Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) Role-Play - Complicated Grief

This video features a counseling role-play in which Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is used to treat a client (played by an actress) who has complicated grief. Thoughts occurring during bereavement are evaluated and alternative thoughts (self-talk) are explored.

[zureezee]

I like the way Dr. Grande gets the client to think more rationally through the use of questions and reframing, as well as using the clients strengths. This kind of therapy works, because when a client has irrational beliefs, it takes a counselor to work with them to look at things differently, and help them explore other avenues.

[kaitlynforaker]

I really enjoyed watching the relationship between the therapist and the client. The therapist was engaged and made the client feel heard. I think growth happens when this is the foundation of the session!

[kaitlynsantola]

Dr. Grande was very genuine when talking with the client. He eased the client into talking about her sisters passing. I liked how he worked through the clients thought of having "no one to talk to" since her sisters passing. He makes sure to clarify what the client is feeling before challenging the irrational thought. The counselor helps the client look at other people in the clients life who she feels comfortable talking to. This helps the client to process that while she lost a member of her support system, she does have other people that are there to talk and to help her.

[jackieslavin]

I think REBT is important. We all have irrational beliefs at times and I think this therapy is a very effective way to rationalize irrational beliefs. I felt that this session was helpful in understanding REBT. Dr. Grande was non-directive in guiding the client to see her own irrational beliefs. The loss of a loved one is very difficult and Dr. Grande was very gentle and sincere with the client.

[rhondabaileyyy]

I liked how Dr. Grande was empathetic to the clients loss and seemed to understand her pain. He also helped her to see that she was having an irrational thought that she did not have anyone to talk to. He helped her to understand that she does have someone to talk even though it isn’t her sister.

[janicedixon]

I like how Dr. Grande created a safe and open space for the client to talk and developed a therapeutic relationship from their first session. I also liked how he jumped right in and started to talk about the irrational thoughts that the client has been having in regards to the death of her sister after checking to see if she was past the emotions from last weeks session.

[wandamixon]

I appreciate how I can view the A-B-C personality theory of REBT in this role play. There are at least two irrational beliefs addressed. The client's feelings are acknowledged and addressed before discussing irrational thought. In both situations the process was smooth. The irrational beliefs are evident and the client is directed toward positive thinking and self-talk. It's helpful to see REBT used regarding a sensitive subject.

[rhobot]

Yesterday, watched a bunch of the REBT videos and am returning to say, this video is something to treasure going forward. I am definitely someone who gets ready for loved ones to die. I don't want to feel helpless and hopeless when support goes. I'm so glad to be watching these videos and exploring my own inner world. I do like this REBT therapy- a long time ago, a friend who was in counseling school (MFCC) and who knew me well recommended it.So I am so happy to have this chance to watch a small library of videos and follow up 23 or so years later on their idea! The counselor does have to have their head on straight to keep to the ABC- I'd be like, "Hi, I'm a talker, I brought you Post-It's" ha
Good work, Dr. Grande!

[sarahjones]

I like REBT therapy because the therapeutic relationship is so evident in many ways. The counselor is able to engage in deep conversation with the client and help her to see the situation in a different light. I also like how the counselor does not dismiss the clients irrational thoughts but he also did not let her continue on this belief path.

[emilytwomey]

REBT is one the techniques I connected the most with and something that I plan on integrating throughout my style of counseling. When doing the role-play in our class, we focused on issues surrounding self confidence, academics and self hatred, so it was enlightening to see it from a perspective where an external factor, like someones death, can cause use to have irrational beliefs. Additionally, grief can be such a difficult emotion, that often individuals think in absolutes-like as the women above described, "I have no one else to talk to now." However, when thinking about it was able to change the thought process into the person was a really good listener, she can not be replace, but there are other options.

[rebeccafalter]

I think when I read about REBT, I was not as sure I would like it enough to apply it in my future career. After watching the role play and seeing how it can be used well, I see that it's really helpful and less confusing than I originally thought. I thought that talking about a person's thoughts as beliefs and referring to them as irrational would be more difficult to manage. Seeing Dr. Grande using this theory made me more comfortable with it myself. When talking with the client about how her thoughts and reasons for her thoughts, he was able to address them as being valid and also irrational because she does have people that support her and people to talk to but she suffered a significant lose in her life.

[corinneporter]

I like how patient the counselor was with the client and allowed her to see her irrational beliefs without being so direct. He got her to see that she has other people in her support system who she can connect with. He took her negative thought, "she was the only one that believed in me" and allowed her to think of many other people in her life that influence her, such as her parents and also friends that are very encouraging.

[ninastreet]

I liked how the counselor challenged the client about not having anyone to talk to. Even though the client feels alone, she still has people who will be there for her.

[brandiependergast]

I enjoyed this video and how Dr. Grande was able to remain sensitive to her loss while being able to provide her with guidance on how to remain rational with her thoughts. I believe this was an important aspect to hold onto. Had he not developed that trusting relationship with her previously, telling her that her thoughts are irrational would not be as effective.

[virginiamurrey]

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is very interesting. With this role play it seems as though the counselor has built a great relationship with the client. This allows the client to become more open with the counselor and to apply the A, B, C, D, E Model more effectively. This was a great display of an example of this model in dealing with grief.

[diane]

I liked that the counselor helped her to see that in reality she did have other people in her life that she can talk to, instead of the irrational generalization that she had no one that she could talk to. I also liked the positive self talk technique that he wanted her to try. I also noticed that different times throughout the session the counselor goes through and helps the client change those irrational thoughts to something more positive. The client seemed to work well with this type of therapy.

[ushalincoln]

What I liked about this therapy technique is how the counselor did not invalidate clients irrational thoughts instead he helped her see beyond those thoughts. He helped her see how there are other people part of her support system and that however also how to identify how her sister continues to help her even thought she is no longer physically with her.

[aussiebreeze]

The relationship was established and genuine. The trust is there. The therapeutic relationship is key. Helping the client realize her truth is vital without taking away anything from other areas or relationships. This is such a normal part of grief that we will see in our counseling sessions. This scenario will stick with me in the future as to how to move the client forward rather than stay stuck in the current belief of having no one else.

[williecannon]

Thanks Dr grande this video is helping me with running a group in my groups course at Buffalo state universities social work department. Your the best

[jackiedeleonardis]

This roleplay demonstration helped me to see how REBT could be used with a client. After the reading, I still was not sure how this could be implemented, but this really helped to put it into perspective. Grief is difficult and i think that Dr. Grande was effective in by having the client find ways to replace her irrational thinking with more rational thinking when processing the loss of her sister.