Dichotomous thinking A cognitive er

Dichotomous thinking A cognitive error that
involves categorizing experiences in either-or
extremes.
Distortion of reality Erroneous thinking that
disrupts one’s life; can be contradicted by the client’s
objective appraisal of the situation.
Homework Carefully designed and agreed
upon assignments aimed at getting clients to
carry out positive actions that induce emotional
and attitudinal change. These assignments are
checked in later sessions, and clients learn effective
ways to dispute self-defeating thinking.
Internal dialogue The sentences that people
tell themselves and the debate that often goes on
“inside their head”; a form of self-talk, or inner
speech.
Irrational belief An unreasonable conviction
that leads to emotional and behavioral problems.
Musturbation A term coined by Ellis to refer
to behavior that is absolutist and rigid. We tell
ourselves that we must, should, or ought to do or
be something.
Overgeneralization A process of holding extreme
beliefs on the basis of a single incident
and applying them inappropriately to dissimilar
events or settings.
Personalization A tendency for people to relate
external events to themselves, even when
there is no basis for making this connection.
Rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) A
theory that is based on the assumption that cognitions,
emotions, and behaviors interact signifi cantly
and have a reciprocal cause-and-effect relationship.
Rational emotive imagery A form of intense
mental practice for learning new emotional
and physical habits. Clients imagine themselves
thinking, feeling, and behaving in exactly the
way they would like to in everyday situations.
Rationality The quality of thinking, feeling,
and acting in ways that will help us attain our
goals. Irrationality consists of thinking, feeling,
and acting in ways that are self-defeating and
that thwart our goals.
Relapse prevention Procedure for promoting
long-term maintenance that involves identifying
situations in which clients are likely to regress to
old patterns and to develop coping skills in such
situations.
Schema Core beliefs that are centrally related
to dysfunctional behaviors. The process of cognitive
therapy involves restructuring distorted core
beliefs (or schema).
Selective abstraction A cognitive distortion
that involves forming conclusions based on an
isolated detail of an event.
Self-instructional therapy An approach to therapy
based on the assumption that what people
say to themselves directly infl uences the things
they do. Training consists of learning new selftalk
aimed at coping with problems.
Self-talk What people “say” to themselves
when they are thinking. The internal dialogue
that goes on within an individual in stressful
situations.
Shame-attacking exercises A strategy used
in REBT therapy that encourages people to do
things despite a fear of feeling foolish or embarrassed.
The aim of the exercise is to teach people
that they can function effectively even if they
might be perceived as doing foolish acts.
Socratic dialogue A process that cognitive
therapists use in helping clients empirically
test their core beliefs. Clients form hypotheses
about their behavior through observation and
monitoring.
Stress inoculation Individuals are given opportunities
to deal with relatively mild stress
stimuli in successful ways, so that they gradually
develop a tolerance for stronger stimuli.
Stress inoculation training (SIT) A form of
cognitive behavior modification developed by
Donald Meichenbaum that is a combination of
information giving, Socratic discussion, cognitive
restructuring, problem solving, relaxation
training, behavioral rehearsals, self-monitoring,
self-instruction, self-reinforcement, and modifying
environmental situations.
Therapeutic collaboration A process whereby
the therapist strives to engage the client’s active
participation in all phases of therapy.