In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), there are four major irrational beliefs which are associated with the ABC model: global evaluation, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness (as an acronym: GLAD).
To illustrate each of these unhelpful assumptions, consider the following:
1. Global evaluation – “Life isn’t worth living if I’m not accepted by other people.”
2. Low frustration tolerance – “I can’t stand not being accepted by other people.”
3. Awfulizing – “It would be awful if I weren’t accepted by other people.”
4. Demandingness – “I must be accepted by other people.”
According to one REBT source, these beliefs are comprised of the following five major characteristics:
1. Rigid or extreme
2. Conducive to psychological disturbance and impaired interpersonal relationships
3. Unhelpful to you as you strive towards your goals
4. False
5. Illogical
The following represents beliefs which are inflexible and exaggerated:
1. “I’m no good (G) and I can’t stand (L) how terrible (A) it is that I’m this way, because life shouldn’t (D) be this difficult! Besides, other people don’t struggle near as much as I do. In fact, I may as well end it all right now, because I likely can’t change this miserable existence anyway!”
Representing self-disturbed attitudes which impair relationships are the following beliefs:
2. “He’s a fuck boy (G)! After all, no real man would treat me this way. I just can’t take (L) that his awful (A) ass puts forth minimum effort! You know what? I never should’ve (D) let him into my life to begin with. Why do I keep attracting people like this? I’m doomed!”
The following represent beliefs which are unhelpful in regard to achieving personal interests and goals:
3. “More than anything, I want a romantic relationship [interest]. However, I guess I’m no good (G), because it’s unbearable (L) how every time I find a girlfriend things go so horribly (A). I’m willing to do the work for a relationship [goal], but things have got to (D) be easier than this! How can this happen to me? I’m a nice guy!”
Representing beliefs which aren’t true, consider the following:
4. “Life is easier for other people, given that it appears as though mine is the only pointless (G) existence from what I can tell. I mean, it’s insufferable (L) how difficult things are for me! My life is absolutely disastrous (A), and it really mustn’t (D) be this hard! Maybe I’ll just give up altogether.”
Using the premise of a syllogism (modus ponens) intertwined with the following illogical and unreasonable (collectively “irrational”) beliefs, consider the following:
5. “If people don’t respect me, then I have every right to punish them! Besides, people who disrespect me are pieces of shit (G)! It’s intolerable (L) living among them, and I’ll go as far as to say it’s the worst thing imaginable (A) sharing space with such people! Therefore, when disrespectful people cross my path, I gotta (D) teach ‘em a lesson not to fuck with me!”
Herein, I’ve deliberately interwoven the four major GLAD beliefs with each of the five characteristics which comprise them. This is because the examples used in this blogpost are composites of actual beliefs I’ve encountered when working with clients and may be relatable.
Inflexible, relational-impairing, unhelpful, distorted, and irrational characteristics aren’t necessarily easy to detect when one’s belief-consequence reactions to undesirable events have already presented unpleasant outcomes such as anger, a rapid heartrate, and yelling at others.
Therefore, I’ve presented specific examples of the five major characteristics contributing to the four major irrational beliefs as a psychoeducational lesson regarding self-disturbance. As well, this post isn’t intended to explore how to un-disturb oneself.
Rather, it’s designed to familiarize you with how people upset themselves. To learn about how to stop upsetting yourself, I invite you to become better acquainted with the content of my blog. I post material weekly so that people can learn to live rationally. Would you like to know more?
If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life—helping you to sharpen your critical thinking skills, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.
As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.
At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
Photo credit (edited), fair use
References:
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