis.

Rational Emotional Behavioral Therapy (REBT) was created by Albert Ellis in 1955. Such a long name expresses the main idea of REBT: the behavior and feelings of a person are determined not by external events (environmental stimuli) directly, but by his irrational beliefs about these events. Correction of these beliefs leads to a change not only in his painful emotions, but also in the whole system of (neurotic) behavior.

“Neurosis is the stupid behavior of an intelligent person,” says the aphorism of the REBT master. In order to change it, the therapeutic means that are usually relied upon (empathy, acceptance) are not enough. Love doesn't always heal and doesn't always heal... “The trouble with most therapies,” Ellis remarks in this regard, “is that they make you feel better. However, things are not going any better for you.” It is necessary to teach a person to think differently: rationally, flexibly, and also to teach him to apply a new style of thinking in his daily life.

Long before A. Ellis, the main idea of REBT was formulated by Epictetus (Έπίκτητος, 50-138), an ancient Greek Stoic philosopher: “People are upset not by events, but by how they perceive them.” Epictetus preached the ideas of Stoicism; he believed that the main task of philosophy is to teach people to distinguish between what is in our power to do and what is not. We are not subject to everything that is outside of us, the bodily, the external world. It is not these things themselves, but only our ideas about them that make us happy or unhappy; but our thoughts, aspirations, and consequently our happiness are subject to us.

Model "ABC"

The ABC model is the core of REBT theory and the true ABC (ABC) of helping to overcome mentally harmful thoughts, feelings and actions. It describes not only the process of occurrence of erroneous emotions and human behavior, but also how to eliminate their causes.

"A" (activators, English activating events) - these are any current events or thoughts, behavior in connection with these events, and possibly memories or thoughts about past experiences. But the "A"s themselves are only activators. All problems arise because in "A" each person brings something of his own: his beliefs, goals, physiological predisposition, attitudes, views - "B" (English beliefs).

And already "B" leads precisely to that, and not to another "C" - a consequence (English consequences). If rational views lead to productive behavior, then irrational views lead to self-destruction and irrational behavior.

It is for this reason that all our psychological problems arise.

Revolution in psychotherapy

Human behavior and feelings are in no way directly determined by external events (environmental stimuli). Man is a talking animal, which means that all his behavioral reactions are mediated by artificial stimuli, or speech (i.e. our behavior and feelings are regulated by verbal instructions). At first, we receive such instructions from parents and teachers: “Study well! If you study poorly, you will not succeed in life!”, “Don't be afraid! A real man is not afraid of anything!” Later, these verbal instructions are internalized and gradually cease to be realized, turning into "ultimate truth." Life, the people around us and ourselves should be the way we want to see them:

"The director should appreciate me at my true worth."

“There should be no grief and disappointment in my life.”

"Children should take care of their parents."

"I have to be successful in everything I do."

“Many people behave like children all their lives,” said A. Ellis: they perceive their desires as vital needs, they are convinced that they must succeed in all endeavors, that others should treat them fairly, and their living conditions should be comfortable. And when their dogmatic demands are not met - and this happens all the time - they feel miserable.

The main goal of REBT is to identify and correct irrational beliefs, which entails a change in both emotions and behavior. “I was hated by almost all psychologists and psychiatrists. They thought I was superficial and stupid. And all because I said that therapy does not have to last for years ... ”A. Ellis.

REBT in action

Psychotherapy is understood as treatment, where the main “drug” is the word of the doctor. Communicating with the patient, he inevitably affects him psychologically and, helping to change his attitude towards himself and the world around him, contributes to recovery. The main methods of such influence include rational psychotherapy. It can be combined with occupational therapy, etc.

Rational therapy in psychology

It aims to influence the patient with logically reasoned explanations. That is, the doctor explains to the patient what is difficult for him to understand and accept. Having received clear and simple arguments, the patient renounces his false beliefs, overcomes pessimistic ideas and gradually moves towards recovery. Rational therapy uses a variety of techniques:

indirect suggestion;
emotional impact;
didactic methods.

Frequent practice implies a dialogue between the doctor and the patient, while much will depend on the personality of the specialist, his ability to convince and listen, gain confidence and be sincerely interested in the fate of the patient. Such treatment has several directions, and some of its provisions and techniques are consistent with the method of neurolinguistic programming.

Rational-emotional psychotherapy

This direction was proposed in 1955 by Albert Ellis. He believed that the causes of mental disorders are irrational - erroneous cognitive attitudes. The main types of psychological problems include:

Self-abasement and self-treatment.
Exaggeration of the negative components of the situation.

Rational psychotherapy techniques help patients to accept themselves and increase their tolerance for frustration. In this case, the doctor acts according to the following scheme:

Explains and explains. Interprets the essence of the disease, which helps the patient to get a clear and clear picture of the disease and more actively control it.
Convinces. It corrects not only the cognitive, but also the emotional aspect, modifies the patient's personal attitudes.
Reorients. Changes in the patient's attitudes become stable, the value system in relation to the disease changes, and he goes beyond it.
Educates. Creates positive prospects for the patient after overcoming the disease.

Rational Cognitive Psychotherapy

The previous direction is one of its main branches. Their theoretical positions and techniques used are close, but the methods of rational psychotherapy, where the emphasis is on emotions, are more structured, and work with the patient is consistent. Cognitive techniques include:

Socratic dialogue;
the art of "filling the void";
decatastrophization;
method of similarities and similarities;
reattribution;
reformulation;
decentralization.

At the same time, in his work, the doctor uses role-playing games, exposure treatment, the technique of diverting attention and planning activities. All this helps the patient to recognize the erroneous nature of his thinking, take responsibility for his actions and get rid of mental problems. At the same time, it is necessary that the doctor had an idea of the achievements of logic and owned the modern theory of argumentation.

Rational-emotive psychotherapy

It is based on assumptions about human nature and the origin of people's misfortunes or emotional disturbances. All kinds of false ideas, such as the inability to control external circumstances or the desire to always and in everything be the first, are common in society. They are accepted and reinforced by self-hypnosis, which can provoke neurosis, because they cannot be implemented. But regardless of the influence of external factors, people can act independently and the recognition of this ability formed the basis of the theory of behavior and personality disorders A-B-C.

Rational and explanatory psychotherapy proves that if you think rationally and rationally, then the consequences will be the same, and if the belief system is insane and unrealistic, then the consequences will be destructive. By recognizing this relationship, one can change such attitudes, actions and behaviors in response to external circumstances and situations.

Rational-emotional therapy (RET) by A. Ellis

Continuing the speech about cognitive psychology and psychotherapy, it should also be noted the developments of its other representative - Albert Ellis. Like Beck, Ellis attached great importance to the human cognitive sphere, which was completely ignored by the behavioral approach to therapy that was popular at the time.

