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What is the true study of modern human emotion, thought, and behavior, psychology or philosophy? This questions answer does not come easily to its solicitor; in fact, the two seemingly different subjects have a distinct and discernible relationship to one another.
Some things are up to us and some are not up to us. Our opinions are up to us, our impulses, desires, aversions, in-short whatever is our doing. Our bodies are not up to us, nor our possessions, our reputations, or our public offices, or that is, whatever is not of our own doing (Epictetus 1).This citation, from a philosopher who lived around 100 B.
C. , illustrates the relationship between psychology and philosophy. When one examines the language housed within the passage he will understand, in order to lead a blissful life, one must have power over his reaction to an event and not let the event have power over his reaction. This effortless Stoic belief has lead to the development of a modern psychological therapy known as Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy. This therapy uses a logical approach in order to solve problems with the human psyche. If one were to scrutinize the word Psychological, he will notice the word Psycho which is related to the word Psyche, which, in turn, means the human mind and its perception of consciousness. Upon further study of the word Psychological, the person in question will notice the latter part of the word is Logical which deals with the processing and the capability of rational human thought; therefore, one can infer that a psychological therapy must deal with the subjects awareness of his situation and his ability to rationalize his thoughts of such events.
Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy executes this conjecture to the letter. REBT is a reflexive approach to psychology that is gaining popularity. Today, REBT uses can be seen in everything from: combating unhealthy emotional outbursts, solving chemical dependencies, and improving a persons overall mental self-image. Foremost, one must understand Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy in order to apply REBT to the above-mentioned modes of use.
REBT is a therapy residing in a subdivision of psychological therapies known as Cognitive therapy, or an assumption based therapy relying on the premise that psychological problems are due to maladaptive patterns of thinking (Hockenbury and Hockenbury 523). Gerald Metalsky Ph. D. , Associate Professor of Psychology at Wisconsin's Lawrence University, explains cognitive therapy to be the process of Identifying deprossogenic thoughts, evaluating these thoughts, and challenging the cognition of these thoughts in order to reduce future depressions (Metalsky 23). In other words, perception of lifes events dictates emotion; however, perception is not always reality, cognitive distortions within ones mind are the actual culprit. Dr.
Metalsky continues to explain with a model he uses to clarify the therapy to new patients. We take the ABC approach, which A is the antecedent event, B Is the belief one has regarding what has just transpired, and C is the consequence of the belief (Metalsky 23). This model shows the basic structure of all Cognitive therapies. For example, when a student fails an exam and the student concludes that he or she must be stupid. This is a classic example of an external event, interpreted incorrectly, creating a cognitive distortion in the mind of that individual. By understanding the outlining concept of Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy, known as Cognitive Therapy, one is now ready to move on to the subject of REBT itself.
What is REBT? Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy, or commonly known as REBT, is a practical, action-oriented approach to coping with problems, and enhancing personal growth. The premise for Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy is that a persons difficulties are the result of his or her faulty expectations and irrational beliefs (REBT facts 2). In order to restore emotional heath to the life of the individual one must utilize REBT. The therapy itself does not eliminate emotion; in fact, it emphasizes emotional involvement in every aspect of our thinking and our actions (Metalsky 24). The therapy requires the patient to look at his situation and evaluate the emotion this situation evokes.
When human emotion becomes too intense, as it often does, the person this emotion belongs to becomes unhappy. The quality of his or her life begins to deteriorate. It is at these times, the logical region of human thought changes and the individual begins to take things over-personally, blow things out of perspective, condemn others for wrongful deeds, and become less tolerant of lifes little hassles (REBT facts 2). By logically reasoning emotion, one will begin to realize that emotion is the consequence of rational thought; however, the opposite is true as well, irrational belief is the preceding consequence of self-indulgent emotion.
Identifying the core irrational beliefs a person has is the most important step in REBT (Hockenbury and Hockenbury 523). Such beliefs often reflect certain Musts or Should's people place upon themselves; for example, many people hold the cognitive distortion of I must be loved and accepted by virtually every one in order to be happy and deemed to have worth (Hockenbury and Hockenbury 524). To state it simply, this external attempt to define ones value and place in society will eventually lead its owner to disappointment because he or she is identifying importance by that which the individual cannot control, the judgment and reaction of another. By understanding the basics of Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy, an individual can now study the prolific creator of this innovative therapy, Dr. Albert Ellis. Albert Ellis was born in Pittsburgh in 1913 and was raised in New York City (Sketch 1).
Ellis was born with a serious kidney disorder and was forced to place his attention on books rather than sports. As a young man, Ellis lived a tumultuous life, living through financial hardships because of the great depression. Because of his financial adversity, Ellis gave up his dream of becoming a great American writer (Sketch, 1). Dr Ellis received his degree from the City College in accounting and began a clothing Business with his brother. After some time, Ellis began to tire of the business and decided to enroll in the University Of Columbia in the fall of 1942. Ellis received his doctorate in psychology and became a Psychoanalytic psychologist (Sketch 1).
While practicing psychoanalysis on a numerous amount of subjects, Ellis began to notice his patients were progressing at the same rate whether he saw them weekly or daily. It was with this realization Ellis faith in psychoanalysis began to rapidly crumble. Dr. Ellis began to teach his patients the philosophical views of Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius, and Spinoza because he, himself, had used these philosophers teachings to deal with problems in his own life; thus, in 1955 REBT was born. Albert Ellis practice concentrated on changing a persons behavior by confronting a patient with his or her irrational beliefs and persuading the individual to adopt a rational sense of awareness (Sketch 2).
Remember that what is insulting is not the person who abuses you or hits you, but the judgment about them that they are insulting. So when someone irritates you be aware that what irritates you is your own belief.The above quote from the teachings of Epictetus leads an individual to the understanding of using Rational-Emotive-Behavior-Therapy to control unhealthy emotional outbursts. Notice the quote advises its reader not to view a person as insulting; however, it reminds the person to examine the judgment of insulting. Once again, this ancient philosopher exemplifies the basics of REBT. The excerpt informs the reader that a person cannot directly irritate another without the irrational belief that irritation is the fault of another and not the participants perception of irritation. To further explain REBT and the steps involved in controlling unhealthy emotions, one can use the debilitating emotion of anger. In a book written by Albert Ellis entitled How to Live with and without Anger.
Most importantly, therefore, try not to be carried away by appearance, since if you once gain time and delay you will control yourself [and your emotions] more easily (Epictetus 20)
Ellis uses a poignant example in order to explain and combat the dangerous unstable emotion of anger towards another. The premise of the example is two friends agree to share an apartment, person X goes to a considerable amount of trouble to fix the apartment and pay his share of the rent. While the other person, person Y, decides not to move in with person X and refuses to give person X any money for the expense he has caused (Ellis 125). Person X becomes very angry at his friend and demands payment. One can refer to the ABC model mentioned perviously in order to chart this occurrence: (A) being the preceding event of Mr.
Y backing out on his end of the deal with Mr. X, (B) is Mr. Xs belief that Mr. Y should treat him fairly and move in or pay him, and (C) is the anger Mr. X feels to...
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Research essay sample on Rational Emotive Therapy The Logical Choice For Psychological
