Windy Dryden 
Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy 
A Training Handbook

Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy

Understand the basics of the essential approach to cognitive-behavioural psychotherapy

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) is a cognitive-behavioural approach to psychotherapy in which patients are taught to identify and reject irrational and damaging thought patterns and emotional responses. By emphasizing patients’ control over their mental and emotional lives, it cultivates honest self-assessment and healthy emotional responses. Since its development in the 1950s, it has stood as one of the most widely used and successful forms of cognitive- behavioural therapy.

Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy looks to cultivate a robust foundational understanding of this essential mode of treatment. Seeking to replicate the conditions and learning patterns of an introductory seminar, it emphasizes concrete clinical applications and a continuous connection between theory and practice. The third edition of this pathbreaking guide offers expanded coverage and fully up-to-date research.

Readers of the third edition of Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy will also find:

* Detailed treatment of subjects including meta-emotional problem assessment, client misconceptions, and more

* Appendices including a homework skills monitoring form, training in REBT, and more

* An author with decades of experience in REBT and related forms of cognitive- behavioural therapy

Fundamentals of Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy is ideal for students and researchers looking to develop a working understanding of REBT.

Table of Content

About the author vii

Introduction ix

1 What you need to know about the theory of REBT to get started 1

2 What you need to know about the practice of REBT to get started 23

3 Teaching the ABCs of REBT 39

4 Distinguishing between healthy and unhealthy negative emotions 53

5 Being specific in the assessment process 71

6 Assessing C 75

7 Assessing A 83

8 Assessing B 87

9 Assessing meta-emotional problems 95

10 Goal-setting 101

11 Eliciting your client’s commitment to change 113

12 Preparing your client and yourself to examine their attitudes 123

13 Helping your clients to examine their attitudes 127

14 Helping your clients to strengthen their conviction in their flexible/non-extreme attitudes 141

15 Negotiating homework assignments 153

16 Reviewing homework assignments 173

17 Dealing with your clients’ misconceptions of REBT theory and practice 183

18 Using REBT in a single-session therapy format 193

19 An example of an REBT-based single session 207

Appendix I: Homework skills monitoring form 219

Appendix II: Possible reasons for not completing self-help assignments 223

Appendix III: Training in REBT 225

References 227

Index 229

About the author

Windy Dryden, Ph D, is Emeritus Professor of Psychotherapeutic Studies, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK. He was the first Briton to be accredited as an REBT therapist by the Albert Ellis Institute and is a Fellow of the British Psychological Society, the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy, and the Albert Ellis Institute. He has authored or edited over 260 books on REBT and the broader field of psychotherapy and counselling.