Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy: A Counseling Technique The client is a 24 year old African American woman who gave birth to a healthy baby girl on February 22, 2016. This is her second child, and she receives support from her family and boyfriend. She is currently in a graduate program in mental health counseling. The client has expressed concerns about her stress level and anxiety especially when it involves breast feeding her new born. She has stated that she is troubled about the amount of milk she produces and that it is not enough to sustain her child, so she must supplement the child’s nutrition with formula which she is not happy about because she wants to exclusively breast feed her newborn. She states that the more stressed she
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The counselor chose to demonstrate Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). The counselor was effective at demonstrating the ABCDE model of REBT. Whereas he was able to help the client identify the activating event (not able to produce enough breast milk), how the client was interpreting this event (irrational belief of being an awful mother), and pointing out the emotional consequences of her beliefs (stress and anxiety). The counselor was then able to help the client dispute the irrational belief and then aid the client in developing a new and more effective rational belief to help her reduce the feelings of anxiety. The counselor did a good job of not only identifying all the components of the ABCDE model the client was presenting but was able to educating the client on what REBT therapy was and how she may be able to reframe her thought process. By empathetically listening to the client and using empathetic confrontation, the counselor was able to point out the client’s thought processes of absolutes which manifested in statements which included the words always, or never when she expressed her thinking. He also utilized questioning and comparisons to “de-awfullize” her belief about herself and her parenting
The counselor chose to demonstrate Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). The counselor was effective at demonstrating the ABCDE model of REBT. Whereas he was able to help the client identify the activating event (not able to produce enough breast milk), how the client was interpreting this event (irrational belief of being an awful mother), and pointing out the emotional consequences of her beliefs (stress and anxiety). The counselor was then able to help the client dispute the irrational belief and then aid the client in developing a new and more effective rational belief to help her reduce the feelings of anxiety. The counselor did a good job of not only identifying all the components of the ABCDE model the client was presenting but was able to educating the client on what REBT therapy was and how she may be able to reframe her thought process. By empathetically listening to the client and using empathetic confrontation, the counselor was able to point out the client’s thought processes of absolutes which manifested in statements which included the words always, or never when she expressed her thinking. He also utilized questioning and comparisons to “de-awfullize” her belief about herself and her parenting