Proposing a rational resilience credo for use with athletes

© 2016 Association for Applied Sport Psychology. While the reported use of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is growing in sport, little is written about specific tools used by practitioners when applying REBT with athletes. The Athlete Rational Resilience Credo (ARRC) adapts Windy Dryden's (2007) original Rational Resilience Credo for application with athletes. The ARRC promotes rational beliefs in athletes, which are important for resilient responding to adverse events. The ARRC is presented in full, followed by some explanation as to its purposes, critical practitioner reflections, and guidance for its use in sport

The effects of rational and irrational coach team talks on the cognitive appraisal and achievement goal orientation of varsity football athletes

The effects of rational and irrational coach team talks on cognitive appraisal and achievement goal orientation were examined. During the half-time interval of a 60-minute football match, 25 male varsity football athletes (Mage = 20.20; SD ± 1.38 years) received a rational (n = 13) or an irrational (n = 12) team talk from a coach. Irrational and rational beliefs were measured before the football match. Task engagement, cognitive appraisal (challenge and threat), and achievement goal orientation (approach and avoidance) regarding second-half football performance were measured following team-talk delivery. Athletes in the rational team talk condition reported significantly lower threat appraisal and avoidance goal orientation than athletes in the irrational team talk condition. No significant between-condition differences emerged for challenge appraisal and approach goal orientation. For coaching practice, data suggest that communicating rational or irrational beliefs to football athletes through a half time team talk will influence appraisal and achievement goal orientation regarding upcoming performance. Keywords Rational emotive behaviour therapy, irrational beliefs, rational beliefs, appraisal, achievement goal

Assessing the Factorial Validity of the Attitudes and Belief Scale 2-Abbreviated Version: A Call for the Development a Gold Standard Method of Measuring Rational and Irrational Beliefs

Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy (REBT) does not possess a measure of rational and irrational beliefs that meets internationally recognised standards for acceptable psychometric properties. Without such a measure the theory/practice of REBT cannot be rigorously evaluated, thus undermining its scientific veracity. The current study investigates the validity and reliability of a recently developed measure of rational and irrational beliefs: the Attitudes and Belief Scale 2-Abbreviated Version (ABS-2-AV). University students from three countries completed the ABS-2-AV (N = 397). An alternative models framework using confirmatory factor analysis indicated that a theoretically consistent eight-factor model of the ABS-2-AV provided the best fit of the data. A number of post-hoc modifications were required in order to achieve acceptable model fit results, and these modifications revealed important methodological limitations with the ABS-2-AV. Results indicated that the validity of the ABS-2-AV was undermined due to items measuring both the psychological process of interest (rational and irrational beliefs) and the context in which these beliefs processes are presented. This is a serious methodological limitation of the ABS-2 and all questionnaires derived from it, including the ABS-2-AV. This methodological limitation resulted in the ABS-2-AV possessing poor internal reliability. These limitations are discussed in relation to the broader REBT literature and the impact such problems have on research and practice. A call is made for REBT researchers to come together to develop a “gold standard” method of assessing rational and irrational beliefs that meets international standard for psychometric excellence

The Development and Validation of the Thai-Translated Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (T-iPBI)

© 2018, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature. One of the most commonly employed cognitive-behavioural approaches to psychotherapy is rational-emotive behaviour therapy, but researchers have been troubled by some of the limitations of irrational beliefs psychometrics. As a result, Turner et al. (Eur J Psychol Assess 34:174–180, 2018a. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000314) developed the Irrational Performance Beliefs Inventory (iPBI), a novel measure of irrational beliefs for use within performance domains. However, the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation of the iPBI into other languages is necessary for its multinational and multicultural use. The purpose of this paper is to develop the Thai-translated version of the iPBI (T-iPBI) and examine the validity and reliability of the T-iPBI. Data retrieved from 166 participants were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software packages. Thirty-three participants completed two follow-up T-iPBI measurements (1- and 3-week repeat assessment). After the linguistic and cross-cultural adaptation processes, the T-iPBI demonstrated excellent levels of reliability, with internal consistency and test–retest reliability, as well as construct, concurrent, and predictive validity. The current findings indicate that the 20-item T-iPBI can be used as a self-assessment instrument to evaluate individual’s irrational performance beliefs in a Thai population. We also highlight the implications of this study and suggest a variety of future research directions that stem from the results

