List of REBT Worksheets (5+ Effective Exercises)

This page displays REBT worksheets. Some of these REBT worksheets are made by ourselves while some are curated from reputable third party websites, after reviewing various reputable mental health websites and consulting numerous articles. 

Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy, abbreviated as REBT, is the approach by which faulty beliefs of an individual are replaced with logical and rational ones.

REBT was introduced by Albert Ellis with the aim of changing behaviors and emotions of individuals by substituting the old irrational beliefs with rational ones.

REBT Worksheet- ABC of REBT

The working of REBT can be explained by the ABC model.

This ABC model elaborates how a specific belief associated with an event can affect the behavior of an individual. 

The ABC model was extended later on, with an addition of DEF components. 

Objectives: To enable individuals to alter their beliefs for producing a different outcome.

Instructions: For each of the below mentioned events and belief, mention the consequence, disputied belief, different emotion and new feeling. 

Activating event	Belief	Consequence	Disputing belief	Emotion	New feeling
A friend passed by, without noticing you.	My friend is ignoring me.
Your younger sister didn’t tell you your friends were coming on your birthday.	My siblings are jealous of me.
Your boss didn’t promote you.	I am not competent enough.
Your mother didn’t buy you new clothes.	My mom hates me.
You missed your friend’s graduation party as you weren’t feeling well.	My friend will think I skipped his part intentionally.

REBT Worksheet- Replacing Irrational Beliefs

REBT focuses on replacing faulty, irrational beliefs with logical ones. Change in belief system affects an individual’s emotional state as well as his behavior. 

Objectives: To enable individuals to replace their irrational beliefs.

Instructions: Enlist the beliefs, which in your view, are faulty and irrational. Replace these beliefs with rational ones.

First one has been done for you.

I am not competent like others, I can’t compete with them.	I am competent, I can do everything with effort.

REBT Worksheet- Eliminating the Word MUST

There are three ‘musts’ of irrational thinking which troubles people. These three musts need to be eliminated in order to prevent stressful conditions and to eradicate formation of faulty beliefs.

These three musts include; “If i am good I must get approval of others”, “Others must treat me the way i want to be treated” and “if they don’t treat me the way i want to be treated, they are bad and must be punished”. 

Objectives: To train individuals to be able to remove musts and shoulds from their beliefs.

Instructions: Write statements, fulfillment of which is a must for you. Then rewrite those statements without the word must.

First one has been done for you.

Musts	Disputed statement
I must look good at the party tonight.	I will try my best to look good at the party tonight.

REBT Worksheet- Problem Solving with REBT

REBT enables individuals to solve their problems efficiently by acquiring positive attributes such as positive self-talk, assertiveness, coping skills and so on.

Ability to think in more than one way also assists individuals in tackling their problems.

Objectives: To enable individuals to resolve their issues efficiently.

Instructions: For each of the issues mentioned below, suggest ways by which they can be resolved.

Problem	Resolution
A woman feels she isn’t doing good parenting of her kids because they don’t listen to her.
A man thinks his wife feels pity for him so he quarrels with her every night when he returns tired from work.
A boy thinks his hands are dirty, so he washes them frequently.
A boy doesn’t dare to skip smoking cigarettes, for he thinks he would never be able to get rid of his addiction.
A student thinks she’ll never get good grades as test anxiety lowers her performance.

REBT Worksheet- Cognitive Reconstruction  

Cognitive reconstruction, as the name implies, is the process by which an individual’s cognitions are restructured.

Just like our beliefs, our cognitions also affect our behaviors.

Cognitive reconstruction aids in changing the thinking pattern of individuals by providing them with an ability to think in more than one way.

Objectives: To enable individuals to view a thing in more than one way.

Instructions: For each of the below listed cases, mention your immediate thought, then suggest cognitive reconstructions.

REBT Worksheet- Decatastrophizing

The term “decatastrophizing” was introduced in REBT by Albert Ellis.

Decatastrophizing is a cognitive reconstructing technique with the help of which cognitions of an individual are distorted.

In the technique the faulty, unjustified beliefs of an individual are distorted and replaced with logical ones.

Decatastrophizing is most commonly used for treating psychological illnesses such as anxiety and psychosis.

The worksheet “Decatastrophizing” can be downloaded from the site, psychology tools, through this link.

This worksheet consists of following questions:

1. What is the catastrophe I am worried about?

2. How likely is this event to happen?

3. How awful would it be if this did happen?

4. Just supposing the worst did happen, what would i do to cope?

5. What positive and reassuring thing do you want to say to yourself about the “catastrophe” now?

It is evident from the structure of questions that this worksheets assists individuals in exploring themselves, their strengths and their coping skills.

This worksheet aims to enable individuals to imagine the worst side of a catastrophe so they would be able to cope with it if it actually happens.

Imagining the worst of a situation and not ignoring its predicted consequences, enable the individuals to prepare themselves for the real event by adopting certain coping skills and strategies.

REBT Worksheet- Self Help Form

The self help form of REBT is a great source for challenging your irrational beliefs and replacing them with rational ones.

The self help REBT form enables individuals to brainstorm the activating events which are either catastrophizing, unfavorable, uncomfortable, self-destructive or unbearable. 

