Psy261 Chapter 15 Assignment Due 7/2820 points Needs to be typed
Rational Emotive Therapy
To obtain an appreciation for rational emotive therapy, think about three recent situations in which you became emotionally upset. These can include times you became anxious, depressed, angry, guilty, and so on, but they should be situations in which your emotional reaction was either inappropriate or unproductive. In other words, identify an emotional reaction you would like to correct.
Look at the first section RET Exercise.
For each of the three situations, write a brief sentence summarizing the event that precipitated the situation: this is the Activating experience. Then describe your emotional response in a sentence under emotional Consequence. Next, describe Albert Ellis’s notion of how people use irrational “second sentences,” which lead them to inappropriate and self-defeating emotional reactions. Finally, try to figure out what irrational belief you are using and describe it in the appropriate place on the form. Here’s an example:
A:I did not do well the other day when I played tennis with some friends I wanted to impress.
B:I must do well at everything to be loved and accepted by others.
C:Not playing well made me depressed.
RET Exercise
List below three recent situations in your life in which you have become emotionally upset. These can be times when you have become depressed, anxious, angry, or generally nervous and upset. These should not include appropriate expressions of emotion, such as sadness over the loss of a loved one, unless the grieving experience was excessive. Do not go into detail about the situations here, simply describe them briefly. In some cases you may be able to point to a specific incident, such as “I was anxious about the upcoming interview,” or “I was angry about the way my parents had talked to my friend.” However, other times the experience may be more drawn out, such as “I am depressed because I feel as if my roommate and I are drifting apart as friends.” If you would rather not list personal experiences, then describe situations that other people often go through, or the experiences of your friends.
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Next:
Use the space below to diagram the three experiences you listed on the previous page. Describe the Activating experience, then the emotional Consequence, and then a middle irrational Belief. For example, you might list “I failed a midterm exam” as the Activating experience, and “I was depressed” as your emotional Consequence. In this example, your middle sentence might be “One should be thoroughly competent at everything in order to feel worthwhile.”
1. Activating Experience:
Irrational Belief:
Emotional Consequence:
2. Activating Experience:
Irrational Belief:
Emotional Consequence:
3. Activating Experience:
Irrational Belief:
Emotional Consequence:
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