Albert Ellis developed Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, commonly referred to as REBT, in the 1950s. REBT shares common concepts, and strategies with other humanistic therapies, however, there are a few distinct differences. As an example, Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy differs in the way that cognitive distortions are approached. Additionally, Counselors and Therapists believe that helping clients think in a rational manner will improve their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, therefore improving overall daily functioning (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010). Keep reading to learn 10 REBT exercises and activities you can do with your clients.
As REBT has developed over the years, it has become more compatible with other therapeutic approaches including narrative therapy, constructivist therapy, and existential therapy (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010). REBT Counselors and Therapists pay respect to each client’s background and viewpoints, with the exception of rigid patterns that can be hurtful or damaging to their client (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010).
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When utilizing REBT with clients, Counselors and Therapists recognize changes in beliefs as progress, which often leads to a decrease in their overall level of distress (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010). Counselors enable their clients to become more aware of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors. However, more importantly, Counselors help clients learn strategies and skills that allow them to increase their ability to engage in rational thinking (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010).
There are six steps associated with REBT that Counselors and Therapists follow (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010):
- Identify the Client’s irrational beliefs
- Explore the negative consequences of their beliefs
- Disputing their irrational beliefs
- Replace their irrational beliefs with healthier and more rational beliefs
- A change in feelings occurs as a result of rational beliefs
- Behaviors then experience a positive shift as well
Mental Health Concerns That Can Benefit from REBT
Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy is an empirically based therapeutic approach that can be helpful for a range of clients. This includes various presenting concerns and diagnoses, healthcare settings, and various populations of clients (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010).
REBT can be utilized in group therapy, individual therapy, family sessions, couples counseling, and psychoeducation sessions (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010).
Clients who are living with mild and moderately severe mental health concerns can benefit from Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. This includes clients living with depressive disorders, anxiety disorders, adjustment disorders, anger and aggression difficulties, obsessiveness, and sexual difficulties (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010). Additionally, REBT can be effective in some cases of substance use disorders and can be observed in a peer-led support group called SMART Recovery (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010).
Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy does ask clients to engage in homework activities outside of the session. For this reason, it is important to ensure that clients are knowledgeable of REBT and have accurate expectations for their engagement outside of therapy sessions. For some clients, this can create a barrier that would then limit their ability to experience the full range of clinical gains associated with REBT.
REBT Exercises & Activities to do with Clients
Rational Emotive Behavior exercises can be used inside of therapy sessions, and be used as homework assignments outside of sessions. When REBT activities are used as homework, this would be explored in the subsequent session after a routine check-in regarding old business, their overall level of distress and functioning, and any major changes since their last session (Seligman & Reichenberg, 2010).
Below are 10 Examples of REBT exercises that can be used in a session with your clients:
1. ABCDEF Model
ABCDEF is a structured plan that can be used in sessions to identify, assess, dispute, and modify beliefs. The acronym can be useful for both ourselves and our clients in remembering the steps to follow. Spend time reviewing the steps with your client, and walk through an example based on a current challenge they are experiencing. TherapyByPro has an REBT ABCDEF Worksheet available that can be used during homework assignments.
The acronym in length is as follows:
- A: Activating Event
- B: Belief about the activating event
- C: Consequences of the belief]
- D: Dispute the belief
- E: Effective
- F: New feelings and behaviors
What Is It: The ABCDEF model is a structured REBT framework used to identify activating events, underlying beliefs, emotional and behavioral consequences, and to actively dispute irrational beliefs in order to develop more effective thoughts, emotions, and behaviors.
How It Helps Clients: This exercise helps clients clearly see the connection between beliefs and emotional distress, rather than attributing distress solely to external events. It promotes cognitive flexibility, emotional regulation, and increased personal agency.
How To Do It: Review each step of the ABCDEF model with the client and collaboratively apply it to a current distressing situation. Work through the disputation phase together in session, then assign the exercise as homework using a worksheet to reinforce skill generalization.
2. Thought and Emotion Exploration
In order to do the work associated with REBT, our clients need to spend time exploring their thoughts and feelings. Without doing so, they may not know how to get to the beliefs that are leading to their distress. Asking your client to explore their thoughts and feelings is a cognitive strategy that can be given as a fluid homework assignment. Maybe your client would benefit from doing this as a journal entry, or possibly doing this internal exploration while going for a peaceful walk. Help your client determine how they would best engage in self-exploration, and use this as a homework assignment. Allow for time to follow up in their following session.
What Is It: Thought and emotion exploration is a cognitive exercise that encourages clients to intentionally observe and reflect on their internal experiences to uncover beliefs contributing to distress.
How It Helps Clients: This exercise increases emotional awareness and insight, which is essential for identifying irrational beliefs. It supports clients who struggle to recognize the cognitive processes driving their emotional responses.
How To Do It: Collaborate with the client to determine a preferred method for reflection, such as journaling, mindful walking, or quiet contemplation. Assign the activity as homework and process insights and patterns during the following session.