Then it allows the individual to justify his beliefs, the reason why the individual is worrying about the beliefs, the chances of the occurrence of certain events associated with those beliefs and the individual’s reaction if those events did really occur.

Once the individual has attended to his irrational beliefs, he is asked to focus on rationalizing them by thinking in a positive way, by developing self-acceptance, by thinking he could tolerate things.

In this way he would be able to substitute rational beliefs in the place of irrational schemas, think logically and indulge into self constructive behaviors.

REBT aims to not only help shape cognitions of individuals but also their behaviors and emotions.

The REBT self-help form is a great source that enables individuals to change their cognitions by themselves.

This also enhances their problem solving skills. The REBT self help form can be accessed from the following link.

REBT Worksheet- 10 Forms of Twisted Thinking- And How to Replace Them

The worksheet- 10 forms of twisted thinking- and how to replace them gives a brief introduction to ten different kinds of thinking we commonly indulge in.

These twisted thinking styles give rise to irrational thinking and thus formation of irrational beliefs.

Each of these twisted thinking styles; all or none thinking, overgeneralization, negative mental filter, discounting the positive, jumping to conclusions  (fortune telling, mind reading), magnification, emotional reasoning, should statements, labeling and blame/ self-blame, have different impact on an individual’s thinking patterns.

These twisted thinking styles can be replaced with rational thinking in various ways, some of which have been mentioned in the table below. 

This worksheet can be used as a guide to identify which twisted thinking style do you follow and aids in monitoring your thinking patterns.

Logical thinking and positive thinking help eradicate negativity and irrational thinking.

The original worksheet can be accessed through the link. 

This worksheet is based on “The feeling good handbook” by David D. Burns.

Thinking Error	Description	Impact	Replacement
1. All or none thinking	Black or white thinking	Promotes discouragement/ anger- no middle ground	Continuum thinking- “the dial”
2. Over- generalization	Thinking “always/ never”	Expands specific problem to an everlasting issue	Stay specific, focused on the “now”
3. Negative mental filter	Seeing only the negative	Makes the positive invisible- even if there is a lot of it	Identify and appreciate the positives
4. Discounting the positive	Positives “don’t matter”	Eliminates joys and satisfaction in the positive	Purposely take delight in the positives
5. Jumping to conclusions	Judgment without facts	Brings on anxiety, anger, and/or depression	Consider all the alternative scenarios
5 a) Fortune telling	“What if…” catastrophizing	Dread, envisioning disaster, can escalate to panic	Stay present; decatastrophizing
5 b) Mind reading	“Reading” others’ thoughts	anxiety/ sadness/ anger, assuming the worst	Clear communication; gather input
6. Magnification	Comparing unfairly	Pits your worst against other’s best- discouraging	See your strengths and others as well
7. Emotional reasoning	“I feel it-therefore it is true”	Upsetting judgments are made without evidence	Listen to both your head and your heart
8. Should statements	Heavy demands- self/ others	Discouragement (about oneself), anger (at others)	Bring expectations in the line with reality
9. Labeling	Unkind names self/ others	Discouragement (about oneself), anger (at others)	Describe specific circumstances
10. Blame/ self-blame	Assuming one single cause	Discouragement (about oneself), anger (at others)	“Blame pie” (consider all the contributing factors)

REBT Worksheet- Checklist of Cognitive Distortions 

The checklist of cognitive distortions gives an introduction to twisted thinking patterns to aid individuals in identifying their way of thinking.

This can help in identifying the area of correction.

For example if an individual indulges in ‘mental filter’ thinking pattern, he needs to work on analyzing and appreciating his positive qualities. 

The twisted thinking patterns include: 

1. All or nothing thinking: You look at things in absolute, black and white categories. 

2. Overgeneralization: You view a negative event as a never-ending pattern of defeat. 

3. Mental Filter: You dwell on the negatives and ignore the positives. 

4. Discounting the positives: You insist that your accomplishments or positive qualities “don’t count”. 

5. Jumping to conclusions: (A) Mind reading – you assume that people are reacting negatively to you when there’s no definite evidence for this; (B) Fortune Telling – you arbitrarily predict things will turn out badly. 

6. Magnification or Minimization: You blow things way out of proportion or you shrink their importance inappropriately. 

7. Emotional Reasoning: You reason from how you feel: “I feel like an idiot, so I really must be one.” Or “I don’t feel like doing this, so I’ll put it off.” 

8. “Should Statements”: You criticize yourself or other people with “Shoulds” or “Shouldn’ts.” “Musts,” “Oughts,” “Have tos” are similar offenders. 

9. Labeling: You identify with your shortcomings. Instead of saying, “I made a mistake,” you tell yourself, “I’m a jerk,” or “a fool,” or “a loser.” 

10. Personalization and Blame: You blame yourself for something you weren’t entirely responsible for, or you blame other people and overlook ways that your own attitudes and behavior might contribute to a problem. 

This worksheet is derived from the “The feeling good handbook” by David D. Burns. It can be accessed through the link.

Some of the above mentioned worksheets have been created by us while some of them have been curated from reputable third party websites.

These REBT worksheets aim to assist you in substituting your irrational beliefs and schemas with logical ones.

They also enhance problem solving skills in you.

If you have any questions or queries regarding these REBT worksheets, let us know.

We will be glad to assist you.

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