In 1955, Albert Ellis proposed a new type of therapy, which he called rational therapy. He wanted to emphasize that our psychological problems are based not so much on specific events as on our irrational attitudes, irrational beliefs that prevent us from accepting life as it is. In 1961, having improved and supplemented his therapy, Ellis gave it a new name - rational-emotional therapy, RET for short. Under this name, it is used to this day, although Ellis himself in 1993 renamed it again to rational-emotional behavioral therapy, or REPT, thus emphasizing the importance of attention to the real behavior of the client, which allows it to be attributed to both behavioral and cognitive psychotherapy. The new name has not taken root, and despite the fact that the latest version of therapy is currently being used in the work, it is called by its former name - RET.

If behavioral therapy seeks to change behavior by transforming external conditions, then RET sees its task in changing emotions, and then behavior, through the transformation of thoughts. The essence of the RET concept can be reflected in the scheme: A-B-C, where A - activation event - exciting (activating) event; B - belief system - belief system; C - emotional consequence - emotional consequences. It seems that emotion immediately follows the activating event, but Ellis believed that between them there are necessarily thoughts and beliefs of a person. Anxiety and other negative emotions are triggered by irrational cognitions. Ellis believed that such irrational thoughts and beliefs needed to be considered and exposed by rational thought. This will help to overcome them and the negative feelings provoked by them.

Ellis distinguished two types of cognition: descriptive and evaluative. Descriptive (or describing) - represent relatively objective information about reality, evaluative - express a person's attitude to the perceived. The latter are connected by varying degrees of rigidity: evaluative cognitions are close to reality and very far from it. Ellis called the latter irrational judgments, which include such errors as incorrect conclusions, absolutization, exaggeration, simplification, etc.

One of the goals of Ellis therapy is to separate the negative feelings, emotions and beliefs that are periodically present in any person into rational and irrational. In other words, there are events that, in their essence, should cause sadness, sadness, some dissatisfaction, this is a normal reaction of a healthy person. But sometimes experiences arise on the basis of irrational beliefs, for example, when a person suffers because, having set himself unrealistic goals, he cannot achieve them, or because he cannot accept reality as it is, is tormented by the fact that nothing impossible to change. Feelings with such a basis do not help solve problems. It should be noted that Ellis did not use the concept of "irrational" in the sense of pathology. He called rational that which helps a person to achieve the goals that he really needs, and irrational - everything that prevents this, and it is precisely certain beliefs - “cognitions” that interfere.

Ellis primarily referred absolutist cognitions to irrational beliefs. These are various duties - categorical and inflexible, when a person perceives the world through the concepts of "should", "necessary". For some, this “must-should not” extends to themselves and their immediate circle of communication, for others - to a distant circle, for others - it generally reaches an existential level, that everything in the world is not like that and should be different. Ellis believed that the most important moment in gaining mental health is the rejection of absolutization - “should” must be replaced with “should”, “would be good”, “would like”. That is, to soften the rigidity of the requirements for oneself, others, the surrounding reality, which drive a person into intolerable inner discomfort and create the same unbearable discomfort for others. Instead of being pleasant, a person sticks out his hard corners in all directions and then is surprised that no one is approaching him. This is because these corners can be cut off and hit.

Irrational ideas lead to negative emotions (depression, anxiety, anger, guilt), which seriously interfere with the implementation of goals. They underlie dysfunctional behaviors such as decision avoidance, procrastination, alcoholism, and so on. At the same time, cognitions create programs of self-fulfilling prophecies as a result of constant exercise and reinforcement, that is, a vicious circle arises - a negative judgment causes a negative emotion, and that confirms a negative judgment, such as "everything is bad."

Ellis paid much attention to the first (setting) acquaintance of the psychotherapist with the patient.

Here is an approximate instruction of a RET psychotherapist:

“The therapy that we are starting is aimed at teaching you how to manage your emotions and get rid of negative experiences. In the early stages of the work, you will be given the opportunity to understand the ways in which you have created your negative feelings. You can also change these ways and thereby experience other, positive emotions. All this will require you to be active in work both here and at home, since therapy involves doing homework, listening to audio recordings, reading special literature. I am not a magician and a wizard who will instantly save you from problems. I can be a guide that will help you get on the road to your desired goal ”(Fedorov A.P., 2002).

It must be said that Ellis did not share the opinion of representatives of Rogerian humanistic therapy about the decisive role of empathic support without the active intervention of the therapist. Ellis agreed that the client should be accepted as he is, but believed that this, however, should not exclude the appropriate activity of the psychotherapist, who can, if necessary, criticize the patient, expose his erroneous judgments. Ellis believed that uncritical, benevolent acceptance of the patient perpetuates his problems, as is often the case in the family. And he especially actively recommended attacking the self-tyranny of duty, when the patient drives himself into stress and anxiety by excessive demands on himself and those around him.

Based on extensive practical experience, Ellis differentiated approaches to different types of patients. Thus, he recommends avoiding an overly friendly, emotionally charged style of interaction with "hysterical" patients; overly intellectual style with "obsessive-compulsive" patients; overly directive style with people whose sense of autonomy is easily shaken; overly active style with patients who fall too quickly into passivity.

Consider the stages of emotional-rational therapy.

The first step is to discover and verbalize (clearly verbalize) irrational beliefs. At the same time, special attention is paid to absolutist cognitions, which are manifested in the patient's use of the words "should", "should", "necessary". This so-called tyranny of duty becomes the main object of therapeutic work. The therapist must show the client how this belief system weighs on him.

Once the core irrational beliefs are clarified, work begins on restructuring these cognitions at three levels: cognitive, emotional, and behavioral.

At the cognitive level, the main task of the therapist is to force the patient to give up perfectionism (exaggerated demands for perfection), showing him that this alone will make his life simpler and more joyful.

Socratic dialogue and cognitive debate are used here (a gradual bringing of the client's beliefs to the discovery of their incorrectness and harmfulness).

To influence on emotional damage, the drama of preferences and shoulds is played out to distinguish between these two phenomena - “it would be better” and “should” with the help of role-playing games. Persuasion is carried out at the level of emotions.

To enhance the emotional background, the therapist can, for example, invite members of the therapeutic group to tell one of its participants what they think about him, or encourage participants to admit their shortcomings, “shameful” feelings (envy, hostility, etc.). To do this, patients will have to show courage and make an effort on themselves, but as a result they will see that the group does not condemn them, accepts them as they are, and participants can experience a sense of mutual trust and closeness. To enhance this effect, Ellis used techniques that bring sensual pleasure: a friendly hug, stroking, the expression of kind words that patients had not dared to do before.

