Jove

In REBT, an ABC model is used to remove these “bad” or maladaptive schemas. A=Activating Event, B=Belief, and C=Consequence. Therefore, in the above mentioned example, the A=”the friend not acknowledging me,” the B=”she must not like me anymore,” and C=Sadness/Depression/Avoidance. The difficult part of the model is identifying the “B” that is trying to get at the Core Belief thats causing the emotion (sadness/depression). Once the core belief has been identified, then we evaluated it to see if its rational (true) or irrational (untrue). If it is irrational, then we dispute the belief. We do this using a logical, empirical, and functional challenge. For example, “does it really make sense that my friend doesn’t like me just because she didn’t say hi?” (logical), or “where is the evidence that she doesn’t like me? simply because she didn’t say hi?” (empirical), and “how is it helping me to think that she doesn’t like me?” (functional). Once you believe the disputes then you are ready to come up with an alternative belief. This step is necessary, because if you dispute the belief, it will come back if not replaced. An alternative belief might be, “I would prefer she say hi to me, but if she doesn’t it doesn’t mean that she doesn’t like me anymore.” Or, “She has always said hi to me, she must be in a rush.” Get the idea? Good! Because that is all to it. Once these “new” rational beliefs are in place, they start to change how you view the world and life’s situations.

CBT/REBT has been shown to work really well with many disorders such as Depression, Anxiety, and Personality Disorders. The reason it’s so effective is because the treatment targets the thoughts that cause our unhealthy emotions (Rage, Depression, Jealousy, Anxiety). So in essence, we make ourselves feel by what we think. If we can think more rationally, then our feelings will be more appropriate and healthy (regret, disappointment, concern).

 

"Men are disturbed not by things, but by the views which they take of them,” Epictetus (1st century A.D.)

 

The philosophy used to treat clients at The Jove Institute is the following:

Schemas can be viewed as a pattern, or a collection of beliefs. We have many different schemas which are formed in childhood and elaborate throughout ones lifetime. Examples of common schemas are Negative Schema, Self Downing Schema, Anxious Schema, Humorous Schema, and Driven Schema. As you can see schemas don’t necessarily have to be “bad” or maladaptive. However, the “bad” ones are the ones that get us into trouble. This is because life situations activate these schemas, and we behave according to the activated schema.

 

For example, If a person has a negative schema, that person tends to look at situations in a negative light. So if the person sees a friend walking down the street and greets the person, but the person doesn’t respond, then the negative schema may get activated and the person starts to think negative about the situation (the friend doesn’t like me anymore, the friend is obnoxious, etc.). The person with the negative schema may not think that the friend was simply in a rush to get to their destination and did not see the individual. Once the Negative Schema is activated, it may activate other schemas such as the Self Downing Schema (“no one likes me anymore”), or the Anxious Schema (‘I won’t be able to stand losing that friend”). Schemas are essentially Core Irrational Beliefs.

 

In treatment, one of the things I look for is for the root of this emotion. For most of us there is a social root to problems. For example, "no one loves me" can  cause you to feel depressed. Or, "people think I am weird because I check the locks over and over." Then there are the relationship problems that people often have. 

 

So, if we can find the social root to the problem, a lot of the treatment is correcting that anxiety. It could be putting yourself out more, it can be thinking differently about rejection, or it can be changing your attitude about relationships. Either way, there needs to be a motivation to accept oneself unconditionally, and work to accepting others unconditionally as well. Finally, exposing yourself to the anxiety provoking social situation and being able to "stand-it" is all that is left for you to overcome your emotional problem.