Albert Ellis Doing REBT with Jeffrey Guterman

Posted on September 22nd, 2006 | by admin |

Telephonic session held March 8, 1986 demonstrating Albert Ellis identifying ABC’s of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) and disputing irrational beliefs. When this session was held, Jeffrey Guterman was a masters student in counseling and a follower of REBT. He later became a supervisee, colleague, and friend of Albert Ellis. In the 1990s, Guterman shifted to a solution-focused approach and developed his own model called solution-focused counseling; see http://www.jeffreyguterman.com. Here is a transcript from this session:

Ellis: Right. But what are you depressed about?

Guterman: Well, a series of events.

Ellis: Yeah.

Guterman: One was I took my car in and I found out I had to, uh, spend over $600.

Ellis: Alright, so that’s unfortunate, but what are you telling yourself? That it’s horrible? Or what?

Guterman: Yeah. Pretty much so.

Ellis: Right. But you better go back to, “It’s a royal pain in the ass, but I could live with it!.”

Guterman: Well…

Ellis: Because you can.

Guterman: Huh?

Ellis: Because you can.

Duration : 0:7:45 Views : 16810.


  1. 15 Responses to “Albert Ellis Doing REBT with Jeffrey Guterman”

  2. By fionaskene on Mar 25, 2007 | Reply

    As an experienced …
    As an experienced Gestalt therapist, I find this video firstly, generous
    in allowing us access to the work of Ellis & his own private world.
    Secondly, its a clear tutorial for the lay person in understanding RET work.
    fionaskene

  3. By w8jij17 on Apr 3, 2007 | Reply

    I wish more people …
    I wish more people could hear about RET. It has helped me a lot. Hopefully Albert Ellis will live for many years as he is quite old at the time. He has meant a lot to the world.

  4. By mennea on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply

    Dr. Ellis, …
    Dr. Ellis, unfortunately died last tuesday, the 24th of july…he was 93.

  5. By mennea on Jul 27, 2007 | Reply

    ellis’s approach …
    ellis’s approach reminds me of the guy who gets a flat tire on the highway. well, what do you do then? do you fix the tire right there and then. well, no. you replace it with the temporary donut in your trunk. OK. maybe so you just fixxed the problem for the time being, but you still have to fix the bigger problem eventually…unfortunately Ellis does not address the “bigger” psychological problem. Ellis is a temporary COPING mechanism.

  6. By panas21m on Jul 28, 2007 | Reply

    albert ellis is the …
    albert ellis is the most real voice in psychotherapy

  7. By badger500 on Jul 28, 2007 | Reply

    I think the point …
    I think the point of Ellis’s system is that in so many cases the “bigger” problem is our habit of interpreting as catastrophic the inevitable difficulties of life. No therapy makes $600 car repair bills go away, but Ellis’s approach helps people not freak out unneccessarily about such things.

  8. By darkmorpheus30 on Dec 7, 2007 | Reply

    Thank you for …
    Thank you for posting and taking the time to make the video. It is informative for any student of psychotherapy.

  9. By fikriminincegulu on Dec 29, 2007 | Reply

    This technique …
    This technique reminds me of my father, Probably he has discovered it spontaneously:)

  10. By qtronman on Jan 5, 2008 | Reply

    I’m not sure how …
    I’m not sure how psychotherapists can justify charging $180+ per hour for identifying what someone is depressed about. Pinpointing an underlying irrational belief just doesn’t seem that hard to me in most cases. (There are, of course, more difficult cases, but these are atypical.)

  11. By paramind on Jan 8, 2008 | Reply

    Dr. Abraham Low …
    Dr. Abraham Low developed many of these ideas in the 1930′s and created self-help groups where he had people help each other. There are many of these groups practicing these ideas all over the world (Recovery, Inc.).

  12. By ironjohnlad on Feb 29, 2008 | Reply

    I dont believe in …
    I dont believe in ABC. So called irational beliefs are often tied in and symptomatic of feelings,and sensations,that are connected to the body and -past events. We actually need body awanress, and to be in relationship with what is happeneing. Both focusing orineted therapy, and MBCT recognise this.

  13. By baltasvilkas on Mar 17, 2008 | Reply

    Jguterman, your …
    Jguterman, your choice of an example was superb because it so clearly illustrated the difference between a “pain in the ass” and a true catastrophe. REBT’s elegant solution to the emotional hassles of life can seem hard to achieve, but it is well worth the effort. Whatever happens, whether you lose money, love, or your job, assume that it’s NOT GOING TO KILL YOU! Do this repeatedly, and you’ll be right 99.9% of the time. And you’ll be wrong only once.

  14. By corrugated on Mar 28, 2008 | Reply

    Absolutely. Well …
    Absolutely. Well said badger500. Freaking out about something can create a distorted feeling that you have a psychological problem or your situation is so horrible that your world is going to end because of $600. Life threatening or severe psychological problems are not treated like this.

  15. By wireandwood on Jul 6, 2008 | Reply

    thanks for sharing, …
    thanks for sharing, man. albert ellis is a bit of a hero, and inspires me to think about psychotherapy as a compelling thing to dedicate your life to.

  16. By Blackshayde on Aug 29, 2008 | Reply

    Right, cognitive …
    Right, cognitive behavioral therapists talk about catastrophising all the time, its something we do a lot and we don’t realize how self-destructive it is, because, among other things, its completely irrational.

    For example, is a $600 car repair bill really AWFUL? Well, not compared to something that is truly awful, like your child dying from cancer. So we put things on a scale, where a big car repair bill is a 5 and losing a child to cancer would be a 100. (Truly AWFUL)

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