A New Fix: ABCs of REBT & Gestalt Therapy

 

(Photo Credit: Fritz Perls)

Albert Ellis developed a therapeutic treatment called Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) in the 1950s. REBT is an extension of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) developed by Aaron Beck in the 1960s. These therapeutic modalities are useful in coping with a host of hurt locker challenges from chronic pain, to death, to observing death (such as with military Veterans and police), eating disorders, overcoming violence, grieving loss of a spouse/partner, etc.

The Department of Veterans Affairs utilizes these treatment modalities to improve focus, as restructuring negative thought patterns and behaviors, typically for eight weeks.  These treatments are widely used to reframe how individuals feel and think about situations in the current context. 

My personal favorite is the ABCs of REBT and I've attached a link to a REBT worksheet below. The ABCs are as follows: A=Event, B=Behavior, C=Outcomes. 

Let's use a rhetorical analogy with REBT. So you lose your husband or partner as context (A); it hurts beyond belief (B), so you mentally frame the outcome or consequence to improve outcomes (C). One typically isn't much good to anyone if they can't, first, help themselves.

REBT is a great therapeutic tool as it enables us to grasp a valid stance on the hear-and-the-now (Gestalt therapy, 2025). In essence, this is a therapeutic blend of tools: REBT + Gestalt therapy with the latter focusing on current context. If you're looking for some new references to review please see the below.

References

Dryden, W. (2021). Reason to Change: A Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy Workbook 2nd Edition. Routledge.

Ramu, A., McNamara, S., & Gunturu, S. (2025). Gestalt Therapy. In StatPearls [Internet]. StatPearls Publishing.