At the behavioral level, work is aimed not only at eliminating symptoms, but also at changing cognitions. For example, the tendency to perfectionism can be reduced by doing the following tasks for the therapist:

? overcome shyness and make an appointment;
? deliberately fail when speaking to the public (therapeutic group);
? imagine yourself enduring the situation of failure;
? imagine yourself in difficult circumstances and accept them;
? allow yourself to enjoy activities only after completing an unpleasant but necessary task;
? start doing things right away, without putting it off for later, while enduring the discomfort of fighting the habit;
? take on an unpleasant task for the sake of delayed goals;
? from time to time to behave as an already rationally thinking person (so that the patient can understand that changes are possible).

Albert Ellis sought to bring emotional and rational perception to the same level, that is, to show a person his true needs, and not those real, patient, false or unreal, overstated or understated needs. The work of the psychotherapist should consist largely in revising the goals and desires of the client, assessing them - is this really what he needs, or does it just seem to him that maybe these are far-fetched, and not true needs, and it is they who take away energy from achieving what is truly truly needed?

Ellis believed that for psychological well-being, a person needs to have important life goals and actively strive to achieve them. Therefore, one of the tasks of the therapist in cognitive counseling is to analyze what goals his client sets and what he does to achieve them. After all, goals can be the most “rational”, but at the same time a person does not really do anything to achieve them, he only thinks about it, but postpones everything for later. So, for example, a person decided to find a job, but every day he finds reasons to postpone the search, being distracted by all sorts of other unrelated things. Start, act, and along the way, something will be added that will strengthen your position! Because delayed actions, if we recognize their necessity, give rise to neuroses, and those in turn are aggravated by further inaction. Therefore, if a person really understands that it is necessary to act, he must begin to act without fear of failure. There is a very good proverb: "Not every action brings success, but there is no success without action." We must understand that not every step promises us success, but if we do nothing at all, then there will be no success. This is a very therapeutic proverb and can be used as an objection to a client's resistance. "Well, I acted, acted - and nothing happened." And you immediately remember: "Not every action brings success, but there is no success without action." Even if you did not achieve victory this time, but without making an attempt, there would be no chance of achieving it at all.

It is very important that the goals are adequate, not overstated, otherwise you will never achieve them, but you will only be disappointed and will always be in frustration, nervous tension, and not underestimated, as they will not allow a person to realize personal growth, reveal their potential, which will also make a person unhappy. Abraham Maslow said: "I warn you that if you refuse to realize your abilities, you will be a deeply unhappy person." Like everything in nature - any blade of grass, any animal - so a person is programmed for maximum self-realization, and when, not due to some circumstances, but independently, a person moves away from development into passivity, laziness or some false goals, then this eventually causes frustration, dissatisfaction, tension and emotional, and sometimes even somatic disturbances.

Since a person lives in society, sometimes the achievement of his personal goals may not be consistent with the goals and desires of other people, which leads to conflicts both with others and with himself. He often has to solve a dilemma: to give up his desires or to act against the desires of others. This moment is also the subject of the work of a counseling psychologist or therapist, who must see where the client's desires and aspirations conflict with the desires and aspirations of other people, and help him find a reasonable compromise. If a person “pulls the blanket over himself” all the time, his relationships with other people will deteriorate, become fragile and insincere, and if, on the contrary, he constantly gives in to others, then his own desires will suffer and his self-realization will not occur, from which the person will also will feel miserable. This means that it is necessary to be diplomatic and show that “I am ready to give in, but I am counting on certain concessions from you, let's try to be more mutually compliant!”. In many cases, the psychologist will find that there are no real contradictions as such, there is simply a different assessment of conflicting events, which is based on different psychological attitudes. And it may turn out that in order to resolve the conflict, it will be enough to look at the situation differently, and then it will become clear that the satisfaction of your desire will actually not hurt anyone. To do this, it is necessary to investigate what beliefs underlie actions - rational, allowing to achieve the goal or irrational, preventing this.

Ellis's approach can also be called hedonistic. We know that there is such a direction in philosophy - hedonism. Its ancestor was Aristippus, who lived in ancient Greece. According to this current, the purpose of human life lies in obtaining pleasure. And, apparently, nature itself has laid in a person certain indicators of what he should strive for. The bad, as a rule, is unpleasant, painful; and the good brings pleasure. And one should be less led by social prejudices and trust the voice of nature more, because she could not make good and pleasant sinful and bad. It must be said that Ellis put a slightly different meaning into this term, hedonism. He spoke of the so-called delayed hedonism. What it is? Ellis believed that a person should have certain delayed pleasures, for the sake of which he is now ready to endure some discomfort. For example, you understand that you will enjoy receiving a diploma and further good employment. But for this, now it is necessary to engage in and sometimes do certain work, pass tests and exams, which are now right across your throat. Knowing that your real efforts will eventually pay off helps you force yourself to study hard (to bore yourself with some activity). An athlete trains, tortures himself, in order to win later and receive awards and glory, because he understands that without effort he will not achieve what he wants.

Many neurotic personalities do not know how to live with delayed hedonism. They prefer instant hedonism and follow the principle “if I can’t get something right away, then I won’t try,” that is, they cannot set themselves up for the fact that effort now will lead to success in the future. This is one of the most important tasks in raising children - to teach them from childhood to work for delayed pleasure: if you finish a quarter well, you will get a bicycle, etc. Children must learn to force themselves to endure hardships, and not just for the sake of it, but for the sake of receiving pleasures in the future. Friedrich Engels said: "Man must live the joys of tomorrow." A person should have as many different delayed joys as possible, associated, for example, with a pleasant meeting, achievement, success or some other pleasure in the future, the expectation of which brightens our life today.

Ellis identified several criteria for psychological health:

? observance of own interests;
? social interest;
? self-management, readiness for reasonable cooperation;
? high tolerance to states of frustration;
? flexibility, non-regularity in relation to oneself and others;
? acceptance of uncertainty;
? devotion to creative pursuits;
? scientific thinking;
? self acceptance;
? riskiness;
? delayed hedonism.

Let's try to unravel these concepts.

Ellis believed that one of the signs of a person's mental norm is his healthy selfishness. What did he mean by this term? First of all, that a person should not forget about his interests. Complete subordination of oneself to other people's desires Ellis considered an unhealthy phenomenon, as well as the opposite situation. That is, it should be a reasonable consideration of one's own and others' interests, but with the priority of one's own.

In this regard, the position of the so-called altars is unhealthy and forms the unhealthiness of others, in the role of which parents often act, sacrificing themselves and their interests to the interests of children. It seems to them that by doing this they are doing better for their children, but in reality they spoil them, make them unable to achieve their goals on their own.

