ABSTRACT
Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) is firmly placed within the cognitive-behavioural tradition of psychotherapy. REBT states that people disturb themselves (C) by the beliefs (B) that they hold about the negative activating events in their lives (A). Thus, if a client is disturbed now about certain aspects of her past, then an REBT therapist would certainly deal with this using the ABC framework where A is the past event. What REBT questions, however, is the position that a client's past has made him disturbed now. This you will recall is an example of "A causes C" thinking to which REBT objects. REBT adheres to a constructivist position even about the origins of psychological disturbance. REBT does not ignore a client's past, but works with past material either by disputing currently held irrational beliefs about historical events or by challenging past irrational beliefs that the client may have held about these same events.
