The development of the cognitive behavioural therapy is on the idea of an individual's ability to think, feel and behave; the three components interact. It is a case of the thoughts of a person determining how he/she feels or acts. On its part, Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy has its foundations in Albert Ellis who used it to focus on resolving issues which come up in the life of an individual emotionally and behaviourally. The aim of a therapeutic program tailored in this way is to change how a person behaves by moving them from a situation where they are prone to making irrational choices to one where they make rational ones. It is one way through which an individual can change irrational behaviour and make it more sensible. The Cognitive Therapy as developed by Aaron Beck was meant to help clients in their recognition of negative thoughts and instances they make errors in their logical approach that lead to depression. Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy and the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy are similar and different in various ways.
Compare and Contrast the Cognitive Models of Ellis and Beck
Differences between the two
The REBT theory as developed by Albert Ellis considers the therapist as an individual who takes up the role of a teacher (McLeod, 2008) . Further, Ellis does not recognize the importance of establishing a personal relationship with the client in therapy. On the other hand, Beck's therapeutic view in CBT takes such a connection to be highly essential to the quality of the therapeutic session being administered.
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REBT takes a more direct, persuasive and confronting approach with the client in question during the sessions of therapy while Beck’s CBT emphasizes on the importance if the client happened to discover such misconceptions on their own.
REBT makes use of different approaches based on how a client is placed regarding their personality. On the other hand, Beck's CBT method emphasizes a particular kind of disorder.
The Christian View of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy
The books of Romans 12:2 and 2 Corinthians 10:5 support the need to examine the cognitive condition of an individual through self-reflection. The instruction that God gives through the texts is that people ought to guard their thoughts. A person whose mind has no grounding in the things that Christians consider to be true, such a person becomes susceptible to the lies of the devil (Johnson, 1994) . The Book of James in 2:14 emphasizes on the effects of one's belief system on their behaviour. Following this understanding, the best approach that can be able to support the ideas of Christianity is the Cognitive Behaviour Therapy. The reason is that it is more concerned with the relationship between the client and the therapist (McLeod, 2008) . Since Christianity is based on the relationship between Jesus Christ and the Church, CBT would be the best approach to take in support of this worldview.
The second reason to take CBT over REBT is that REBT has no concern for the relationship between the client and the therapist. Therefore, there is a tendency of the therapist to take more delight in helping the client's utility of their beliefs rather than knowing if such views are true or false. There is a danger through in which the client may replace his or her unhelpful thoughts with helpful ones leading to the display of relativism which may not favour the position of Christianity. The CBT therapeutic approach provides ways through which the counsellor or therapist can guide the client to improve in areas such as self-efficacy, self-control and self-acceptance which are all rooted in the Christian approach.
However, both approaches may also not be helpful in the spread of Christianity. They are more secular because of their roots in naturalism, and therefore, the concept of God does not have its relevance in the two. They are secular based on the view that human beings can be able to save themselves through revising their thoughts. This is against the Christian understanding that Christ is the only answer to an individual's salvation. Relativistic views are more likely to be introduced through REBT compared to CBT.
Conclusion
Cognitive behavioural therapy is an approach which was proposed by Ellis (REBT) and Beck (CBT). Behavioural treatment supports many ideas in Christianity such as self-acceptance, self-control and self-efficacy. However, there is a danger of losing track of the Christian truth, especially where a client is introduced to relativism.
References
Johnson, W. B., Devries, R., Ridley, C. R., Pettorini, D., & Peterson, D. R. (1994). The Comparative Efficacy of Christian and Secular Rational-Emotive Therapy with Christian Clients. Journal of Psychology and Theology, Vol. 22, No. 2 , 130-140.
McLeod, S. (2008). Cognitive Behavioral Therapy . Retrieved March 15, 2018, from Simply Psychology: https://www.simplypsychology.org/cognitive-therapy.html
