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Rather than self-disturbing with unhelpful assumptions about the 2024 United States (U.S.). presidential election season, I find it helpful to devote effort toward practice of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT). What better way is there than to challenge unproductive beliefs?
REBT theory uses the ABC model to illustrate how when Activating events (“Actions”) occur and people maintain irrational Beliefs about the events, these unhelpful assumptions – and not the actual occurrences – are what create unpleasant cognitive, emotive, bodily sensation, and behavioral Consequences.
In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people use: demandingness, awfulizing, low frustration tolerance, and global evaluations. For clarity, consider the following examples:
Demandingness –
Generally speaking, there are two forms of rigid demands with which people upset themselves. The first is an absolutistic form of should, must, or ought-type statements. For instance, “Under no circumstances whatsoever should people spread mis-, dis-, or malinformation!” Using this type of demandingness allows for no other feasible options to be considered.
The second inflexible demand is a conditional form of have to, gotta, or better-type statements. For example, “If people want our country to be successful, then ‘our democracy’ better not be challenged!” With this form of demandingness, an individual establishes a false binary upon which one’s demand ultimately rests.
Awfulizing –
When unfavorably labeling someone or something as terrible, horrible, awful, abhorrent, deplorable, and so on and so forth, a person uses a limiting form of ad hominem attack when describing others. As such, use of this uncompromising belief employs catastrophic thinking.
For instance, “People who vote for the other U.S. political party fall into what I like to call a ‘basket of deplorables.” As similarly unhelpful example would be to maintain, “It’s abhorrent to vote for a third party, because you’re essentially throwing away your vote!”
Low frustration tolerance –
Rather than increasing one’s level of high frustration tolerance, which strengthens a person’s ability to tolerate and accept unpleasant circumstances, low frustration tolerance uses unproductive narratives which convince a person that situations are intolerable.
As an example, “Our political party can’t stand the other political party!” Also, believing something like, “People who don’t vote are unbearable,” is an illustration of how an individual unhelpfully convinces oneself that intolerance is preferable to resilience in the face of undesirability.
Global evaluations –
When unproductively rating oneself, others, or life, this absolute form of illogical and unreasonable belief is used to globally denigrate people, places, and things rather than to carefully consider available evidence to the contrary, and is largely unhelpful.
For instance, “The other candidate is weird!” Perhaps the other person has traits which one finds weird, though total magnification of these traits may result in exclusion of other traits which are worth considering. This is especially pertinent when hearing one party declare that an entire other party and its voters are “extremists.”
Addressing these irrational beliefs, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unhelpful assumptions in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Once the more adaptive beliefs are discovered, they are then substituted in place of rigid attitudes which cause self-disturbance.
It’s worth noting that from a psychological standpoint, people disturb themselves using a Belief-Consequence (B-C) connection. Of course, this isn’t to suggest that in the context of the naturalistic or physical world there is no Action-Consequence (A-C) connection.
As an example, if nothing changes within the U.S. and our government continues funding, supplying armaments to, and training foreign militaries (Action), many more people will continue to die in war (Consequence). Using an A-C perspective, proxy wars cause death.
Still, if you unhelpfully Believe, “People shouldn’t oppose U.S.-backed conflicts, because to do so is antisemitic,” then your use of an unhelpful absolutistic demand and an unfavorable global evaluation will likely result in anger (Consequence). B-C connections cause self-disturbance.
Thus, when using REBT, I help people to stop upsetting themselves through use of B-C connections, though I can’t fully resolve their A-C connections. Alas, I can’t stop U.S. officials from continuing to support foreign military conflicts which arguably constitute unconstitutional actions on the part of our nation.
Helpfully, REBT uses the technique of unconditional acceptance to relieve suffering. This is accomplished through use of unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, and unconditional life-acceptance.
As an example, suppose that both 2024 U.S. presidential candidates pledge to continue giving money away, sometimes thinly veiled as loans, to Ukraine and Israel. Meanwhile, people within our country continue suffering from a lack of funding for our own national needs.
One could use the ABC model to challenge unhelpful assumptions about the matter or instead opt to practice unconditional acceptance. The latter would require admitting to oneself that matters of national interest are largely out of one’s own circles of control and influence.
The U.S. may be better off if our politicians and other officials didn’t recklessly spend money taken from the citizenry through involuntary means (i.e., taxation), and to be spent in foreign lands, though the individual voter has zero control and negligible influence in this regard.
Therefore, and without use of inflexible and self-disturbing conditions to the contrary, one can simply accept that while participating in the democratic process of a constitutional republic provides a delicate veneer of power to change outcomes, each individual has almost zero ability to change our system.
To some people, this sounds like a disempowering practice. I disagree. It’s a matter of empowerment to let go of the perception of control and influence one never really possessed in the first place. Thus, it’s empowering to focus on matters over which one actually has power.
You have the ability to control whether or not you self-disturb with use of your beliefs. However, you have no capability to stop the U.S. government from funding death abroad. Nevertheless, you’re free to disturb yourself with an unhelpful attitude regarding this matter if you so choose.
In any case, I find it helpful to practice REBT during a time when self-disturbing narratives abound. What better opportunity is there than during the “most important election of our lifetime”?
As I stated in a blogpost entitled Truth, Do You Speak It? “You may not be able to vote your way out of oppression or comply your way out of tyranny,” though you can at least stop yourself from self-disturbing with unhelpful assumptions in relation to a process over which you have no meaningful control or influence. Bingo!!
If you’re looking for a provider who works to help you 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 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 helping you to feel better, I want to help you get better!
Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW
References:
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