Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy Theory Of Personality

According to the rational emotive behavior therapy theory (REBT) of personality, it is not the events taking place in our lives that affects our emotions but the beliefs of the matter. Beliefs are formed by what society perceives to be acceptable and humans by nature adapt to society through the ABC model. This model consists of activating events, beliefs and consequences.
David is an educated 37-year-old bisexual male. When David and his wife got married, she vowed to support and accept his sexuality as long as their relationship remained monogamous. Unfortunately, David’s happiness was impeded when he learned that his wife was involved with another man for the past year. The rational-emotive explanation of personality refers to this as an activating event. In David’s case, it is the leading activating event. Crushed that his wife of ten years was unfaithful to him, David ends up losing his high-paying job. A common irrational belief is that a “one worth as persons is determined by our successes and failures or by particular traits, such as income, as if the worth of a human being can be rated like performance traits” (Kazanzis 299). As an unemployed individual, David believes he is worthless.
After filing for divorce and agreeing to joint custody of their nine-year-old daughter, David eventually finds love again with another man named Tom. However, when him and Tom bump into his daughter and former wife at a local diner, David introduces Tom as an old work friend. Though David could have easily expected a serious argument with Tom after that encounter, he fears a life without his daughter. Despite the fact that David knew his daughter had no negative feelings towards her best friend who was adopted from China by a same-sex lesb...

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...evaluations placed on oneself. However, REBT discourages self-esteem building because it teaches “people they have self-worth because of self efficacy” (A! 127). This may work for the moment but it only rewards success. Instead, REBT works best when emphasizing self-acceptance. Consciousness raising can help eliminate contributing factors that David uses when placing value on beliefs. This will make David realize that he is upsetting himself emotionally by insisting on basing his beliefs on the approval of others.
When addressing David’s feelings of worthlessness, an emotional salutation can “attempt to change the client’s emotional reaction to the activating event. Practical solutions try to change the A’s; emotional solutions try to change the C’s” (Kazantzis 129).
Although the REBT theory applies well to David’s case, it doesn’t mention gender differences.