• responsibility for our emotions and actions
, 

• power to choose and practice helpful new habits
, 

• ability to change and grow beyond the past
.

• emphasizes developing a workable philosophy of life, 
  
• focuses more on the here and now and where you’d like to go instead of where you’ve been, 
• emphasizes acceptance of reality as a method for coping and as a method for readying oneself to change the things one can change.

REBT gives us reason for optimism in coping with problems and enhancing personal growth. One reason for this is REBT’s viewpoint about the past. We cannot change the past; it is gone forever. However, we can change how we let the past influence the way we think, act, and feel today and the way we want to think, act, and feel tomorrow.

The more we see the past as all important, the more we limit our growth. According to REBT, we keep the past alive in our present Beliefs and habits. Whether they arose long ago or recently, REBT zeroes in on Beliefs and habits harmful to us now. It then teaches us how interrupt them and build useful alternatives.

A second reason for optimism in REBT is that it promotes personal growth and actualization through self-reliance. REBT teaches us to become less conditionable and suggestible, to consider what others think and feel, but to think largely for ourselves and to minimize our dire needs for approval and success that may cause constrictive conformity.

A third reason for optimism in REBT is its philosophy of Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA). REBT considers that when we esteem ourselves (that is, pat ourselves on the back), we do so only when certain conditions are met, usually achievement or approval. When we esteem ourselves, we may unknowingly feed defensive fears about growing, the tendency to be stuck blaming others and the past, and feelings of anxiety, hostility, and depression.

How so? Because, if we "have" worth only when we meet certain standards, we will have lack of worth when standards rise or when we slip or encounter people who do better than we do. Therefore, REBT aims to help us rid ourselves of self-rating and to replace it with Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA). It shows us how to rate our actions according to how they help or hinder us in reaching our goals and realizing our values, but not to rate our worth as human beings.

Follow-up question to #1: If my Belief hinders me, that is, it’s irrational, then what Rational Belief would help me reach my objectives better and realize my values better?

Key Question #2: Is my Belief consistent with known facts and reality?

Follow-up question to #2: If my Belief is inconsistent with reality, that is, it’s irrational, what Rational Belief would be more consistent with reality?

Key Question #3: Is my Belief logical?

Follow-up question to #3: If my Belief does not make sense logically, that is, it’s irrational, what Rational Belief would make more sense?

"Rational" is a definition that depends on your goals and values. If how you think, feel, and act tends to help you attain your goals without causing needless trouble and conflict with others, we define it as rational. If, on the other hand, how you think, feel, and act tends to defeat your purposes and cause you trouble, we define it as irrational.

Because there is a real world, like it or not, which follows cause-and-effect principles, rational thinking, feeling, and acting is usually consistent with known facts. Irrational thinking, feeling, and acting, on the other hand, is inconsistent with or unsupported by known facts.

The same real world follows logical principles. Some examples can illustrate "logical." Let’s say you very much like to succeed at something. Would it logically follow that therefore you MUST succeed at that? Of course not. The necessity for success does not follow logically from your desire for it. Similarly, would it follow logically that strong insistence on success means you deserve to succeed?

For another example, let’s say that certain things in your life are bad; does it logically follow that therefore everything in your life is bad and always will be bad? No, some bad things now does not equal all bad things forever.
 

I have worked with just about any kind of psychological problem, but in recent years have concentrated on "problems of everyday living." These include:

• social fears and inhibition
,

• shyness and dating/mating problems
,

• anxiety disorders, such as panic, phobias, and OCD
,

• procrastination, indecision, lack of productivity, and lack of follow-through on resolutions, like exercise and weight loss
,

• insomnia
,

• addictions
, and

• life transition issues.

What kinds of problems do you not work with?

• custody issues


• situations requiring psychological
  testing and/or court testimony


• government-mandated treatment

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 efficiency?
• Are you more interested in the here and now and where you are going rather than exploring where you have been?
• Do you prefer self-reliance?
• 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 occur?

Probably the most central activities in REBT are:

• teamwork,
• identifying and disputing self-defeating (irrational) Beliefs,
• reinforcing rational Beliefs, and
• 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 caused by something,
• no matter how problem behavior began originally, it is being maintained in the here and now,
• it will take work and practice to change and stay changed.

REBT is a collaborative form of therapy in which we work as a team. If you hire me, it is to help you:

• clarify your goals,
• learn how better to realize them,
• reduce your amount of self-defeat,
• 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 describe fully 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!

The usual tasks of clients include completing a Biographical Information Form and an Assessment Form, keeping appointments, paying fees, carrying out homework experiments we develop, providing me with feedback, and the like.

If you record your sessions, you can review them later to reinforce and clarify your therapy. Recording your sessions therefore 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 recordings are your property. If you do not record sessions, I recommend that you make session notes and review them.

To record telephone sessions, speaker phones work fairly well and many answering machines can record conversations.

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) and other cognitive behavior therapies often use  outside assignments, otherwise known as homework experiments. Why? Because progress, or so we think, does not depend on mere insight. Instead, progress requires actively targeting and tackling one’s self-defeating habit patterns.

