Self Help Therapy: REBT, Focusing on Beliefs Rather Than Moods to Create Peace of Mind

Epictetus once said, “Men are not worried by things, but by their ideas about things. When we meet difficulties, become anxious or troubled, let us not blame others, but rather ourselves, that is: our ideas about things” (Tucker-Ladd). This is a basic tenet of REBT. Originally called Rational Therapy, REBT is a type of cognitive-behavioral therapy which focuses on beliefs rather than moods. Or, more to the point, REBT attempts to rid its clients of their irrational beliefs rather than medicating or attempting to work directly on the mood produced by such beliefs. Like other cognitive-behavioral therapies, REBT’s focus is on the present, rather than the past focus found in psychoanalysis.

One of the main ideas behind REBT is that people have the ability to be happy, but allow their irrational beliefs to get in the way of this happiness. Rather than accepting problems, trouble, and uncomfortable situations as just a part of life, people become overly upset, discouraged, or unable to function. REBT says that this emotional reaction can be changed by changing the thoughts behind it. Albert Ellis, the creator of REBT, believes that we are all rational people who are capable of breaking the self-destructive cycle of irrational thoughts by replacing the irrational thoughts, which he refers to as “internalized sentences” or “self-talk” (Ellis 52) with rational thoughts.