REBT assessment and treatment with children

Abstract

Psychology has gone cognitive, and cognitive-behavior therapy has become the Zeitgeist in psychotherapy. Since the early 1980s, the cognitive orientation so popular with adults has filtered down to interventions with children (see Kendall, 2000). Today, many practitioners working with children use not only behavioral or family-systems conceptualizations to plan treatment but incorporate cognitive change as well. Cognitions have become viewed by many as the mediational variables by which these external factors (family systems and behavioral contingencies) have their effect. One can change childrens behavior by restructuring systems or by rearranging contingencies or, more directly and, perhaps more efficiently, by attempting to change the childs cognitions directly. As with adults, rational-emotive behavior therapy (REBT) hypothesizes that childrens disturbed emotions are largely generated by their beliefs (Ellis, 1994). Irrational beliefs and distortions of reality are likely to create anger, anxiety, and depression in children just as they do with adults. In fact, because children are childrenimmature, less sophisticated, and less educated one might expect them to make more cognitive errors than adults and to become upset more easily. There has been considerable research on the role of cognitions and irrational beliefs in particular in contributing to emotions not only in adults but in children (e.g., Bernard and Cronan, 1999). Over the past 30 years, a variety of REBT-oriented publications have enabled cognitive behavior therapists and other child-oriented practitioners (school counselors, school psychologists, social workers) to integrate childfriendly REBT methods in their work with children. Chief amongst these publications has been Bill Knaus (1974) book Rational Emotive Education: A Manual for Elementary School Teachers who for the first time, "translated" rational and irrational beliefs and disputing techniques into language and practices that could be understand and utilized by children as young as six. Child practitioners who discovered this resource found that their young clients readily understood relationships among Happenings→Thoughts→Feelings→Behaviors taught via "Mr. Head" and other child-friendly activities. Virginia Waters (1982) chapter on REBT with children appearing in the School Psychology Handbook outlined and discussed common irrational beliefs of children as well as outlined her common practice of always seeing the child with his/her parent(s) together in therapy in order for the parent(s) to learn how to support maintenance of the childs rational beliefs after therapy ceased. Ray DiGiuseppe (1981) pioneered the use of rational selfstatements with young children (as distinct from positive self-statements). He also wrote about the use of empirical disputation as an easier form of disputing than logical disputing for children in the concrete stage of operational thought. Since the 1980s, REBT resources designed for children in the 6 to 12 year old age range have provided cognitively-oriented child practitioners with engaging activities that could be used in one-to-one child therapy to teach the basics of REBT instead of or having to rely on "talk therapy." Ann Vernon published "Thinking, Feeling, Behaving" (1989) and the "Passport Program" (1998) which have been extensively utilized at the elementary school level in individual and small group work. Michael Bernards "Program Achieve" (2001a, b, c) a three volume curricula of personal development activities based on REBT is being used extensively throughout the world including many thousands of primary schools in Australia. Jerry Wilde published the popular board game for use with children "Lets Get Rational" in 1987. Finally, the publication in 1983 of the first edition of this book, in 1984 of Bernard and Joyces "Rational Emotive Therapy with Children and Adolescents" and Bernards 2004 book "The REBT Therapists Pocket Companion for Working with Children and Adolescents", has provided cognitive behavior therapists with the theory and practice of REBT that applied to children and their parents. This chapter outlines some of the ways in which REBT has been used over the past four decades to bring about cognitive changes and associated improvements in childrens emotions and behaviors. This chapter addresses special aspects that need to be considered when using REBT with children ages six through twelve. Issues surrounding the use of REBT when working with the parents of children who present with depression, anger and anxiety are covered in the chapter by Marie Joyce that appears in the final section of this book. © 2006 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.