Sometimes this happens to mothers, and more often to single mothers who for the sake of their child refuse any pleasure. And what example do such parents set for their children? If a mother really wants the best for her, for example, her daughter, then instead of depriving herself of everything, she should show her that, despite the difficulty of the situation, a woman copes, does not lose heart, takes care of herself, she is attractive to men, and is able to rejoice and think about your own interests. The daughter should see before her an example of what one should be. Otherwise, she will grow up selfish or as “flawed” as her mother, believing from childhood that to love another means to completely abandon her own desires. That is, healthy egoism is a necessary condition for the well-being of not only the person himself, but also his loved ones, for whom he is ready to sacrifice himself.

The ability to observe one's own interests is complemented by another important characteristic of the norm - the ability to take into account and social interest. That is, the fact that a person lives a complete egoist, thinking only about his needs, Ellis recognized as abnormal. He believed that healthy views are expressed in the ability to take into account not only one's own interest, but to be attentive to other people's needs, and also to be capable of cooperation and cooperation.

The next standard criterion is self management. This, on the one hand, is the readiness to independently solve one's problems, without shifting them onto the shoulders of others and bearing responsibility for the results obtained, and on the other hand, the ability to accept help if necessary, enter into cooperation and cooperation. Here it is important to emphasize the fact that a person, always relying primarily on himself, does not refuse reasonable assistance and is himself capable of being useful on occasion, this is a manifestation of healthy beliefs.

Another characteristic of the norm sounds like high1 sai tolerance for frustration. Recall that tolerance means tolerance, the ability to endure, and frustration is defined as a strong emotional dissatisfaction. The essence of the characteristic lies in the fact that a person with healthy cognitions is able to experience and overcome life's difficulties without slipping into a deep depression. Life is impossible without setbacks, troubles and difficulties, and it is natural to feel upset when they happen, but this should not unsettle a person, make them abandon things and give up. And it is precisely the presence of tolerance for frustration that helps a person to resist the ongoing troubles.

Psychological health is also determined by the ability to exercise flexibility, nonrigidity(rigidity, as you know, is a lack of flexibility) towards oneself and others. Flexibility can be described as the ability of a person to change their thoughts and actions, if necessary, in accordance with new circumstances, thus adapting to a constantly changing environment. The world does not stand still, and in order to be successful, a person must change with it. But here it is mainly about the flexibility of cognitions. Each person has his own principles, these are quite stable human beliefs that create a system of views on the world. Some of them should remain unchanged, but some should change from time to time. Excessive rigidity of beliefs can hinder the development of a person and prevent his normal functioning in general. The most important point of Ellis' rational-emotional therapy is the definition of rigidly fixed beliefs, which, due to their rigidity, cause a lot of trouble for the patient. It happens like this: a person, following his principles, not wanting to change them, complicates life for himself and others, rests on various points that turn out to be insignificant in rational therapy, and it also turns out that you can look at these things differently. For example, I may not like the behavior of some person, and not because it is objectively bad, but because I personally do not like it, but I take it and give it objectivity. I begin to believe that this is not my subjectivity, but an important principle that must be observed. This, of course, will begin to prevent me from communicating normally with others, and even with myself.

Now consider the characteristic acceptance of uncertainty. We know that exact definitions exist only in the abstract science of mathematics. In life, some element of uncertainty, tolerance is always allowed. Even gold is not one hundred percent - it is there 99 with something, of the highest standard. Therefore, nothing in life happens one hundred percent, but not for neurotics - they are not tolerant of uncertainty, everything should be like this, only like that, and nothing else! People with such beliefs drive themselves into the framework of their ideas. And since others cannot be driven there, they worry that they are not understood, they are not loved, everything is done to spite them. And so they feel very unhappy. Therefore, the acceptance of the fact that there is some uncertainty in everything, the recognition that not everything and not always happens as we would like, is important to reduce internal stress.

The next standard criterion is dedication to creativity- determines the presence of creativity in human life. It appears in the desire to learn and try something new, to be interested in various things, art or science, to have hobbies, hobbies, and not out of necessity, but out of a person’s inner need. That is, this is the desire to enrich and saturate one's life, and not reduce it to the automatism of everyday affairs.

Scientific thinking. What does scientific thinking mean? George Kelly said that every person in his life acts like a scientist, but only at the everyday level. What does a scientist do? Puts forward a hypothesis, conducts an experiment, obtains results that confirm or refute the main provisions. If the hypothesis is not confirmed, then the scientist revises it and tries to do something differently. In fact, this is what happens in our lives. Before we do something, we first assume what will come of it, we expect to get some result. And then we perform an action, an experiment and check - did it work out what I expected, or not? If the hypothesis is not confirmed, then it is necessary to think about what to do next, what should be changed in the initial positions. What happens to the neurotic personality? The hypothesis does not change, although it has not been repeatedly confirmed and is not confirmed further, bringing a person great discomfort and torment. But, despite this, the neurotic cannot change the hypothesis, his attitude towards himself, or people, or a certain business, and so on, because he cannot understand that the problem lies precisely in itself, that it needs to be corrected, since the results of actions are deplorable. Therefore, one of the therapist's tasks is to analyze the client's hypotheses for their rationality.

Self acceptance. This is the ability to accept yourself as you are, with all the pluses and minuses. We do not always perceive ourselves adequately; some of our abilities we overestimate, and some we underestimate. When a person inadequately evaluates himself, he can be upset all the time, because others evaluate him differently than he does himself, and a person can always think: “They don’t understand me.” Or he thinks: “I don’t present myself like that,” and, fearing to be unsuccessful, he begins to do something completely uncharacteristic of him. This is mistake. Because a natural person is always perceived better than a made one, because no one likes falsehood. And it always seems to us that we need to pretend to be something, then I will look better, then they will perceive me better. This is illusion and torment. Yesenin wrote: “Happiness is the dexterity of the mind and hands. All awkward souls are always known for the unprivate, but you don’t understand how much torment broken deceitful gestures bring. When a person begins to play a role that is not his own, even a seemingly beautiful one, he experiences discomfort, because the chosen role does not really agree with his inner world. And so a person may be worried that others will notice this discrepancy. That is, the most effective will be to accept yourself as you are, and then the person will not have to build something out of himself. Don't be afraid of the word "lack". Or designate it as reserves, that is, where it seems to you that you have a gap in something, think: "I have a reserve for improvement."