Using Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) Athletes to Reduce Irrational Beliefs and Increase Unconditional Self-Acceptance

© 2016, Springer Science+Business Media New York. The reported application of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) with athletes is growing but remains scarce within sport psychology literature. This study used a single-case multiple-baseline across participants design to investigate the effects of REBT on irrational self-depreciation beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance (USA) with three male mixed martial arts (MMA) athletes. Visual and statistical analyses indicate a reduction in total irrationality and self-depreciation and an increase in USA, which was maintained at 6 months post-REBT for two of the three athletes. Social validation data revealed positive changes in emotion management and performance in all athletes. The mechanisms by which REBT promoted changes in self-depreciation and USA are discussed as are recommendations regarding the future implementation of REBT with athletes

An Analysis of the Relationship between Irrational Beliefs and Automatic Thoughts in Predicting Distress

The present study examined the relationship between irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts in predicting distress (i.e., depressed mood in patients with major depressive disorder). Although both constructs have been hypothesized and found to predict emotional reactions in stressful situations, the relationships between these two types of cognitions in predicting distress has not been sufficiently addressed in empirical studies. Our results show that both irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts are related to distress (i.e., depression/depressed mood), and that the effects of irrational beliefs on distress are partially mediated by automatic thoughts

Core beliefs, automatic thoughts and response expectancies in predicting public speaking anxiety

The present study examined the relationships between broad core cognitions, situation-specific automatic thoughts, and response expectancies in regard to their relative contributions to public speaking anxiety. Ninety-nine socially anxious participants (mean age = 20.25) completed measures of irrational beliefs and automatic thoughts specific to public speaking. Participants were then announced the task - giving a speech in front of a virtual reality audience - and response expectancies were measured. Subjective anxiety was measured just before the speech. As predicted, response expectancies and negative automatic thoughts specific to public speaking were each found to mediate the relationship between irrational beliefs and public speaking anxiety. Multiple mediation analysis indicated that the core irrational beliefs generated specific beliefs (i.e., response expectancies that primed automatic thoughts) that acted on speech-related anxiety. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd

Cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for generalized anxiety disorder: Contrasting various CBT approaches in a randomized clinical trial

Objective: Cognitive-behavior therapy (CBT) is considered the “golden standard” psychotherapy for generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) but, at this point, we have little information about differences among various CBT approaches. Method: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to compare three CBT protocols for GAD: (a) Cognitive Therapy/Borkovec's treatment package; (b) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and (c) Acceptance and Commitment Therapy/Acceptance-based behavioral therapy. A number of 75 patients diagnosed with GAD, aged between 20 and 51 (m = 27.13; standard deviation = 7.50), 60 women and 11 men, were randomized to the three treatment arms. Results: All treatments were associated with large pre-post intervention reductions in GAD symptoms and dysfunctional automatic thoughts, with no significant differences between groups. Correlation analyses showed similar associations between changes in symptoms and changes in dysfunctional automatic thoughts. Conclusions: All three approaches appear to be similarly effective. Implications for the theoretical models underlying each of the three cognitive-behavior therapy approaches are discussed

The bottle is half empty and that's bad, but not tragic: Differential effects of negative functional reappraisal

Reappraisal has typically been viewed as a unitary construct, without looking at the specific ways in which it can be realized. Our main objective was to test a more ecological form of reappraisal, informed by cognitive behavioral therapy strategies of change. We compared two types of emotional regulation strategies (positive reappraisal and negative functional reappraisal), with each other and with a control condition. The primary outcome was negative emotion expression, but we also took into account other outcomes such as positive emotion generation and irrational and rational beliefs. Ninety undergraduate students took part in the study. Their task was to watch a distressful video, and subsequently practice one of the reappraisal or control instructions. Our results indicate negative functional reappraisal to be the most efficient strategy in fostering reductions in negative emotions, as well as in irrational beliefs. Also its efficiency appears mediated by changes in irrational beliefs. © 2012 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC