ABSTRACT
Novice therapists, in particular, make the mistake of switching among the irrational beliefs in the conviction that disputing is a relatively brief intervention in which clients can be helped very quickly to understand the irrationality of their irrational beliefs and the rationality of their new rational beliefs, and can easily apply this learning. If this mistake is made, the client is effectively being asked to answer the questions at the same time a situation which is quite conducive not only to client confusion but also to client termination! Another situation in which one may be tempted to switch from one irrational belief to another is when people have identified ego-related irrational beliefs. Guard against the temptation of switching from ego iBs to discomfort iBs and back again, since this will also lead to client confusion. Key pointDispute one irrational belief at a time. Avoid whenever they can, switching their disputes among different irrational beliefs and creating client confusion.