Riskiness. This is the ability to take reasonable risks in certain situations. The English have a proverb: "Nothing venture nothing have", which translates as: "To risk nothing - to have nothing." It perfectly characterizes this criterion of psychological health. Expressing the essence - risking, you can achieve success. Here it is important to understand that in life it is impossible to remain passive, it requires movement, action, and sometimes risk. Sometimes, in order to achieve development, it is necessary to take risks: change jobs or places of residence, start a family, etc. Otherwise, human life will turn into a stagnant swamp, stagnation. It is necessary not to be afraid of the new - ideas, acquaintances, activities, circumstances, etc. Risk is necessary to move forward. Our life is a risk.

And the last criterion of the norm - delayed hedonism. We discussed it in detail above, describing the features of Ellis's approach. The essence of this phenomenon lies in the ability to live with deferred joy, to consciously endure difficulties in the name of achieving success in the future.

So, we have considered all the criteria for a psychological norm, now I would like you to work on the following points.

Take another look at the listed mental health criteria, analyze how each of them is expressed in you, and also rate it on a 10-point scale (10 is the most pronounced, respectively, 1 is the least pronounced). At the same time, I suggest that you do not follow your first feeling when grading, but think carefully (remember examples from your own life), but it is better to ask a person who knows you how much this score really corresponds to the expression of one or another criterion of the norm.

Self-knowledge is the most interesting and fascinating process that has no limits of improvement. Therefore, try to evaluate your reserves for growth, use the word “reserves” rather than “shortcomings”. Because it is better to focus on reserves than on shortcomings, because the more resources you discover, the more it will inspire you. Moreover, you will see that many parameters are interconnected with each other. And if you want to develop one of them, the others will automatically develop as well. When you or your client justify your assessments, try to understand what beliefs you (or he) are guided by and whether these beliefs are rational, i.e. really helping him to realize himself, or they are still irrational.

Summarizing the tasks and essence of the RET procedure, we can say that in order to achieve a change in worldview, patients are recommended to:

1. Understand that their psychological problems arose not so much because of external conditions and events, but from their attitude towards them.
2. Believe that they are able to solve their own problems.
3. Realize that their problems are provoked mainly by irrational absolutist beliefs.
4. Understand your irrational cognitions and make sure that their problems can be looked at rationally.
5. Expose your irrational views with logic and common sense, as well as experimentally acting contrary to them.
6. By repeated repetitions with the help of cognitive, emotional and behavioral methods, bring new, rational beliefs to their full internal acceptance.
7. Constantly continue the process of positive restructuring of beliefs, replacing irrational cognitions with rational ones.

Workshop

1. Try to find in yourself (or your client) irrational beliefs and justify why you think they are.
2. Expose them with logic and common sense (you can use humor).
3. Formulate alternative rational cognitions on the identified problems.
4. Analyze your beliefs (or your client's) in terms of Ellis' mental health criteria, how you are implementing them, what reserves you have and how you are going to replenish them.

Questions for self-examination

1. Why did Ellis call his rational-emotional therapy this way?
2. Decipher the schema A-B-C.
3. What is the difference between rational and irrational cognitions?
4. What are absolutist cognitions and why are they harmful?
5. Describe the main stages of RET.
6. List the criteria for psychological health according to Ellis.
7. What is delayed hedonism?

Rational Emotive Therapy (RET) by Albert Ellis

RET founder A. Ellis (b. 1913) started as an orthodox psychoanalyst, then studied under the guidance of C. Horney. In the fifties of the twentieth century, A. Ellis formulated a number of provisions that formed the basis of a new direction in practical psychology. One of these provisions, often quoted by A. Ellis, is the statement of the StoicEpictetus: "People are not hindered by things, but by the way they see them."Already in this position, one of the main ideas of all cognitivism, starting with J. Kelly and up to the latest research in psychosemantics, is easily traced, namely: a person reflects and experiences reality depending on the structure of his individual consciousness. Hence - the main focus of his efforts in rational-emotive therapy: ways of reasoning and action. A. Ellis - apparently under the influence of A. Adler - pays considerable attention in his concept to the restructuring of I-statements and the analysis of unconditionally accepted norms and obligations of the individual. Based on emphatically scientific approaches to the structure of individual consciousness, RET seeks to free the client from the bonds and blinders of stereotypes and clichés, to provide a freer and more open-minded view of the world.

The idea of a person. In the concept of A. Ellis, a person is interpreted as self-evaluating, self-supporting and self-speaking. Besidesa person is born with a certain potential, which has two sides: rational and irrational; constructive and destructive, striving for love and growth and striving for destruction and self-blame, etc.

According to A. Ellis, psychological problems appear when a person tries to follow simple preferences (desires for love, approval, etc.) and mistakenly believes that these simple preferences are the absolute measure of his success in life. Man is a being extremely subject to various influences, from the biological level to the social one. Therefore, A. Ellis is not inclined to reduce all the changeable complexity of human nature to one thing - whether it is a psychoanalytic reduction or a favorable psychological climate of therapy centered on the client.

The main theoretical provisions of the concept. The concept of A. Ellis suggests thatthe source of psychological disorders, for all its diversity, is a system of individual irrational ideas about the world, assimilated, as a rule, in childhood from significant adults.Neurosis, in particular, is interpreted by A. Ellis as "irrational thinking and behavior." The core of emotional disorders is, as a rule, self-accusation.

RET distinguishes three leading psychological aspects of human functioning: thoughts (cognitions), feelings and behavior. A. Ellis identified two types of cognition: descriptive and evaluative.Descriptive cognitions contain information about reality, about what a person has perceived in the world, this is "pure" information about reality. Evaluative cognitions reflect a person's attitude to this reality.Descriptive cognitions are necessarily connected with evaluative connections of varying degrees of rigidity. Non-objective events in themselves cause us positive or negative emotions, and our internal perception of these events - their assessment. We feel what we think about what we perceive.

An important concept in RET is the concept of a "trap" - all those cognitive formations that are aware of unreasonable (neurotic) anxiety, irritability, etc. The concept of A. Ellis states that although it is pleasant to be loved in an atmosphere of acceptance, a person should also feel quite vulnerable outside of such an atmosphere. Therefore, a kind of“neurotic code” - erroneous judgments, the desire to fulfill which leads to psychological problems. Among them: “I I must prove to everyone that I am a successful, skillful and successful person; when they reject me, it's terrible”; “ I should be liked by all the people who matter to me”; “ l the best thing is to do nothing, let life decide for itself.”

A. Ellis proposed a polycomponent structure of personality behavioral acts, which he called the first letters of the Latin alphabet ( A-B-C-D - theory ). This theory, rather even a conceptual scheme, has found wide application in practical psychology, since it allows the client himself to conduct effective self-observation and self-analysis in the form of diary entries.In this conceptual scheme, A is the activating event, B (belief) is the opinion about the event, C (consequence) is the consequence (emotional or behavioral) of the event; D (dispating) - subsequent reaction to the event (as a result of mental processing); E (effect) - the final value conclusion (constructive or destructive).

