RATIONAL EMOTIVE AND BEHAVIOURAL THERAPY

Rational Emotive and Behavioural Therapy

Rational Emotive and Behavioural Therapy

Introduction

REBT has already been implemented successfully in the organizational context (Lange & Grieger, 1993, pp. 51-57). It has been embedded in a number of organizational development initiatives addressing such issues as organizational change (Miller & Yeager, 1993, pp. 65-76), conflict resolution training (Timofeev, 1993, pp. 109-119), and career counseling (Richman, 1993, pp. 91-108). DiMattia (1993, pp. 61-63) argued that the rational emotive behavior approach suits the organizational context because of its preventive, psychoeducational emphasis and its short-term, solution-focused orientation. When successful, the REBT process functions to increase the client's capacity for rational, critical, and psychologically sophisticated reasoning and thereby allows the client to challenge and replace any unrealistic expectations that might have negatively influenced his or her performance (Ellis, 1994). Ellis (1972) maintained that one of the subsequent benefits of the REBT process, the reduction of mental rigidity and the increase in flexible thinking, could become an executive's most powerful resource. Kilburg (1996, pp. 134-144) has described a number of the typical goals of coaching, including increasing the client's behavioral range, flexibility, and effectiveness; improving the client's social and psychological awareness and competencies; increasing the client's tolerance and range of emotional responses; and strengthening the client's hardiness and stress management skills. Given the identified outcomes of the REBT process, we believe it is possible to use the basic principles of this therapeutic approach to meet a number of these goals. In the next section, we briefly review the main tenets of REBT with appropriate references to its applicability as an instrument for change in the coaching context.

Coaching With the ABCDE Model of Change

Coaching from a REBT perspective is often referred to as rational-emotive behavioral coaching (Kodish, 2002, pp. 235-246). The term irrational belief is reframed in the coaching context to avoid the potential negative connotation it may evoke for executives, who may be uncomfortable at being characterized as irrational thinkers (Miller & Yeager, 1993, pp. 65-76). The concept of irrational beliefs may indeed be communicated more effectively to clients by referring to such beliefs as “unreasonable” or “unrealistic” expectations clients may hold for themselves or others. When coaching from a rational-emotive behavioral model, the individual's explicit and implicit belief system becomes the locus of change. Specifically, the coach will work with clients to identify and dispute the clients' unreasonable expectations that negatively impact their performance. This is done using the ABCDE model of individual change (Ellis, 1993; Neenan & Dryden, 2000). A refers to the activating event, that is, the external event to which the client is responding. B represents the client's internal belief or expectation that is triggered by the activating event (A). This belief (B) is what leads to both emotional and behavioral consequences, or C. When the expectation or belief is unreasonable or unrealistic, the consequences tend to be unhealthy and maladaptive. When the belief is realistic or reasonable, resulting emotional responses may be negative ...