Learning RET: From Complexity to Manageable Units

Abstract

Learning RET: From Complexity to Manageable Units A Primer on Rational Emotive Therapy. Windy Dry den and Raymond DiGiuseppe. Champaign, Illinois: Research Press, 1990,99pp., $11.95. This compact, well written volume may be profitably read on several levels. It will be of greatest use to those individuals interested in acquiring a basic level of competence in Rational Emotive Therapy (RET). Indeed, it is for this audience that Dryden and DiGiuseppe primarily intend the primer. In addition, because the underlying rationale in Cognitive Therapy (CT) and Cognitive-Behavior Therapy (CBT) closely parallel (and frequently overlap with) the RET process, individuals in these camps can benefit from a reading of this volume. Finally, the primer can provide noticeable benefits to experienced RET therapists and clinical researchers as well. The benefit here derives from the clear specification of the treatment model as described by the authors. That is, because each of the elements of the treatment model is carefully specified, the primer can serve as a standard by which to assess therapist drift for the experienced RET therapist, and "positive adherence" to the treatment model in the case of clinical researchers (Haaga, Dryden, & Dancey, 1990). In Part One of the primer, Dryden and DiGiuseppe briefly outline the principles of RET that they consider central to an understanding of the practical steps involved in Rational Emotive Therapy. Here the authors discuss the concepts of Rationality versus Irrationality; the ABC Framework; The Three Basic Musts considered by Ellis to be at the bottom of most human disturbance; Two Basic Biological Tendencies postulated to influence cognitive functioning; and the Theory of Change in RET. In this section Dryden and DiGiuseppe do a commendable job of keeping the material brief (7 pages), and highlighting only those principles which they see as critical to an understanding of the practical steps involved in conducting an RET session. Further this discussion is nicely slanted towards the individual just beginning to develop his/her skills in RET. In Part Two, Dryden and DiGiuseppe lay out a map or template of a complete treatment sequence of Rational Emotive Therapy. This template is straightforward, and consists of thirteen steps which take the developing RET therapist from the opening stage (eliciting the initial problem from the client), to the final stage of preparing the client for the concerted effort necessary to insure long term belief change. This section of the primer is clearly the capstone of the volume. What the authors have done is to take a complex process, and break it down into discrete, manageable units, where the novice can master each of the steps, building systematically until he/she has mastered the whole process. Another noticeable benefit of breaking the treatment sequence down into thirteen discrete steps, is that it helps the novice maintain an overall perspective while he/she is proceeding through the treatment cycle, and thus avoiding the situation where one "loses sight of the forest for the trees." A common occurrence in trainees (and for that matter, in experienced RET therapists as well) is the situation where the therapist becomes so entangled in the process, that he/she forgets to carry out some critical step later in the sequence (e.g., the individual who becomes so engaged in the process of untangling a difficult inference chain early in therapy, that they forget to assign an appropriate homework assignment), ostensibly, the thirteen step template will serve to reduce such errors, in that the therapist could review the model before ending the session, or moving to another problem. Part Three of the primer is a demonstration of the use of the template with a verbatim case example. The case example nicely illustrates each of the thirteen steps of the model, demonstrating how each of the steps is carried out during the process of therapy. …