Cognitive Behavioral Theory Versus Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory Essay Paper

Briefly describe how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT) are similar.
Explain at least three differences between CBT and REBT. Include how these differences might impact your practice as a mental health counselor.
Explain which version of cognitive behavioral therapy you might use with clients and why. Support your approach with evidence-based literature. Only use scholarly sources from 2015 to current.

Briefly describe how cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and rational emotive behavioral therapy (REBT) are similar.

CBT and REBT are psychotherapy approaches applied to address mental health concerns. The two therapies have three similarities. Firstly, they are applied by professionally training therapists. They both have a theoretical perspective that is supported by evidence to explain how they intervene in addressing mental health concerns. In addition, they make use of scientific assumptions and theories to help in developing perspectives. Cognitive Behavioral Theory Versus Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory Essay Paper  Besides that, they act as guides for therapists in a step-by-step approach to therapy. Secondly, they address concerns about distorted cognition and negative emotions. These include feelings involving excessive emotions, such as guilt and anger. Both therapists are used to identifying the causes of the negative emotions and presenting more acceptable ways of expressing excessive emotions. The intention is to enable the client have healthier interactions and control emotions (Knaus, 2020). Thirdly, they both involve talk therapy with the client interacting with the therapist through conversation. In the conversations, the clients are assured of confidentiality with guarantees that any disclosures will not be presented to a third-party unless with the prior express permission of the client or unless the law demands a disclosure, such as disclosures involving child abuse whereby mandatory reporting comes into play (Artiran, 2019).

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Explain at least three differences between CBT and REBT. Include how these differences might impact your practice as a mental health counselor.

CBT and REBT have four significant differences. Firstly, they focus on addressing different mental health concerns. CBT focuses on addressing mental health concerns involving distorted cognition while REBT focuses on addressing mental health concerns involving distorted cognition and emotional disturbance. Secondly, they focus on different aspects of the mental health issue being addressed. CBT focuses on addressing primary disturbances while ignoring secondary disturbances while REBT focuses on both primary and secondary disturbance with the same importance (Knaus, 2020). Thirdly, they apply different approaches to achieving mental health balance. CBT achieves balance by reinforcing positive qualities (such as emotions, thoughts and behaviors) and discarding negative qualities while REBT achieves balance by accepting the negative and positive qualities. Fourthly, they perceive negative qualities differently. CBT perceives negative qualities as inappropriate and unhelpful, thus explaining why it discards negative qualities. REBT considers each individual negative quality as either helpful or unhelpful, thus explaining why it attaches the same importance to negative emotions as it attaches to positive emotions (Artiran, 2019).

Explain which version of cognitive behavioral therapy you might use with clients and why.

CBT presents different versions that can be used in psychotherapy. Of the many versions, Beck’s CBT offers unique advantages and is the preferable choice when working with clients. Firstly, the ideologies and philosophies of Beck’s CBT focus on helping the clients to understand how their cognitive distortions are linked to thought processes and emotional responses. Secondly, this CBT version identifies and eliminates the negative qualities through a learning process in which the therapist guides the client to understand the personal core beliefs that are then matched with the core beliefs of others within the same environment. This helps in pointing out the mismatched core beliefs that should be eliminated as part of the negative qualities to improve interactions with others. The therapist teaches the client the cognitive and behavioral skills useful for changing the core beliefs and achieving deliberate thought processes. Thirdly, Beck’s CBT is presented in between 8 and 16 therapy sessions, and this is important as it allows for a short turnaround for the client with the positive effects being apparent within a short period of time (Wenzel, Dobson & Hays, 2016).

References

Artiran, M. (2019). A Cross-Cultural Redefinition of Rational Emotive and Cognitive Behavior Therapy: From the West to the Middle East. Taylor & Francis Publishers.

Knaus, W. (2020). The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Anger: A Step-By-Step Program. New Harbinger Publications.

Wenzel, A., Dobson, K., & Hays, P. (2016). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy Techniques and Strategies. American Psychological Association.  Cognitive Behavioral Theory Versus Rational Emotive Behavioral Theory Essay Paper