A Buddhist influence on REBT

Albert Ellis was the first to develop a form of therapy subsequently grouped under the title CBT, cognitive behaviour therapy. But I have the feeling many in our profession think REBT has been left behind in developments such as third wave CBT, apparently lacking such influences as Buddhist philosophy. I join those who challenge this view (see links below) that Buddhist methods are, and have always been, right there in the fundamentals  of the REBT approach.

Take the two arrows parable. in Buddhist philosophy, the "second arrow" refers to the suffering that arises from our reaction to painful experiences, rather than the pain itself. The first arrow is the initial painful event or feeling, while the second arrow is the real cause of suffering - an extremely negative appraisal of the event as catastrophic in some way. In REBT we may have an adverse experience which we initially realistically evaluate as bad and hard to bear because against what we want, but then magnify this by a demand it should never have happened and is therefore awful and intolerable. This is the key distinction between rational and irrational beliefs, and healthy and unhealthy emotional consequences.

In Buddhism, attachment to experiences, ideas, things (not to be confused with the definition of attachment from Attachment Theory) can be a primary cause of suffering, when we do not realise or accept that the nature of reality is impermanence, and that the inevitable change and eventual dissolution of that attachment will result in loss of the things we desire and love and seek to achieve and possess. In REBT we find loss of and failure to retain important attachments hard to bear, but we can realistically accept, face and tolerate the discomfort and still be happy. But when we demand such loss and failure should never happen, we further magnify the emotional disturbance by concluding that loss or failure is  awful and totally unbearable, and thereby create our own suffering.

These and other similarities give us goals for overcoming suffering, for Buddhism and for REBT. The methods for pursuing this are different in detail, but it makes perfect sense for REBT practitioners to use methods from Buddhism, such as mindfulness meditation, to achieve therapeutic goals.

https://rebtdoctor.com/rebt-and-zen-buddhism/

https://drpaulgreene.com/buddhism-and-cognitive-behavior-therapy/