REBT with children and adolescents

Abstract

From its inception, Albert Ellis pioneered the application of REBT with children and adolescents, stressing, in particular, the importance of teaching young clients positive mental health concepts that would promote their social, emotional, behavioral, and cognitive development. Although REBT has been practiced very successfully with young clients, one of the misconceptions is that it is simply a “downward extension of REBT adult methods” (Ellis and Bernard in Rational emotive behavioral approaches to childhood problems: theory, practice, and research. Springer, New York, 2006, p. xi). In fact, there are numerous specific techniques that have been adapted to complement the developmental levels of children and adolescents, helping them learn REBT concepts in their “own language” through unique approaches that enable them to apply the basic theoretical principles to address typical developmental challenges as well as more serious problems.