ABSTRACT
Using the REBT treatment sequence, one will assess the C and elements of your client's problems before identifying their irrational beliefs. While assessing a you need to determine the most clinically relevant aspect of the activating event. Once you have done this, you need to encourage your clients to assume temporarily that A is true, no matter how distorted A is. The one major exception to this rule occurs when you think that your clients are quite unlikely to think rationally about a much distorted A. Novice REBT therapists, in particular, find it difficult to resist disputing inferential distortions, particularly when these are clearly exaggerated. They may even believe that these distorted as really did cause their client's problems at C. This temporary amnesia for the ABC model of REBT can be frequently explained by novice therapists believing that they would be disturbed if they were confronted by this distorted A.