"ABC-scheme" is used to help the client in a problem situation to move from irrational attitudes to rational ones. The work is being built in several stages.The first stage is clarification, clarification of the parameters of the event (A), including the parameters that most emotionally affected the client and caused him inadequate reactions.

At this stage, a personal assessment of the event takes place. Classification allows the client to differentiate between events that can and cannot be changed. At the same time, the goal of correction is not to encourage the client to avoid a collision with an event, not to change it (for example, moving to a new job in the presence of an insoluble conflict with the boss), but to become aware of the system of evaluative cognitions that make it difficult to resolve this conflict, restructure this system, and only after This is a decision to change the situation. Otherwise, the client retains a potential vulnerability in similar situations.

The second stage is the identification of the emotional and behavioral consequences of the perceived event (C).The purpose of this stage is to identify the entire range of emotional reactions to an event (since not all emotions are easily differentiated by a person, and some are suppressed and not realized due to the inclusion of rationalization and other defense mechanisms).

Awareness and verbalization of experienced emotions can be difficult for some clients: for some, because of a vocabulary deficit, for others, because of a behavioral deficit (absence in the arsenal of behavioral stereotypes usually associated with a moderate expression of emotions). Such clients react with polarized emotions, or strong love, or complete rejection.

The analysis of the words used by the client helps to identify irrational attitudes. Usually, irrational attitudes are associated with words that reflect the extreme degree of emotional involvement of the client (nightmarish, terrible, amazing, unbearable, etc.), having the character of a mandatory prescription (necessary, must, must, must, etc.), as well as global assessments of the person, object or events.

A. Ellis identified four most common groups of irrational attitudes that create problems:

1. Catastrophic installations.

2. Installations of obligatory obligation.

3. Installations of mandatory implementation of their needs.

4. Global evaluation settings.

The goal of the stage is achieved when irrational attitudes are identified in the problem area (there may be several of them), the nature of the connections between them (parallel, articulatory, hierarchical dependence) is shown, which makes understandable the multicomponent reaction of the individual in a problem situation.

It is also necessary to identify the rational attitudes of the client, since they constitute a positive part of the relationship, which can be expanded in the future.

The third stage is the reconstruction of irrational attitudes. Reconstruction should begin when the client easily identifies irrational attitudes in a problem situation. It can proceed: at the cognitive level, the level of imagination, the level of behavior - direct action.

Reconstruction at the cognitive level includes proof by the client of the truth of the attitude, the need to preserve it in a given situation. In the process of this kind of evidence, the client sees even more clearly the negative consequences of maintaining this attitude. The use of auxiliary modeling (how others would solve this problem, what attitudes they would have in this case) makes it possible to form new rational attitudes at the cognitive level.

Reconstruction at the level of imagination uses both negative and positive imagination. The client is asked to mentally immerse themselves in a traumatic situation. With a negative imagination, he should experience the previous emotion as fully as possible, and then try to reduce its level and realize through what new attitudes he managed to achieve this. Such immersion in a traumatic situation is repeated many times. The training can be considered effectively completed if the client has reduced the intensity of the experienced emotions with the help of several options for settings. With positive imagination, the client immediately presents a problem situation with a positively colored emotion.

Reconstruction with the help of direct action is a confirmation of the success of the modifications of attitudes carried out at the cognitive level and in the imagination. Direct actions are implemented according to the type of flooding techniques, paradoxical intention, modeling techniques.

The fourth stage is the consolidation of adaptive behavior with the help of homework tasks performed by the client independently. They can also be carried out at the cognitive level, in the imagination or at the level of direct actions. RET is primarily shown to clients who are capable of introspection, reflection, and analysis of their thoughts.

An analysis of the client's behavior or introspection according to the scheme: “event-perception-reaction-thinking-conclusion” has a very high productivity and a learning effect.In general, the psychological prerequisites for RET are as follows: 1) recognition of personal responsibility for one's own problems; 2) acceptance of the idea that there is an opportunity to influence these problems decisively; 3) recognition that emotional problems stem from irrational ideas; 4) detection (comprehension) of these representations; 5) recognition of the usefulness of a serious discussion of these ideas; 6) consent to make efforts to confront their illogical judgments; 7) consent to the use of RET.

Description of the advisory

and psychotherapeutic process

The goals of psychological assistance. The main goal is to help in revising the system of beliefs, norms and ideas. The private goal is liberation from the idea of self-accusation.A. Ellis, in addition, formulated a number of desirable qualities, the achievement of which can be a specific goal of counseling or psychotherapeutic work: social interest, self-interest, self-government, tolerance, flexibility, acceptance of uncertainty, scientific thinking, involvement, self-acceptance, ability to take risks, realism (not falling into utopia).

position of the psychologist. The position of a counseling psychologist or psychotherapist working in line with this concept is, of course, directive.He explains, convinces, he is an authority that refutes erroneous judgments, pointing out their inaccuracy, arbitrariness, etc. Appeals to science, to the ability to think and, in the words of A. Ellis, does not engage in “absolution”, after which the client may feel better, but it is not known whether life is easier.

Client position. The client is assigned the role of a studentand, accordingly, his success is interpreted depending on the motivation and identification
with the role of a student. It is assumed thatthe client goes through three levels of insight: superficial (awareness of the problem), in-depth (recognition of one's own interpretations) and deep (at the level of motivation to change).

Psychotechnics in rational-emotive therapy.RET is characterized by a wide range of psychotechniques, including those borrowed from other areas and united by a pronounced pragmatism*.

1 . Discussion and refutation of irrational views: the counseling psychologist actively discusses with the client, refutes his irrational views, requires proof, clarifies the logical grounds, etc.

Much attention is paid to softening categoricalness: instead of “you should” - “I would like”; instead of “it will be terrible if...” - “probably it will not be very convenient if...”

2. Cognitive homework: associated with introspection according to the ABC model and with the restructuring of habitual verbal reactions and interpretations.

Also used:

3. Rational-emotive imagination: The client is asked to vividly imagine a difficult situation for him and the feelings in it, then he is asked to change his sense of himself in the situation and see what changes in behavior this will cause.

4. Role play - Disturbing situations are usually played out, inadequate interpretations are worked out, especially those that carry self-accusation and self-abasement.

5. Attack on fear - the technique consists of a homework task, the meaning of which is to perform an action that usually causes fear or psychological embarrassment in the client.

Preview:

At the beginning of our practical lesson, we will conduct a small test that will help us answer the question of whether you have irrational attitudes.

