The practice of rational emotive behavioral therapy (2nd Ed.)

Abstract

Foreword Psychotherapy requires a great deal of intellectual knowledge. To become a successful therapist requires that one reads many books and articles, and listens to hundreds of hours of lectures and workshops. However, despite all this verbal intellectual activity, when you close the door and are alone with the client, you have to act. You have to decide quickly what to say, what to ask, or to remain inactive. Was that a choice, or did I act passively because I did not know what to do? After years of training psychotherapists, I have come to view the practice of psychotherapy more like a motor sport or skill than like an intellectual activity. However, psychotherapy is a motor skill that rests on a great deal of knowledge. How do clinicians learn to go from theory to practice? The title of this book by Ellis and Dryden reflects the action aspects of psychotherapy.