What was the emotional and/or behavioral consequence (C)?
What did you tell yourself (B) about A to cause C?
Is that belief (B) logical? Empirical? Pragmatic?
I somehow think that Albert Ellis, who made therapy playful and engaging, would approve. ✸
Postscript. How do I know that Ellis was playful and engaging? I’ve read published transcripts of his sessions, and they are masterpieces. During one session, he advised a client thus: “Every time a human being gets upset—except when she’s in physical pain—she has always told herself some bullshit the second before she gets upset” (p. 228). That not only got the client’s attention, I can guarantee the lesson stuck.
I’m privileged to serve as faculty for another season of Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation’s Summer Institute for Medical Students (SIMS). This page contains links to my teaching materials and some additional resources.
I’ve long advised medical students and residents to acquire some psychotherapy skills, regardless of their eventual specialty. Motivational interviewing (MI) and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) are relatively easy to learn and have broad clinical utility.
Some MI resources include:
Miller WR, Rollnick S. Motivational Interviewing, 3d ed. New York: Guilford Press, 2013 [classic textbook]
Sim MG, Wain T, Khong E. Influencing behaviour change in general practice. Part 1—brief intervention and motivational interviewing. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(11):885-888 (PMID: 19893835; and here)
Sim MG, Wain T, Khong E. Influencing behaviour change in general practice. Part 2—motivational interviewing approaches. Aust Fam Physician 2009;38(12):986-989 (PMID: 20369152; and here)
Hall K, Gibbie T, Lubman DI. Motivational interviewing techniques—facilitating behaviour change in the general practice setting. Aust Fam Physician 2012;41(9):660-667 (PMID: 22962639; and here)
Searight HR. Counseling patients in primary care: evidence-based strategies. Am Fam Physician 2018;98(12):719-728 (PMID: 30525356)
DiGiuseppe RA, Doyle KA, Dryden W, Backx W. A Practitioner’s Guide to Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, 3d ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 [classic textbook]
Harden M. Cognitive behaviour therapy—incorporating therapy into general practice. Aust Fam Physician 2012;41(9):668-671 (PMID: 22962640; and here)
Stuart MR, Lieberman JA. The Fifteen Minute Hour, 6th ed. Boca Raton: CRC Press, 2019 [please see, in particular, Chapter 4]
Frenz DA. Another Arrow for Your Quiver: REBT for SUD. Minneapolis: David A. Frenz, M.D., 2018 [PowerPoint presentation]
Linda Picone, the editor of Minnesota Medicine, tapped me for its “Joy of Medicine” feature. The extended interview appears in the September–October issue.
Minnesota Medicine
I’ll let Linda’s work speak for itself—it’s an absolute gem—but offer the following references for those who might want to go deeper: