ABSTRACT
Many years ago I (WD) wrote a paper called ‘Language and Meaning in Rational-Emotive Therapy’ (included in Dryden, 1990a). My intention in writing it was to encourage REBT therapists to consider the language they use with clients and to work with them towards a common understanding of the concepts that they introduce. It is important to appreciate that your clients may make different interpretations of particular rational concepts than the meaning implied in such concepts. For example, take the word ‘rational’. In REBT, rational means flexible, non-extreme, self-enhancing, empirical and logical. To clients, however, the term may mean unemotional, robot-like, a state to be avoided rather than to be desired. If you have established an effective process of reflection with your client (see Point 7), then you can discuss the different meanings of the word ‘rational’.
