Annual ConferenceWelcome!

Disputing Your “B’s” Not Your “T’s”

Hank Robb, Ph.D., ABPPAnnual SMART Recovery Conference

2015Cincinnati, Ohio

A-B-C’s of REBTA is the “Activating Event” (often “Adversity”)

B is what you are “Believing” ABOUT your A

C is the Emotional, Behavioral or Cognitive “Consequence” you experience about A BECAUSE of

your B about A.

Did you see a “T” in that A-B-C?

Maybe, but it would have been at “C.” It might have been one of those “Cognitive

Consequences.” However, in REBT we focus on the importance of what people are BELIEVING (that’s “B”) rather than what

they thinking (that’s “T”)

Believing verses ThinkingThink this thought: “I am a banana.”

Do you BELIEVE that thought?

Believing verses Thinking

There seems to be a difference between what we think

And what we BELIEVE

And, when it comes to THOUGHTS, the important REBT question is not what thought you are thinking but

what thought you are BELIEVING

A-B-C’s of REBT(A Thought Experiment)

Suppose:A = You get something you don’t want or don’t get something you do want.B = You BELIEVE BOTH “this is something I don’t like” and “this MUST NOT” happen.How would you likely feel, act and think?

All or None verses More or Less

When analyzing what we are believing, it is more useful to

ask if we are believing it strongly or lightly rather than asking if we are believing it

totally or not at all.

All or None verses More or Less

Believing something strongly simply means you are taking it

VERY SERIOUSLY while believing something lightly means not

taking it VERY SERIOUSLY even if you are still experiencing it.

A-B-C’s of REBT(A Thought Experiment)

Suppose:A = You get something you don’t want or don’t get something do you want.B = You BELIEVE BOTH “this is something I don’t like” and “this MUST NOT” happen.BUT you believe one lightly and the other strongly. How would you likely feel, act and think?

A-B-C’s of REBTDisputing what you are believing can mean working hard not to take certain thoughts,

images, feelings and urges (i.e. action tendencies) VERY SERIOUSLY rather than trying

get rid of them. That is what it can mean to “dispute your B’s” rather than “dispute your

T’s” or any other experience that shows up at “C.”

A-B-C’s of REBTAnd when would we not take certain feeling

“C’s”, thought “C’s,” image “C’s” or urge “C’s” VERY SERIOUSLY?

When doing so interferes with living the life we are most deeply interested in living.

EYES ON THE PRIZE

Would you rather be “right” in your life

Or would you rather be effective in your life?

If you want to be EFFECTIVEfocus on believing (i.e. taking seriously)

thoughts, images, feelings and urges that increase effectiveness rather than believing thoughts, images, feelings and urges that

reduce effectiveness.EYES ON THE PRIZE!

Do this and you won’t be disputing your thoughts, images,

feelings or urges to behave. You’ll be disputing your

BELIEFS!

Text here, end slideText here

2015 SponsorsThank you!