Ellis’s REBT theory starts with the premise that humans possess two competing biologically inherited tendencies. The first and possibly more apparent tendency is to defeat our ends, upset ourselves, and fail to take the better path. The second tendency is to think scientifically and experience healthy emotional reactions, allowing us to solve practical problems, aiding our survival, and enhancing our happiness. Humans are natural problem-solvers, but instruction in problem-solving greatly enhances this inborn capacity. Teaching people to make and test a hypothesis against available evidence dramatically increases their problem-solving ability. Teaching people to think in logical ways also increases their problem-solving ability. Ellis argued that humans often were crooked thinkers and easily reasoned with non-sequiturs. They could learn to spot these instances of illogical reasoning, but instruction helped them spot and reduce the incidence of such erroneous, undisciplined reasoning. He thought it was a good idea for children to learn REBT in schools, like reading from a young age. For a time, he founded a school for children named the School for Rational Living. This project proved costly, and he stopped supporting this endeavor. However, he continued to operate the Institute for Rational Emotive Therapy, where he taught people and mental health professionals to think scientifically and logically to have adaptive emotional and behavioral responses to adversity. He and his colleagues did this through lectures, public demonstrations, workshops, and individual and group therapy sessions.
Humans are Biologically Predisposed to Learn to Read
Consider the skill of reading. Humans are born with the capacity to learn to read, but we must teach children to read. Individual differences in this propensity abound. Some humans are born such that they are predisposed to have difficulty learning to read and require particular remediation to learn to read:
“Systematic, explicit phonics instruction helps children to make the neurological connections between the areas of the brain that are devoted to visual (writing), phonological (sound), and semantic (meaning) processing. Some children form these neurological connections quickly, while others require more intensive instruction and repeated exposures. A very small number of fortunate children are able to make the connections on their own, without explicit teaching.” (Nomanis, 2023)
Likewise, nearly all humans are born with the capacity to manage their emotions and behaviors through flexible and scientific thinking to a greater or lesser extent. However, instruction in REBT theory and self-help strategies greatly enhances this capacity. Teaching people the theory of REBT, as well as the recommended methods to remediate their dysfunctional reactions to adversity, is what I am attempting to do through my Intermittent emails, my weekly Zoom demonstrations on Saturdays, and my lecture on REBT scheduled for Sunday, March 3 at 9 AM Eastern. These educational presentations are likely highly beneficial, but you must also regularly work and practice implementing REBT’s ideas and strategies. Children with rudimentary reading skills who refuse to practice reading only enhance their reading skills if they work at and practice reading. People who refuse to challenge themselves to implement REBT ideas and strategies only improve their emotional well-being if they work at and practice REBT in the most tempting moments of life.
Learning to use REBT is very much like learning to read. Some of you will have more difficulty learning to use it because of your biological differences. It does not mean you cannot learn to use REBT because you are more predisposed to upsetting yourself than others. You will have to work harder at adopting healthy attitudes and using them when facing adversity. Likewise, under some conditions, using REBT will likely be more challenging for all of us. For example the loss of a significant relationship or the death of a loved one are two such examples. Again, REBT can help with the profound emotional pain experienced by all of us. Still, like reading a complex text, with these profound losses of life, we all will likely have to expect it to take more effort and extended time to cultivate philosophical acceptance of what we cannot change. Please continue to try to implement REBT, whether it is easy for you or more difficult. It is a sensible approach to managing your reactions to life’s adversities. Keep at it!
Reference:
Nomanis. (2023, June 22). Why do some children learn to read without explicit teaching?. EDITIONS. https://www.nomanis.com.au/