3. Identifying Irrational Beliefs
When working with your client to identify unhealthy beliefs, many find it helpful to provide clients with a worksheet that offers examples of common unhealthy beliefs. TherapyByPro offers an REBT Irrational Belief Worksheet that can also be used to track rational beliefs that can be used to replace irrational beliefs. Encourage your client to be mindful of their beliefs outside of the session and to note any other beliefs that they found themselves having outside of the session.
What Is It: This exercise focuses on helping clients recognize common irrational beliefs, such as demands, catastrophizing, and low frustration tolerance, that maintain emotional distress.
How It Helps Clients: Identifying irrational beliefs allows clients to challenge rigid thinking patterns and replace them with more rational, adaptive beliefs, reducing emotional reactivity.
How To Do It: Use a worksheet or psychoeducation to review common irrational beliefs. Encourage clients to track beliefs that arise between sessions and review them collaboratively in therapy.
4. Self-Talk Awareness
Out of all the relationships that our clients have, one of the most important relationships that they have is with themselves. The person that they talk to the most is themselves, so another good REBT exercise is to explore their self-talk. How our clients speak to themselves is a direct result of the beliefs they have about themselves, and has an undoubtable effect on their emotions and behaviors. Encourage your client to take notice of the self-talk they have and the impact it has on their feelings and behaviors. You can then explore the belief that their self-talk stems from, and see how they can tweak their self-talk to be healthier.
What Is It: Self-talk awareness involves examining the internal dialogue clients engage in and identifying how it reflects underlying beliefs about themselves and the world.
How It Helps Clients: This exercise helps clients recognize how self-directed language influences emotional and behavioral outcomes. It fosters self-compassion and cognitive restructuring.
How To Do It: Ask clients to monitor their self-talk throughout the week, especially during emotionally charged moments. In session, explore the beliefs driving this self-talk and collaboratively develop healthier alternatives.
5. Consequences Analysis
TherapyByPro offers a Consequences Analysis Worksheet that can be used to walk through the different consequences that your client experiences for their irrational beliefs. This can be a helpful tool if your client is unable to see the full effect of their belief and to navigate what the best approach would be moving forward. After using the worksheet, check in with your client to review how they responded to their irrational beliefs and any changes they experienced regarding their typical consequences.
What Is It: Consequences analysis is an REBT exercise that examines the emotional, behavioral, and interpersonal outcomes of maintaining irrational beliefs.
How It Helps Clients: This exercise increases motivation for change by helping clients fully understand how irrational beliefs negatively impact their functioning and well-being.
How To Do It: Use a structured worksheet to walk through short- and long-term consequences of a specific belief. Review the client’s responses in session and discuss alternative belief-driven outcomes.
6. Rational Thought Repetition
Another cognitive strategy that can be used as an REBT activity would be to have your client develop a rational thought to replace an irrational one. Once that is done, ask your client to write their new thought repeatedly. Clients can verbalize the new thought in addition to writing it down. This exercise can be done in the session and continued outside of the session. Allow for time to follow up regarding your client’s experience with this exercise and any impact they observed on their feelings and behaviors.
What Is It: Rational thought repetition involves intentionally practicing rational replacement beliefs through written and verbal repetition.
How It Helps Clients: Repeated exposure to rational beliefs strengthens cognitive restructuring and weakens habitual irrational thinking patterns over time.
How To Do It: Help the client identify a rational alternative to an irrational belief, then assign repetition through writing, verbalization, or daily reminders. Review emotional and behavioral changes in subsequent sessions.
7. Emotional Reasoning Identification
Emotional reasoning is an example of an unhealthy thinking pattern that can have a significant impact on an individual’s day-to-day life. TherapyByPro’s REBT Emotional Reasoning Worksheet can be used to help clients identify their extreme beliefs and rational beliefs for specific situations. This can help clients narrow down the extreme beliefs that are having the most significant impact on themselves.
What Is It: This exercise targets emotional reasoning, a cognitive distortion where individuals assume their emotions reflect objective truth.
How It Helps Clients: Identifying emotional reasoning helps clients separate feelings from facts, reducing impulsive reactions and belief-driven distress.
How To Do It: Use a worksheet to examine situations where emotions drive conclusions. Guide the client in distinguishing emotional responses from rational interpretations.
8. Relaxation and Regulation Skills
Relaxation techniques are often introduced to clients who are engaging in Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy. This can include meditation, breathing exercises, visualization, and guided imagery. Spend time introducing your client to multiple relaxation techniques, and allow for time to practice some in session. This can be useful on techniques that can be challenging to use, or confusing to your client. Encourage your client to practice using these strategies outside of the session, both when they are in distress and when they are not. Allow for time to follow up regarding their experience and any shift in their thoughts, emotions, and feelings that they observed.
What Is It: Relaxation exercises include techniques such as deep breathing, meditation, visualization, and guided imagery used alongside REBT interventions.
How It Helps Clients: These techniques reduce physiological arousal, making it easier for clients to engage in cognitive disputation and belief change.
How To Do It: Introduce several relaxation strategies in session and practice them together. Assign regular practice outside of sessions and review their impact on emotional regulation.