If we work together, we will collaborate to develop homework experiments that target specific problems. At each session, we review what you experienced and learned when you did the homework. And if you did not do the homework? We take a look at that and go back to the drawing board.

Research findings suggest just what you would expect: homeworkers tend to make greater gains in therapy.

It’s OK to be on medication under a licensed prescriber’s supervision while you are in therapy. As a policy, I am neither for it nor against it. Whatever works for the individual is what I favor: different strokes for different folks. The goal is to intervene effectively against problems, not to adhere to a particular ideology.

If you mainly want medication, or if you have a condition where medication is likely to be the main treatment, then probably therapy with me would not be a good way to spend your time and money.

There are a number of reasons you might consider the option of telephone sessions. They include:

• out of town trips,
• your preference,
• your busy schedule,
• desire for the sort of therapy I do but lack of practitioners near where you live,
• physical handicaps that limit your mobility,
• agoraphobia, other phobias that initially limit your mobility,
• privacy concerns, and
• illness, but you feel well enough for a telephone session.

Clients call me at our appointed times. Telephone sessions cost the same as face-to-face sessions and the same cancellation and no-show policy applies.

Telephone sessions have become more popular recently and raise complicated (and so far unresolved) issues. The best I can say at this time is that both the provider of services and the consumer need to be aware that this is a rapidly-developing area of practice, with several issues and concerns, and there is no single accepted standard of practice.

I limit email communications to brief exchanges with established clients who may be reporting progress, asking a question, or suggesting agenda items for an upcoming session. I read these messages and save them. Some therapists may be able to do therapy by email, but I am not one of them.

In telephone sessions, my end of the conversation is always completely private. That is, there are no third parties within earshot. If I have to use my cell phone, say for an emergency, I make sure the caller knows.

Email exchanges between my clients and me are no more, or less, private than any ordinary communication over the Internet. I suggest that clients be cautious about sending or receiving therapy-related email messages at work or in other situations in which communications may not be private.

Full sessions are 50 minutes and half-sessions are 25 minutes.

There is nothing sacred about any particular frequency of sessions. More important is what you do between sessions to tackle the problems you have targeted in your therapy. Most often, at the beginning of therapy it works better if sessions are more frequent, sometimes a number of weeks in a row. After that, the frequency of sessions may taper off as the person becomes more and more his or her own therapist. Some people then have occasional booster sessions or sessions when a particularly tough problem arises. Other clients find useful a maintenance schedule of sessions.

REBT tends to be relatively short-term, with most clients having between five and 20 sessions. Some people get what they need in one session. Others require a maintenance schedule of sessions over a longer period of time.

My psychotherapy practice is private pay. I accept certain insurances, otherwise I will provide a statement if you wish to file a claim with your insurance carrier.

I have a range of fees from $80 to $150 depending upon your needs and circumstances.

Payment at the time of sessions is expected unless we make another arrangement. If our session is by phone, then you mail me a check or pay by PayPal.

With consultation and training, I either set a flat fee or bill by the hour as well as for the actual cost of other arrangements, such as travel, lodging, audio-visual equipment rental, and the like.

I cannot release any information about you without your permission. There are several exceptions to this rule: In case of suspected child or elder abuse or neglect, I am legally obligated to make a report. In case of threats to harm someone (including oneself) or damage property, I am legally obligated to “warn and protect” the intended victim.

As part of keeping up to date professionally, I consult with colleagues regarding people I see in therapy. When doing so, I do not reveal names or any other identifying information.

If you have had psychotherapy previously, it can be useful for me to obtain at least a summary of treatment from the therapist(s). We can discuss that possibility and the mechanics of that.

In a “Biographical Information Form” I ask clients to complete at the beginning of therapy, you can let me know how to leave a message for you by telephone or email if I cannot reach you in person.

I prefer 24 hours notice for non-emergency cancellations. A non-emergency cancellation with less than 6 hours notice (by phone) is charged as a session, and the same is true of a no-show.

I am a trainer in REBT/CBT. In addition, I have a wide range of experience in providing service in community mental health agencies, schools, and addiction treatment and dual-diagnosis service settings, and in grant writing. I enjoy helping professionals get a cognitive-behavioral perspective on their difficult cases.

In consulting and workshop presentations, my interests include:

• development of cognitive-behavioral models and interventions
• program design and protocol development
• staff training and case conferencing
• proposal writing

Though I sometimes share offices with other psychologists, I am in solo private practice. If you wish to reach me between appointments, leave a message for me, including your phone number, at 602-254-7009 and/or 602-909-3069.

I check for messages frequently whether I am in town or traveling. I will return your call as soon as I can.

If you anticipate you may need to see someone at a time when I am out of town, let me know ahead of time if possible and we will make arrangements.

If you experience an emergency and cannot reach me immediately,

1. Call the suicide hotline at 480-784-1500
   or the Crisis Team at Value Options to ask for a crisis specialist, at 602-222-9444. Both numbers are for the Phoenix area and are 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
    
2. Go to the emergency room of the nearest hospital, or
    
3. Dial 911.