Albert Ellis’s Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) emphasizes the interaction between beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Belief Eye Movement Therapy, BEMT, is perfect for this pattern and ABC-DE Theory.
How can this help AOD counselors, therapists and patients with treatment?
His ABC-DE Theory and Beck’s CBT go hand in hand with BEMT. Why is this important?
Professionals and clients have told me, or complained, that treatment and recovery are not linear. I suggest they can be. They are directional and interactive as Ellis posited.
Is it the same for alcohol, other drugs and criminal thinking and conduct?
Consider “Old You” beliefs and behavior on the far left. Visualize the change process going from left, what you have and don’t want, to the right; the ideal you. The one you want. The “New You.”
To illustrate this interaction using a linear equation, we can consider each component as a variable in a mathematical expression. Here are simplified representation equations:*
B + T + F + H = R
Where:
B represents Beliefs
T represents Thoughts
F represents Feelings
H represents Behaviors
R represents the Result or Outcome
In this equation, the result R is influenced by the sum of beliefs, thoughts, feelings, and behaviors.
This aligns with Ellis’s idea that these components are interrelated and can influence each other.
Properties of Math Applied:
1. Associative Property: The way in which variables are grouped does not change the result.
B + T) + (F + H) = B + (T + F) + H
This shows that changing beliefs and thoughts together can influence feelings and behaviors, and vice versa.
2. Distributive Property: A change in one variable can be distributed across others.
a(B + T) = aB + aT
For example, a significant change in beliefs A can affect both thoughts and feelings.
3. Commutative Property: The order of variables does not change the result.
B + T + F + H = H + F + T + B
This indicates that the interaction between these components is linear, flexible and can occur in any order.
By using these properties, we can see how changes in one area (e.g., beliefs) can influence other areas (e.g., thoughts, feelings, behaviors), supporting Ellis’s concept of directional and interactional change.
We need to know how to elicit, understand and change the different levels of beliefs with BEMT.
Listening intently to the language of CTC, criminal thinking and conduct, we can hear where clients are stuck. Nominalizations are clues. Offsetting these with gerunds, action verbs leading to desistence, creates Transcendence and wellness. DM me for more information.
*Equations by AI.
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