ABSTRACT
Successful Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) depends to a large degree on the extent to which your clients assume active responsibility to help themselves. Part of this responsibility involves clients thinking for themselves and actively applying cognitive change techniques. Thus, REBT is a form of therapy that encourages clients to use their brains as well as acting on what they have learned. However, since REBT is an active-directive approach to therapy, it is quite easy for you to do a lot of the work for your clients and encourage them to be mentally lazy, particularly when you didactically teach them rational principles. Whenever possible try to work Socratically with your clients, and encourage them to think through issues for themselves. However, if you do need to use didactic explanations, it is especially important to encourage your clients to put into their own words their understanding of what you are trying to convey.
