COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO COUNSELING:Role of the Counselor

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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

LESSON 33

COGNITIVE APPROACHES TO COUNSELING

In the previous lecture we discussed that Irrational linking may include the invention of upsetting and

disturbing thoughts. Ellis (1962) lists 11 common irrational beliefs that can be quite disturbing. These are

given below:

"I must be perfect or no one will love me!"

"I must be thoroughly competent, adequate, and successful in all possible respects if I am to be

worthwhile."

"It is horrible when things do not turn out the way I want them to."

"Some people are bad, wicked or villainous, and they should be punished"

"Unhappiness is a function of events and outside the control of the individual"

"If something may be dangerous or harmful, an individual should constantly concerned and think

about it"

"It is easier to run away from difficulties and self-responsibility than it is to face them"

"Individuals need to be dependent on others and have someone stronger than themselves to lean

on"

"Past events in an individual's life determine present behavior and can not be changed"

"An individual should be very concerned and upset by others' problems"

"There is always a correct and precise answer to every problem and it is catastrophic if not found"

Counseling Process

Although Ellis (1973) does not deal with the developmental stages of individuals, he thinks that children are

more vulnerable to outside influences and irrational thinking than adults are. By nature, he believes human

beings are gullible and highly suggestible and are easily disturbed. Overall, people have within themselves

the means to control their thoughts, feelings, and action; but they must realize what they are telling

themselves (self-talk) to gain commands of their lives. This is a matter of personal, conscious awareness.

Role of the Counselor

In the RET approach, counselor are active and direct. They are instructors who teach and correct the

client's cognition.

Ellis (1980) identifies several characteristics desirable for RET counselors.

Bright

Knowledgeable

Empathetic

Persistent

Scientific

Interested in helping others

Users themselves of RET

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Counselors' main assessment instruments:

Evaluation of a client's thinking

Some formal tests may be employed to measure rational and irrational thinking, but the evaluation

process is primarily accomplished in counselor-client sessions.

RET practitioners do not reply heavily on the diagnostic categories in the DSM-IV.

Goals

The primary goals of RET focus on helping people realize that they can live more rational and productive

lives. "Roughly speaking, rational-emotive therapy constitutes an attempt to correct mistakes in a client's

reasoning as a way of eliminating undesirable emotions"

RET is heavily influenced by stoic philosophy, and Ellis is found of quoting a first-country stoic, Epictetus,

who wrote, "Men feel disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them". Often individuals

disturb themselves by changing wishes and desires into demands. When a person uses words such as Must,

Ought, Should, he or she makes demands of wishes and thinks irrationally. RET helps clients stop making

such demands and becoming upset through "catastrophizing".

Another goal of RET is to help people change self-defeating habits of thoughts or behavior. One way this is

accomplished is through teaching clients ABCs of RET.

Thoughts about experiences may be characterized in four ways: positive, negative, neutral, or mixed. A

positive thought leads to positive feelings, while people may have negative feelings about the same event in

response to negative thought. The mixed thoughts lead to ambivalent feelings.

A-B-C's of Emotional Distress

Disorders often occur with self-defeating beliefs

Activating Event - Beliefs - Consequences

Techniques

RET encompasses a number of diverse techniques. Two primary ones are:

Teaching

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Theory and Practice of Counseling - PSY632

Disputing.

Before changes can be made, clients have to learn the basic ideas of RET and understand how

thoughts are linked with emotions and behaviors.

Teaching: In the first few session, counselors teach their clients the anatomy of an emotion that

feelings are a result of thoughts, not events, and that self-talk influences emotions.

Cognitive Disputing

Cognitive disputation involves the use of direct questions, logical reasoning and persuasion.

Direct questions may challenge the client to prove that his or her response is logical.

Another form of cognitive disputation involves the use of syllogisms "a deductive of reasoning

consisting of two premises and a conclusion.

For example in irrational "can't stand-it-it is," the process might go as follows (Cohen, 1987, p.39):

Major premises: "Nobody can stand to be lied to."

Minor premise

"I was lied to."

Conclusion:

"I can't stand it."

Imaginal disputation depends on the client's ability to imagine and employs a technique known

as rational-emotive imagery.

The emotional control card (ECC) is a device that helps clients reinforce and expand the practice of

REL. Four emotionally debilitating categories (anger, self criticism, anxiety and depression) are

listed on wallet sized ECCs (Ellis, 1986). Under each category is a list of inappropriate or self-

destructiv3e feelings and a parallel list of appropriate or non-defeating feelings.

Behavioral Disputation

Behavioral disputation involves behaving in a way that is the opposite of the client's usual way.

Sometimes behavioral disputation may take the form of bibliotherapy in which the client reads a

self-help book.

Role playing

Completion of home assignment tasks

Confrontation and Encouragement

Two others powerful techniques are confrontation and encouragement:

RET counselors explicitly encourage clients to abandon thought processes that are not working and

try RET.

Confrontation need not be done in the manner Ellis uses: vigorously confronting and attacking the

client's beliefs. Instead a counselor may be empathetic and insistent at the same times.

Evaluation: Strengths

The approach is clear, easily learned, and effective

The approach can easily be combined with behavioral techniques to help clients more fully

experience what they are learning

The approach is relatively short term, usually lasting

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The approach has generated a great deal of literature and research for clients and counselors

The approach has continued to evolve over the years as techniques have been refined.

Evaluation: Limitations

The approach cannot be used effectively with individuals who have mental problems or limitations,

such a s schizophrenics and those with severe thought disorders.

The approach may be too closely associated with its founder, Albert Ellis. Many individuals have

difficulty separating the theory from Ellis's eccentricities.

The approach is limited if its practitioners do not combine its early cognitive base with more

behavioral and emotive techniques.

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