Shradha has been desperately trying to get a job but she has not been successful in any job interview. Now, she is depressed and has developed the persistent negative thought that 'nobody likes her'. She believes that she must get an executive job in an MNC (Multi-National Company) to be loved by others. Which therapy would you suggest to her?
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 4
The correct answer is Option (4) → Rational emotive therapy
Option (1) Behaviour therapy — Incorrect. Behaviour therapy holds that faulty conditioning and faulty learning lead to maladaptive behaviours, and it sets up new behavioural contingencies to change them. Shradha’s problem is not a faulty habit but a set of irrational beliefs.
Option (2) Psychoanalytic therapy — Incorrect. Psychoanalytic (psychodynamic) therapy traces problems to unfulfilled desires and unresolved conflicts of childhood, brought out by free association and dream analysis. Shradha’s distress comes from her present beliefs about jobs and being loved, not from buried childhood conflicts.
Option (3) Gestalt therapy — Incorrect. Gestalt therapy, given by Fritz and Laura Perls, aims to increase self-awareness and self-acceptance by helping the client recognise blocked feelings and act out fantasies. It does not work on challenging irrational beliefs.
Option (4) Rational emotive therapy — Correct. Albert Ellis’s RET holds that irrational beliefs stand between an event and its consequences. Such beliefs are marked by ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’, like ‘One should be loved by everybody all the time’. Shradha failed in interviews (the event), believes that ‘nobody likes her’ and that she must get an executive job in an MNC to be loved (the irrational belief), and is now depressed (the consequence). RET would refute these beliefs through gentle questioning and replace them with rational ones.
NCERT (2025-26): “Cognitive Therapy … Albert Ellis formulated the Rational Emotive Therapy (RET). The central thesis of this therapy is that irrational beliefs mediate between the antecedent events and their consequences. The first step in RET is the antecedent-belief-consequence (ABC) analysis. Antecedent events, which caused the psychological distress, are noted. The client is also interviewed to find the irrational beliefs, which are distorting the present reality. Irrational beliefs may not be supported by empirical evidence in the environment. These beliefs are characterised by thoughts with ‘musts’ and ‘shoulds’, i.e. things ‘must’ and ‘should’ be in a particular manner. Examples of irrational beliefs are, ‘One should be loved by everybody all the time’, ‘Human misery is caused by external events over which one does not have any control’, etc. This distorted perception of the antecedent event due to the irrational belief leads to the consequence, i.e. negative emotions and behaviours.…” |