ABSTRACT
Michael Edelstein, a Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) therapist working in San Francisco, advocates the principle of MVP in disputing: M stands for meaningful, V for vigorous and P for persistent. A good example of meaningful disputing is found in the work of Howard Young. The importance of being vigorous in disputing your client's irrational beliefs has been shown by Ellis, who argued that you often need to be forceful, energetic and vigorous in your disputing if it is to be effective. Some of the most effective REBT therapists people know are vigorous in the sense that their work displays a quiet forcefulness in not letting clients off the hook. Applying this to the disputing process, one need to realize that their clients are unlikely to surrender their irrational beliefs as a result of a single disputing episode, no matter how meaningful and vigorous that dispute may be.