Albert Ellis test. Methodology Diagnosis of the presence and severity of irrational attitudes. Rational Emotive Therapy (RET):

A - fully agree;

B - not sure

C - completely disagree.

Test questions:

Dealing with some people can be frustrating, but it's never terrible.
When I'm wrong about something, I often say to myself, "I shouldn't have done that."
People, of course, must live by the laws.
There is nothing that I "can't stand".
If I am ignored or I feel awkward at a party, then my sense of self-worth decreases.
Some situations in life are truly downright awful.
In some matters, I definitely should be more competent.
My parents should have been more restrained in their demands on me.
There are things that I cannot bear.
My sense of "self-worth" does not increase even if I have really great success in school or work.
Some kids are really awful.
I shouldn't have made a few obvious mistakes in my life.
If my friends promised to do something very important for me, they are not obliged to keep their promises.
I can't deal with my friends or my kids if they act stupid, wild or wrong in any given situation.
If you evaluate people by what they do, then they can be divided into "good" and "bad".
There are times in life when really, absolutely terrible things happen.
There is nothing in life that I really have to do.
Children must eventually learn to fulfill their responsibilities.
Sometimes I just can't bear my poor academic and work performance.
Even when I make serious mistakes and hurt others, my self-respect does not change.
It would be terrible if I couldn't woo the people I love.
I would like to study or work better, but there is no reason to believe that I should achieve this at all costs.
I am convinced that people should definitely not misbehave in public places.
I just can't stand a lot of pressure or stress on me.
The approval or disapproval of my friends or family members does not affect how I rate myself.
It would be a pity, but not terrible, if one of my family members had serious health problems.
If I decide to do something, I must definitely do it very well.
In general, I'm okay with teenagers behaving differently than adults, such as waking up late in the morning or throwing books or clothes on the floor in their room.
I can't stand some of the things that my friends or my family members do.
The one who constantly sins or brings evil to others is a bad person.
It would be terrible if someone I love got a mental illness and ended up in a psychiatric hospital.
I have to be absolutely sure that everything is going well in the most important areas of my life.
If it's important to me, my friends should strive to do whatever I ask them to.
I easily endure unpleasant situations that I find myself in, as well as unpleasant communication with acquaintances.
How I evaluate others (friends, bosses, teachers, lecturers) depends on how I evaluate myself.
It's terrible when my friends behave badly and incorrectly in public places.
I definitely shouldn't be making some of the mistakes that I keep making.
I don't think my family members should act exactly the way I want them to.
It's absolutely unbearable when things don't go the way I want them to.
I often evaluate myself by my success at work and school, or by my social achievements.
It will be terrible if I fail completely at work or school.
I, as a person, should not be better than I really am.
There are definitely some things that people around you shouldn't do.
Sometimes (at work or at school) people do things that I absolutely can't stand.
If I have serious emotional problems or break laws, my sense of self-worth goes down.
Even very bad, disgusting situations in which a person fails, loses money or a job, are not terrible.
There are several good reasons why I shouldn't make mistakes at school or at work.
There is no doubt that my family members should take better care of me than they sometimes do.
Even if my friends behave differently than I expect them to, I continue to treat them with understanding and acceptance.
It is important to teach children to be "good boys" and "good girls": to study hard in school and earn the approval of their parents.

The key to the A. Ellis test.

Give points for each answer

A - 1 point, except for questions 1,4,13,17,20,22,25, 26,28,34,38,42, 46,49 - 3 points for them

B - 2 points

C - 3 points except questions 1,4,13,17,20,22,25, 26,28,34,38,42, 46,49 - 1 point for them

Processing the results of the Ellis technique.

Catastrophe 1,6,11,16,21,26,31,36,41,46

Duties towards oneself 2,7,12,717,22,27,32,37,42,47

Duties towards others 3,8,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48

Self-esteem and rationality of thinking 5,10,15,20,25,30,35,40,45,50

Frustration tolerance 4,9,14,49,24,49,34,39,44,49

Interpretation, decoding for the Ellis test.

The "catastrophe" scale reflects people's perception of various adverse events. A low score on this scale indicates that it is natural for a person to evaluate every adverse event as terrible and unbearable, while a high score suggests the opposite.

The indicators of the scales "obligations towards oneself" and "obligations towards others" indicate the presence or absence of excessively high demands on oneself and others.

"Evaluative attitude" shows how a person evaluates himself and others. The presence of such an attitude may indicate that a person tends to evaluate not individual features or actions of people, but the personality as a whole.

The other two scales are an assessment of a person's frustration tolerance, which reflects the degree of tolerance for various frustrations (that is, it shows the level of stress resistance) and a general assessment of the degree of rationality of thinking.

Deciphering the results:

Less than 15 points - A pronounced and distinct presence of irrational attitudes leading to stress.

From 15 to 22 - The presence of an irrational attitude. The average probability of occurrence and development of stress.

More than - 22 There are no irrational attitudes.

So, the results are calculated, and I ask those who have the most irrational “catastrophizing” attitude to raise their hands. Unite, please, in a separate group. And now raise your hands, those who are dominated by "duty to themselves." Also join a group. (and so on) Obligations towards others; Self-esteem and rationality of thinking; frustration tolerance.

Now I would like to introduce you to the “ABC model” in more detail. Let's take a situation. For example, a woman with severe emotional disorders was rejected by her lover (A), she believes that this is terrible, that no one needs her, no one will ever love her again, and she deserves condemnation (B). Therefore, she is very depressed, upset (C).

A is the situation

B - thoughts

C - emotion

Task 1. In The following examples describe situations ABC, but all are missing B. You need to guess which thoughts(AT) need to paste to link the situation(A) and emotions (C). Define in each case A and C and enter B.

1. Anatoly's boss scolded him for being late. After that, Anatoly felt depressed.

2. Elena went through two therapy sessions and left her because she didn't think she was working.

3. Katerina has a stomach ache. She became scared.

4. Oleg was fined for speeding and got very angry.

5. Irina was embarrassed when her friends noticed that she was crying in the romantic scenes of the film.

6. Sergei was furious when the employee asked for his documents while he was filling out the questionnaire.

Task 2. Give five examples from your life in which your thoughts (B) caused painful emotions.(WITH). Describe them in terms ABC.

We invite each group to act out the situation given to it. And try to look at it from the other side. Those. first you play this situation, and then what thoughts and feelings it aroused in you. Then you need to change your thoughts about the situation and see how your emotions change. Of course, losing it.

Task 3. If B changes, then C will also change.

Give your clients some examples of AB. Take the situation (A) as a constant and the internal dialogue as a variable. Ask them to identify the emotion that different thoughts will evoke (B). Analyze different responses (C) to the same event (A).

