Theories of Counseling - CBT vs. RT vs. PCT

REBT (Ellis)

Humans are born with the potential for both rational thinking and irrational thinking

REBT (Ellis)

Even though it is desirable to be loved and accepted, it is not necessary

REBT (Ellis)

We tend to accept irrational ideas, with which we unthinkingly keep reindoctrinating ourselves

REBT (Ellis)

Because they continue to accept and perpetuate irrational beliefs, human beings are largely responsible for creating their own emotional disturbances

REBT (Ellis)

The main goal of therapy should be to reduce clients’ self-defeating outlook and help them acquire a more rational philosopy of life

REBT (Ellis)

Central functions of the therapist should include challenging clients’ illogical ideas and teaching them how to think and evaluate in a rational way

REBT (Ellis)

It is appropriate for a therapist to persuade, to be highly directive, to attack faulty thinking, and to serve as a counterpropagandist

REBT (Ellis)

A warm or deep personal relationship between client and therapist is neither a necessary nor a sufficient condition for psychotherapy

CT (Beck)

The therapist’s role is to help clients look for evidence that either supports or refutes their hypotheses and views

CT (Beck)

In order to understand the nature of emotional disturbances, it is essential to focus on the cognitive content of an individual’s reactions to the upsetting event

CT (Beck)

The internal dialogue of clients is critical in understanding behavior

CT (Beck)

Thinking plays a major role in depression

CT (Beck)

The most direct route to changing dysfunctional emotions and behaviors is to modify inaccurate and faulty thinking

CT (Beck)

Therapy should consist of a process of co-investigation, or collaborative empiricism, as a way to uncover and examine faulty interpretations

CBM (Meichenbaum)

As a basic prerequisite to behavior change, clients need to notice how they think, feel, and behave and the impact they have on others

CBM (Meichenbaum)

Therapy involves helping clients become aware of their self-talk

CBM (Meichenbaum)

Much of the therapy process consists of teaching clients more effective coping skills in the sessions

CBM (Meichenbaum)

In stress-management training, it is essential to teach clients about ways in which they contribute to their stress

CBM (Meichenbaum)

If clients hope to change, it is imperative that they practice new self-statements and apply their new skills in real-life situations

CBM (Meichenbaum)

It is important to provide a simple conceptual framework to clients outlining how they can interpret and react to stress differently

RT

The core of counseling and therapy is for the clients to accept personal responsibility

RT

Each person has a need for a success identity

RT

Responsibility implies meeting one’s own needs in such a way that others are not deprived of fulfilling their needs

RT

Emphasis on factors such as unconcscious motivation actually gives the client an excuse for avoiding responsibility

RT

Insight is not essential to producing change

RT

There can be no basic personal change unless the client makes an evaluation of his or her behavior and then decides that a change is important

RT

It is clients’ responsibility, not the therapist’s, to evaluate their current behavior

RT

What is important is not the way the real world exists but, rather, the way we percieve the world to exist

RT

We consciously choose most unsatisfactory behaviors, such as depression and anxiety

RT

The notion of transference is both false and misleading. It can keep the therapist hidden, and it can be used to avoid discussing one’s current behavior

RT

It is not the therapist’s role to judge the client’s behavior, because a therapist should not function as a moralist or the guardian of standards of any social or politcal group

RT

We attempt to control the world externally so that it comes as close as possible to our own subjective vision of the world

RT

The therapist should function much as a teacher does

RT

Unless the therapist creates an involvement with the client, no motivation for therapy exists

RT

Therapy should focus on present behavior, not on the past, not on attitudes, and not on feelings

RT

A therapist should get clients to make an evaluation regarding the quality of their behavior

RT

For therapy to be effective, it is essential that clients decide on a plan for action and that they make a commitment to implement this plan in daily life

RT

Clients should not be allowed to engage in making excuses, blaming, or explaining why a particular plan failed

RT

Therapy should focus on the client’s potential and positive aspects

RT

Punishment aimed at changing behavior is ineffective and is harmful to the therapeutic relationship; therefore, it should be eliminated

PCT

At a person’s deepest core is a socialized, forward-moving being striving to become a fully functioning self

PCT

People have the capacity for understanding their problems and the resources for resolving them

PCT

The basic goal of therapy is to create a psychological climate of safety in which clients will not feel threatened and will thus be able to drop their pretenses and defenses

PCT

The therapist’s function is rooted not primarily in techniques but in his or her ways of being and attitudes

PCT

Effective therapists use themselves as instruments of change

PCT

The client uses the therapeutic relationship to build new ways of relating to others in the outside world

PCT

The client can make progress in therapy without the therapist’s interpretations, diagnoses, evaluations, and directives

PCT

The relationship between the therapist and the client is the crux of progress in therapy

PCT

The therapist’s genuineness, accurate empathy, and unconditional positive regard are essential qualities of effective therapy

PCT

When people are free, they will be able to find their own way

PCT

Forming a diagnosis and developing a case history are not important prerequisites for therapy

PCT

It is important that the therapist avoid being judgmental about a client’s feelings

PCT

Therapeutic change depends on clients’ perceptions, both of their own experience in therapy and of the counselor’s basic attitudes

PCT

It is important that the therapist, while experiencing empathy with clients, retain his or her own separateness and not get lost in the client’s world

PCT

Therapist congruence, or genuineness, is one of the most important conditions for establishing a therapeutic relationship

PCT

It is best that therapists avoid giving advice

PCT

Therapy can proceed without psychological testing or formal diagnosis

PCT

Clients are empowered by their participation in the therapeutic relationship

PCT

The primary responsibility for the direction of therapy rests not with the therapist but with the client

PCT

Exploring transference is neither essential nor significant in the therapeutic process