Albert Ellis Doing REBT with Jeffrey Guterman

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Telephonic session held March 8, 1986 demonstrating Albert Ellis identifying ABC's of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and disputing irrational beliefs. When this session was held, Jeffrey Guterman was a masters student in counseling and a follower of REBT. He later became a supervisee, colleague, and friend of Albert Ellis. In the 1990s, Guterman shifted to a solution-focused approach and developed his own model called solution-focused counseling; see Here is a transcript from this session:

Ellis: Right. But what are you depressed about?

Guterman: Well, a series of events.

Ellis: Yeah.

Guterman: One was I took my car in and I found out I had to, uh, spend over $600.

Ellis: Alright, so that's unfortunate, but what are you telling yourself? That it's horrible? Or what?

Guterman: Yeah. Pretty much so.

Ellis: Right. But you better go back to, "It's a royal pain in the ass, but I could live with it!."

Guterman: Well...

Ellis: Because you can.

Guterman: Huh?

Ellis: Because you can.

Channel: Howto & Style
Uploaded: September 22, 2006 at 9:00 pm
Author: jguterman

Length: 00:07:45
Rating: 4.28
Views: 20147

Tags: guterman ellis albertellis rebt counseling psychotherapy psychology education mental health illness mentalhealth

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numbing numbered numerous Comments:
wireandwood (July 6, 2008 at 12:55 pm)
thanks for sharing, man. albert ellis is a bit of a hero, and inspires me to think about psychotherapy as a compelling thing to dedicate your life to.
baltasvilkas (March 17, 2008 at 10:40 am)
Jguterman, your choice of an example was superb because it so clearly illustrated the difference between a "pain in the ass" and a true catastrophe. REBT's elegant solution to the emotional hassles of life can seem hard to achieve, but it is well worth the effort. Whatever happens, whether you lose money, love, or your job, assume that it's NOT GOING TO KILL YOU! Do this repeatedly, and you'll be right 99.9% of the time. And you'll be wrong only once.
Blackshayde (August 29, 2008 at 4:09 pm)
Right, cognitive behavioral therapists talk about catastrophising all the time, its something we do a lot and we don't realize how self-destructive it is, because, among other things, its completely irrational.

For example, is a $600 car repair bill really AWFUL? Well, not compared to something that is truly awful, like your child dying from cancer. So we put things on a scale, where a big car repair bill is a 5 and losing a child to cancer would be a 100. (Truly AWFUL)
paramind (January 8, 2008 at 11:55 am)
Dr. Abraham Low developed many of these ideas in the 1930's and created self-help groups where he had people help each other. There are many of these groups practicing these ideas all over the world (Recovery, Inc.).
ironjohnlad (February 29, 2008 at 2:51 pm)
I dont believe in ABC. So called irational beliefs are often tied in and symptomatic of feelings,and sensations,that are connected to the body and -past events. We actually need body awanress, and to be in relationship with what is happeneing. Both focusing orineted therapy, and MBCT recognise this.
qtronman (January 5, 2008 at 2:32 pm)
I'm not sure how psychotherapists can justify charging $180+ per hour for identifying what someone is depressed about. Pinpointing an underlying irrational belief just doesn't seem that hard to me in most cases. (There are, of course, more difficult cases, but these are atypical.)
fikriminincegulu (December 29, 2007 at 7:54 pm)
This technique reminds me of my father, Probably he has discovered it spontaneously:)
darkmorpheus30 (December 7, 2007 at 9:49 am)
Thank you for posting and taking the time to make the video. It is informative for any student of psychotherapy.
badger500 (July 28, 2007 at 4:00 pm)
I think the point of Ellis's system is that in so many cases the "bigger" problem is our habit of interpreting as catastrophic the inevitable difficulties of life. No therapy makes $600 car repair bills go away, but Ellis's approach helps people not freak out unneccessarily about such things.
corrugated (March 29, 2008 at 12:50 am)
Absolutely. Well said badger500. Freaking out about something can create a distorted feeling that you have a psychological problem or your situation is so horrible that your world is going to end because of $600. Life threatening or severe psychological problems are not treated like this.