ABSTRACT
As we discussed in Part 1 of this book, the effective practice of REBT is done within the context of a developing productive therapeutic alliance. One of the major components of the alliance concerns your clients’ goals for change (see Point 9). One of the most powerful motivators for encouraging your clients to change their irrational beliefs is the extent to which their new rational beliefs help them to achieve their goals. Salesmen have known for many years that potential customers will not buy a product that they think will not help them realize an important goal. We believe this is the same with psychotherapy. Therefore, keep your clients’ goals for change clearly at the front of their (and your) mind while disputing. Although logical and empirical disputes are valuable in the disputing process (as will be shown in Point 70), helping your clients to assess the pragmatic value of their presently held irrational beliefs as compared to the value of the alternative rational beliefs is often the key to the success of a disputing intervention.
