Part 1 The central role played by beliefs in understanding your clients’ problematic and constructive negative emotions

RECBT theory is based on an old dictum attributed to the Stoic philosopher, Epictetus, which can be summed up in the phrase: People are disturbed not by things, but by their views of things. This clearly shows the importance of cognitive factors in emotional problems. Albert Ellis, the founder of rational emotive behaviour therapy, developed this point to help us distinguish between negative emotions that are problematic and those that are constructive. Ellis’s position can be summarized as follows.