Emmett Velten, PhD, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, CBT, Cognitive Behavior Therapy, self-esteem, self-worth, Unconditional Self-Acceptance, telephone therapy, informed consent, panic attacks, agoraphobia, OCD, depression, non-12-Step, SMART Recovery®, Self-Management And Recovery Training, self-help, Albert Ellis, Albert Ellis Institute, optimism, philosophy of life, Rational Therapy, dual diagnosis, Ellis’s biography, ARCA, Assisted Recovery Centers of America

Sessions
........................................................................

What therapy is like depends a lot on the type of therapy you seek. It also depends on the therapist, you, and your aims in therapy.

Will you be someone who tends to like Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)? Chances are you will, if you answer yes to most of the following questions:

• Do you prefer to learn efficient ways to think and act differently?
  
  
• Are you more interested in the here and now and where you are going rather than exploring where you have been?
  
  
• Do you prefer to be self-reliant?
  
  
• Do you enjoy an exchange of ideas rather than having a therapist who mainly listens or tells you what to do?
  
  
• Do you believe in the scientific method?
  
  
• Do you want to develop a philosophy and methods you can apply to new problems in life that crop up?

Probably the most central activities in REBT are

• identifying and disputing self-defeating (irrational) Beliefs;
  
  
• reinforcing rational Beliefs;
  
  
• carrying out active homework experiments that target self-defeating habit patterns and build new skills.

In REBT, we first get a picture of what you’d like to change.
Then we try to figure out what current Beliefs and habits contribute to your being stuck. Then we use a variety of techniques to help you change. In REBT, we assume:

• Self-defeating behavior is part of a cause-and-effect habit pattern.
  
  
• No matter what seemed to cause problem behavior originally, something in the here and now keeps it going.
  
  
• It takes work and practice to change now and to stay changed in the future.
  

We Work as a Team.
REBT is a collaborative form of therapy in which you and I work as a team. If you hire me, you hire me to help you

• clarify your goals;
  
  
• learn how better to realize them;
  
  
• reduce your amount of self-defeat;
  
  
• help you actualize and grow in ways you desire;
  
  
• achieve a more favorable balance of short-term and long-term satisfactions.

Most of the methods of REBT make good common sense and are not especially complicated, but it does take work and practice to find out how useful any set of methods will be for you.

I will fully inform you of the rationale for suggested therapy methods. Where some procedure does not seem to be your cup of tea, or where it does not work, we will figure out an alternative. If we do not seem to be on the same page, please speak up!

In REBT, clients are “co-therapists” who can (and preferably will) learn REBT’s methods and become, more and more, their own therapists.

In addition to the usual tasks of clients (discuss problems and goals, keep appointments, pay fees, carry out homework experiments we develop, provide me with feedback, and the like), I will ask you to complete an Informed Consent, a Biographical Information Form, and an Assessment Form.

Why Record My Sessions?
If you record your sessions, you can review them later to reinforce and clarify your therapy.
Recording your sessions gives you more for your money’s worth. My impression is that people who record and then review their sessions progress faster in therapy than do non-recorders/non-reviewers. However, it is your choice. If you do record your sessions, the tapes are your property.

In face-to-face therapy, I have a cassette recorder in my office for standard-sized tapes. If you want to use it, then bring a blank tape to each session. Otherwise, bring your own recording device.

If you do not record sessions, I recommend that you make session notes and review them.

	Sessions with Dr. Emmett Velten
	rational emotive behavior therapy & cognitive behavior therapy
	Emmett Velten, Ph.D..
	CONTACT: (602) 254-7009 or Email