9. Challenging Fortune-Telling and Jumping to Conclusions
Another unhealthy thinking pattern that our clients may be living with is jumping to conclusions and fortune-telling. The REBT Jumping to Conclusions and Fortune Telling Worksheet can be used to identify unhealthy beliefs that clients may have for certain situations, and rational beliefs that can be used in their replacement. Encourage clients to be mindful of the discussed beliefs outside of the session.
What Is It: This exercise focuses on identifying and disputing beliefs rooted in predicting negative outcomes without sufficient evidence.
How It Helps Clients: Challenging these thinking patterns reduces anxiety and anticipatory distress while promoting balanced, evidence-based thinking.
How To Do It: Use a worksheet to examine predictions, evaluate evidence, and generate rational alternatives. Encourage ongoing awareness and tracking between sessions.
10. Coping Skills Behavioral Practice
For clients to manage their distress, they first need to learn about healthy coping skills. After you introduce your client to a variety of new coping skills they can use, an effective REBT exercise would be to work with them to create a challenging situation where they would then be able to practice using their new coping skills. As an example, if your client picks out their clothes in the evening for the next day, a challenge for them may be to wait until the morning to choose their outfit. Encourage your client to use their new coping skills during the created challenge, and allow for time in your next session to process their experience.
What Is It: This REBT exercise involves intentionally practicing coping skills during planned, mildly distressing situations.
How It Helps Clients: Behavioral practice increases confidence, distress tolerance, and reinforces rational beliefs through lived experience.
How To Do It: Collaboratively design a manageable challenge where the client can apply new coping skills. Process the experience in the next session, focusing on beliefs, emotions, and outcomes.
Frequently Asked Questions About Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) Activities
Below are the practical questions clinicians ask when facilitating REBT exercises and activities to help clients challenge irrational beliefs, reduce cognitive distress, and foster rational thinking patterns.
What primary clinical objective differentiates the REBT ABCDEF model from standard cognitive restructuring frameworks?
The REBT ABCDEF framework uniquely emphasizes a systematic, step-by-step progression from identifying an activating event and its underlying unhealthy beliefs to active clinical disputation and emotional transformation. Unlike basic thought records that track cognitions globally, this structured model requires the clinician and client to isolate specific irrational demands or rigid core evaluations. This intentional focus allows clients to explicitly connect internal beliefs to destructive emotional and behavioral consequences, shifting personal accountability and building clear cognitive flexibility.
How should a clinician address a client’s resistance when transitioning from emotional reasoning to evidence-based factual thinking?
Clinicians can implement a dedicated Emotional Reasoning Identification exercise to systematically separate subjective emotional intensity from objective facts. Clients often assume their intense feelings reflect reality, which can cause significant resistance to shifting their core logic. By using targeted worksheets to evaluate extreme interpretations against observable evidence, the therapist safely demonstrates the distortion in the client’s current reasoning, clearing a path for a rational substitute.
What explicit strategies are most effective for helping clients internalize rational beliefs both inside and outside of session?
The practice of Rational Thought Repetition is highly effective for anchoring adaptive core beliefs and weakening habitual, automatic irrational thought patterns. Once a healthy replacement belief is collaboratively developed, clinicians instruct the client to repeatedly write out and verbalize the new statement during and between sessions. Combining this mental rehearsal with consistent follow-up during subsequent check-ins helps transition the rational concepts into a practical daily habit.
When a client struggles with intense physiological anxiety during disputation, what supplementary tools can a therapist integrate?
Integrating structured Relaxation and Regulation Skills—such as guided imagery, meditation, and controlled breathing exercises—helps lower the client’s physiological arousal to a manageable baseline. High levels of bodily tension can impair a client’s capacity to engage in rational disputation or tolerate emotional distress during behavioral homework. Practicing these somatic tools in-session equips the client with the self-soothing skills necessary to safely challenge irrational demands outside the therapeutic space.
How can a clinician safely design behavioral homework to test a client’s catastrophic predictions without overwhelming them?
Therapists can design structured Coping Skills Behavioral Practice assignments that create minor, calculated challenges to actively dispute jumping to conclusions or fortune-telling. This process involves establishing a planned, mildly distressing situation where the client can intentionally apply their new rational coping strategies and test an outcome. Processing the lived experience in the subsequent session reinforces their distress tolerance and provides empirical proof that challenges their rigid private logic.
Final Thoughts On Choosing Activities for REBT
Thank you for reading our resource on 10 REBT exercises and activities you can do with your clients. REBT can be an effective therapeutic approach for clients who present to counseling with varying concerns. With plenty of supportive research, we know that this can be a helpful tool for clients who are struggling with certain concerns and are willing to practice skills and other strategies outside of therapy.
If you are interested in learning more about Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, we encourage you to look into continuing education courses and specialized training opportunities in your area.
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Resources:
Seligman, L. & Reichenberg, L.W. (2010). Theories of counseling and psychotherapy: Systems, strategies, and skills (3rd Edition, pp 251-269). Pearson Education, Inc.