Discuss the evidence that changing our cognitions can influence our emotions and our mental health

Question 1

Intro

Answer 1

The core of REBT therapy is identifying and changing ‘faulty’ or illogical thinking to help people change the way they feel and behave.

Therapeutic change in REBT involves diagnosis (ABC analysis), psychoeducation and cognitive restructuring (disputing IB’s and working out rational beliefs) and internalisation of rational beliefs through practice.

disputation is a key technique used to challenge the appropriateness of iB’s and offer rational alternatives.

the gaol is to restructure the clients belief systems and change their emotional responses.

Question 2

Empirical evidence for changing irrational to rational beliefs

Answer 2

Dryden et al 1989-
Experimentally tested a REBT hypothesis by inducing either a rational or an irrational belief in subjects imagining a stressful scenario of seeing a spider.

the induced IB= ‘I must not see a spider and it would be terrible if i did’

RB= ‘I may see a spider. It would be bad but not the end of the world’

ppts were asked to make inferences about their hypothetical situation.

In the IB group, ppts predicted a greater likelihood of there being a spider in the room and a larger size of the spider.

The results supported the hypothesis that holding an irrational belief leads to more negative inferences about the situation.

This supports the idea that beliefs influence how we perceive and interpret activating events (A), which then impacts consequences.

Question 3

Empirical support for B-C connection.

Answer 3

Harris, Davies and Dryden et al 2006-
Study involved manipulating beliefs in a real-life stressful situation (performance).

Ppts holding an irrational belief ( ‘I must perform well’) experienced more anxiety and more stress compared to those holding a rational belief (‘I would prefer to perform well’)
The rational belief individuals experienced more concern over stress and anxiety.

This study provides direct experimental evidence for the B-C connection, being that beliefs influence emotional and physiological conseuqneces.

Question 4

Meta-analysis on effectiveness of REBT

Answer 4

David 2018-
Through a systematic review and meta analysis of 84 studies on REBT’s efficacy, found that REBT is a sound psychological intervention.

Found significant effect sizes for pre- to -post treatment changes in both psychological disturbance and irrational beliefs.

while this doesn’t prove HOW the change happens, the fact that REBT (which focuses on changing beliefs) is effective in reducing psychological disturbance, supports the overall model.

There was little difference found between REBT and other types of CBT in terms of outcomes.

Underpins the theraputic approach of changing cognitions to improve mental health outcomes.