Psychosis Bergen County NJ

Psychotherapy: Benefits of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)

GalleryJudy Gurfein Leave a comment

By: Jasmyn Cuate

Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) is a type of cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) that focuses on helping people recognize and change negative thinking patterns into positive, healthier ones. This method is an action-oriented approach helping to overcome any psychological problems or mental distress. The goal of REBT is to help people respond rationally to situations that would cause stress, depression, or other negative feelings. How does it work?

The ABC model is one concept of REBT. The model suggests that we may blame external situations for our unhappiness and it is our interpretation of these situations that truly causes the psychological distress. ABC stands for:

  • A: Activating event, when something happens in your environment
  • B: Belief, describes your thoughts about the situation
  • C: Consequence, which is your emotional response to your belief

With REBT, your therapist will help you learn how to apply the ABC model in your daily life. Your therapist may help you identify the activating event before encouraging you to figure out which belief led you to your negative feelings. Once you’ve identify the underlying issue, your therapist will work with you to change those beliefs and your emotional response towards the issue. Before changing your belief, a process called disputation takes place where your therapist will challenge your irrational beliefs using direct methods such as asking questions which causes you to re-think or have you imagine another point of view that you may have not considered before. REBT can help with Anxiety, Social anxiety disorder, distress, Depression, Disruptive behavior in children, Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and Psychotic symptoms.

Benefits of REBT:

  • Reduce feelings of anger, depression, anxiety, and distress
  • Improves health and quality of life
  • Better social skills and school performance

REBT helps you understand that you are worthy of self-acceptance no matter what even if you or others are struggling; there is no need for shame or guilt because everyone makes mistakes and it’s normal to feel some discomfort. REBT gives insight that others are also worthy of acceptance even if their behavior involves something you don’t like. Overall, REBT helps you have a healthy emotional response on learning from a situation and moving on. This allows you to understand that negative things will sometimes happen in life therefore there is no rational reason to always expect it to be positive when faced with a situation.

If you or someone you know is seeking for cognitive behavioral therapy or rational emotive behavior therapy, please contact our psychotherapy offices in New York or New Jersey to talk to one of our licensed professional psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, or psychotherapists at Arista Counseling & Psychotherapy. Contact our Paramus, NJ or Manhattan, NY offices respectively, at (201) 368-3700 or (212) 722-1920 to set up an appointment. For more information, please visit http://www.counselingpsychotherapynjny.com/

Source: https://www.verywellmind.com/rational-emotive-behavior-therapy-2796000

Delusions

GalleryJudy Gurfein 1 Comment

By: Stephanie Osuba

A delusion is a strongly held thought or conviction that persists despite evidence to the contrary. There are three components that all delusions have: (1) they are held with unusual conviction (2) they are not amenable to logic (3) the absurdity of their content is explicitly evident to others. People who have delusions, no matter how weird and unimaginable, believe it to be fact and when attempting to clarify or argue will result in anger and even sometimes violent reactions. People with delusions usually feel that others think they are inherently unintelligent and that they aren’t being understood.

There seems to be a split in reality because most people who have delusions are able to keep their beliefs to themselves in professional settings where the delusions seem to “disappear” unless the person is in the presence of someone they trust. “Higher functioning” people who have delusions seem to have the input of a situation correct, however they often misinterpret the information leading to a delusional thought. For example, they might see their partner talking to the neighbor and suddenly they are being cheated on. Of course there are other cases in which the person is experiencing other psychotic symptoms (such as in schizophrenia where there might be hallucinations and disorganized speech) and the person is acting out on their delusions.

Some Common delusions:

  • Persecution: they are being intentionally run off the road, the police are searching for them, they are being targeted by news anchors
  • Infidelity: they are being cheated on or lied to by their partners
  • Love: they are in love, or someone, that they don’t know or have never met, is in love with them; usually celebrities.
  • Grandeur: believing they are God is very common; they have special or supernatural gifts
  • Memory: recalling events that have not happened; hard to clarify if it’s a delusion or pathological lying
  • Perception: when abnormal significance is placed on any normal or natural situation

Source: Hill, T., MS, LPC. (2018, October 17). 6 Dangerous Delusions Someone You Know Might Have. Retrieved from https://blogs.psychcentral.com/caregivers/2018/10/6-dangerous-delusions-a-loved-one-might-have/ 

If you or someone you know has delusions, please contact our psychotherapy offices in New York or New Jersey to talk to one of our licensed professional psychologists, psychiatrists, psychiatric nurse practitioners, or psychotherapists at Arista Counseling & Psychotherapy. Contact our Paramus, NJ or Manhattan, NY offices respectively, at (201) 368-3700 or (212) 722-1920 to set up an appointment. For more information, please visit http://www.counselingpsychotherapynjny.com/.