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Logic-Based Therapy
LBT
The Metaphysics of Logic-Based Therapy
Elliot D. Cohen, Ph.D.
Logic-Based Therapy (LBT) is a philosophical development of Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), a form of psychotherapy founded by psychologist Albert Ellis in the nineteen fifties. LBT holds that human beings largely create their own emotional and behavioral problems by deducing self-defeating and destructive behavioral and emotional conclusions from irrational premises. The purpose of this article is to discuss four basic metaphysical assumptions of LBT regarding human emotions, human fallibility, reality, and human freedom. These four major assumptions are as follows:
1. Human beings logically deduce the cognitive-behavioral components of their emotions from premises.
2. Human beings are inherently fallible and the premises of their behavioral and emotional reasoning tend to contain fallacies.
3. Behavioral and emotional problems tend to stem from absolutistic, perfectionistic constructs of reality.
4. Human beings have an inherent power of will that can be used to overcome fallacious behavioral and emotional reasoning.
In what follows, each of these assumptions is examined. Read the entire article.
Logic-Based Therapy (LBT), a variant of REBT which I began to develop in the mid- eighties, is a leading modality of “philosophical practice” (or “philosophical counseling”). Like psychological practice, philosophical practice aims at helping clients address their behavioral and emotional problems. In contrast, its practitioners typically stress philosophical methods and theories above mainstream psychological ones.
This paper outlines some of the main philosophical tenets of LBT. Read the entire article.