The best examples are those created by the client himself. Their advantage is that they are personally significant and therefore have an inherent persuasive power. The therapist should encourage the client to think how, in his own examples, B is evoking C.

Self-esteem and rationality of thinking.

1. Imagine the situation that you went to a cafe to drink coffee, there you meet a friend who asks you to stay with her and her fellow hobbyists for a party in honor of her victory in the competition, which she just found out about. You stay, but no one pays attention to you. They talk about theirs. Roles: Client, her friend, friend of a friend, maybe a bystander

2. While shopping with a familiar company, you accidentally drop a purse from which half of the contents crumble, you have to collect it all across the floor in full view of the company, buyers and sellers. Roles: Customer, company or acquaintance can be other visitors, observer.

3. You are driving a car, at medium speed you fly through a large puddle, a fan of dirty splashes on both sides, and then your passenger tells you that two young people in white sweatshirts were passing on the sidewalk and you pretty much sprayed them. Roles client-driver, passenger, observer.

frustration tolerance.

1) The situation is you are walking down the street with a friend (oh) and he is telling you a story from life, shouting loudly expressing his emotions. Roles: client, acquaintance, observer.

2) You decided to stay at home on your only day off, your parents come up to you and say that you are going all together to your grandmother for a family dinner and more relatives will come there, you don’t want to go. Roles: client, parent, observer.

3) You are given a study task and suddenly you find that only you did not cope with it, because you did not understand anything. Roles: Client, classmate, observer.

Obligation to others.

1) You come home and find that they have prepared a nice dinner, but from what you do not like. Roles: client, family member, observer.

2) You go to school along a certain path and regularly in some places on your way, drivers park cars on the sidewalk for the whole day. Roles: client, driver, observer.

3) You have a final event after the competition, where it will become clear who the winner is, you or your opponent. It is very important for you, but the society and the format of the event is new to you. You ask a loved one to go with you, but he refuses because of the celebration at which he promised to be. Role: client, loved one, observer.

Obligation to yourself.

1) For several months you were paid a scholarship and you paid for a number of things you needed on your own, then they stop paying you because of your slight negligence. you understand that you can’t do without the usual things, but you can’t ask your parents either.

2) Your family went on vacation, and your mother left her favorite, very whimsical flower for you to care for, but you were very busy, and during your parents' vacation, the plant withered.

3) You decided to make repairs in your room, and despite the dissuasion of your loved ones, you decided to do it yourself. The process was long and painstaking, a large amount of money was spent, but the result of the repair was deplorable.

4) In a company you know well, a topic arises that is within your area of expertise, and you realize that you cannot say anything about it.

Catastrophization.

1) You need to get a job, as you have already been recommended by a close important person to you.

2) You need a job, you are in a critical situation. You found a job, but at the last moment another person is hired for the position.

3) You live in a rented apartment, the landlady of which informs you that in a week you must vacate the room, as she had unforeseen family circumstances. Naturally, moving was not part of your plans.

Task 4. Basic perceptual shift

1. In the first column, ask him to list all the thoughts or beliefs that cause him negative emotions in a certain situation. Obviously the list cannot go on forever. However, even if some thoughts seem repetitive, it is better to include them than to leave any pattern unfixed.

Worksheet perceptual shift

2. Help the client decide if each belief is helpful or not. Find evidence both for and against, and choose which is stronger. It is important that the client makes a decision based on objective data, and not influenced by subjective feelings. The client evaluates the usefulness of the persuasion in the second column.

3. In the third column, the client should write down the best argument against each thought or belief. Ideallythis argument should be both emotionally persuasive and rational-sounding.

4. "In the last column, the client must provide evidence from his own experience in support of each argument. This is the key to the perceptual shift technique. With the help of the therapist, the client must prove the argument by looking for evidence from his life experience.

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Slides captions:

Rational - emotive therapy by A. Ellis

The method belongs to the cognitive direction of psychotherapy. “People are not hindered by things, but by the way they see them” Epictetus

A person is born with a certain potential, which has two sides: rational and irrational; constructive and destructive, striving for love and growth and striving for destruction and self-blame, etc.

The source of psychological disorders, with all its diversity, is a system of individual irrational ideas about the world, assimilated, as a rule, in childhood from significant adults.

Descriptive cognitions contain information about reality, about what a person has perceived in the world, this is "pure" information about reality. Evaluative cognitions reflect a person's attitude to this reality.

"Neurotic Code" - erroneous judgments, the desire to fulfill which leads to psychological problems. Examples: “I have to prove to everyone that I am a successful, skilled and successful person; when they reject me, it's terrible”; “I must be liked by all the people who matter to me”; “The best thing is to do nothing, let life decide for itself.”

A-B-C-D - theory A - activating event, B (belief) - opinion about the event, C (consequence) - consequence (emotional or behavioral) of the event; D (dispating) - subsequent reaction to the event (as a result of mental processing); E (effect) - final value inference (constructive or destructive)

The first stage is clarification, clarification of the parameters of the event (A), including the parameters that most emotionally affected the client and caused him inadequate reactions. The second stage is the identification of the emotional and behavioral consequences of the perceived event (C).

A. Ellis identified four most common groups of irrational attitudes that create problems: 1. Catastrophic attitudes. 2. Installations of obligatory obligation. 3. Installations of mandatory implementation of their needs. 4. Global evaluation settings.

The third stage is the reconstruction of irrational attitudes. The fourth stage is the consolidation of adaptive behavior with the help of homework tasks performed by the client independently.

An analysis of the client's behavior or introspection according to the scheme: “event-perception-reaction-thinking-conclusion” has a very high productivity and a learning effect.

Psychological prerequisites for RET: 1) recognition of personal responsibility for one's problems; 2) acceptance of the idea that there is an opportunity to influence these problems decisively; 3) recognition that emotional problems stem from irrational ideas; 4) detection (comprehension) of these representations; 5) recognition of the usefulness of a serious discussion of these ideas; 6) consent to make efforts to confront their illogical judgments; 7) consent to the use of RET.

Description of the counseling and psychotherapeutic process

The main goal is to help in revising the system of beliefs, norms and ideas. The private goal is liberation from the idea of self-accusation.

The position of a psychologist-consultant or psychotherapist working in line with this concept is directive.

The position of the client is the role of the student. The client goes through three levels of insight: superficial (awareness of the problem), in-depth (recognition of one's own interpretations), deep (at the level of motivation to change).

Psychotechnics in rational-emotive therapy. 1. Discussion and refutation of irrational views 2. Cognitive homework 3. Rational-emotive imagination 4. Role play 5. Attack on fear