ABSTRACT
Over the past several decades, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) has garnered empirical support in the treatment of many clinical issues, such as anxiety, depression, and substance abuse. However, more recently, its application to an athletic population has also been explored. In addition to treating athletes’ clinical issues, REBT is a commonly employed pre-competitive strategy designed to assist athletes in changing their unhelpful beliefs and subsequent emotional and behavioral responses, thus optimizing their sporting performance (Gee, 2010). In this case study, REBT was implemented in treating an 18-year-old, medically red shirted (participation suspended to extend his eligibility to play for the university) freshman football player at a Division I American university. Although the original referral of this athlete was for anger management, upon further assessment, the client was also still grieving for the death of his father, approximately two years prior to the referral. REBT, within a larger existential framework, was utilized to assist Bill in generating a more adaptive perspective regarding his recent life occurrences. Specific REBT interventions included: skills training, disputation, rational coping statements, Socratic questioning, forceful coping statements, modeling, referenting (i.e., identifying advantages and disadvantages of changing unhealthy beliefs), and reverse role-playing, with the goal of facilitating Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA) in Bill.
