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Cited by 214Psychological Treatments and AssessmentsSport Psychology and PerformanceAnxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Irrational and Rational Beliefs, and the Mental Health of Athletes

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Turner, Martin J.·2016·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01423PMC PMC5028385
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Abstract

In this article Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is proposed as a potentially important framework for the understanding and promotion of mental health in athletes. Cognitive-behavioral approaches predominate in the provision of sport psychology, and often form the backbone of psychological skills training for performance enhancement and maintenance. But far from being solely performance-focused, the cognitive-behavioral approach to sport psychology can restore, promote, and maintain mental health. This review article presents REBT (Ellis, 1957), the original cognitive behavioral therapy, as a valuable approach to addressing mental health issues in sport. REBT holds that it is not events that directly cause emotions and behaviors. Rather, it is one's beliefs about the events that lead to emotional and behavioral reactivity. Further, REBT distinguishes between rational and irrational beliefs, and suggests that in response to failure, maltreatment, and misfortune, people can react with either healthy or unhealthy emotional and behavioral responses. The extant research indicates that irrational beliefs lead to unhealthy negative emotions, a range of pathological conditions, and a host of maladaptive behaviors that undermine mental health. Therefore, REBT proposes a process for the reduction of irrational beliefs and the promotion of rational beliefs. The use of REBT in sport is seldom reported in literature, but research is growing. This review article proposes three important areas of investigation that will aid the understanding of irrational beliefs and the application of REBT within sport. These areas are: (1) the influence of irrational beliefs and REBT on the mental health of athletes, (2) the influence of irrational beliefs and REBT on athletic performance, (3) the origins and development of irrational beliefs in athletes. Each area is discussed in turn, offering a critical and progressive review of the literature as well as highlighting research deficits, and recommendations to address each of the three areas of investigation.

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  • The REBT model has been proven to enhance mental health and is recommended for improving mental health in an athletic population.

    “This perspective has already been proven to enhance mental health; the model is recommended to improve mental health within an athletic population, thus highlighting its versatility [146,147].”

    From SAFEvR MentalVeRse.app: Development of a Free Immersive Virtual Reality Exposure Therapy for Acrophobia and Claustrophobia (2024) · cites this paper as [146]

    The Conclusion proposes REBT as a framework for athletes and encourages its use to promote mental health in sport. But the Introduction says evidence from non-athletes provides only weak justification for use with athletes, and the future-research section says its mental-health effects in athletes remain to be tested. Thus the recommendation is supported, but “proven” overstates the athletic evidence. (LLM, conf=0.88)

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6 of the 163 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 5

  1. Bridges K. R. Harnish R. J. (2010a). Irrational Beliefs. Corsini Encyclopedia of Psychology. Hoboken, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
  2. Caserta D. A. Dowd E. T. David D. Ellis A. (2010). “ Rational and irrational beliefs in primary prevention in mental health,” in Rational and Irrational Beliefs in Human Functioning and Disturbances: Implications for Research, Theory, and Practice, eds David D. Lynn S. J. Ellis A. (New York, NY: Oxford University Press), 173– 194.
  3. Ellis A. (1987). “ On the origin and development of rational-emotive theory,” in Key Cases in Psychotherapy, ed. Dryden W. (New York, NY: New York University Press), 148– 175.
  4. Marlow C. (2009). “ Creating positive performance beliefs: the case of a tenpin bowler,” in Applied Sport Psychology: A Case Based Approach, eds Hemmings B. Holder T. (London: John Wiley & Sons Ltd), 65– 87.
  5. Turner M. J. (in press). Proposing a rational resilience credo for athletes. J. Sport Psychol. Action.

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Authors
Turner, M. J.
Affiliations
University of Staffordshire (GB)
Corresponding author
Turner, Martin J.
ORCID
Turner, Martin J.
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2016-09-20
Volume
07
Pages
1423-1423
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2016.01423
PMC
PMC5028385
OpenAlex
W2522843299
Cited by
214
References
163
Citations by year
2026: 15 · 2025: 29 · 2024: 27 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 35 · 2021: 19 · 2020: 16 · 2019: 9 · 2018: 13 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 2
FWCI
1.63
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Staffordshire Online Repository (Staffordshire University) (acceptedVersion)
  • e-space (Manchester Metropolitan University) (submittedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
  • Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Psychological Treatments and Assessments
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Sport Psychology and Performance
  • Social Sciences › Psychology › Experimental and Cognitive Psychology › Anxiety, Depression, Psychometrics, Treatment, Cognitive Processes
Keywords
rational emotive behavior therapy, irrational beliefs, rational belief, athlete mental health, sport psychology, cognitive-behavioral approach, athletic performance, emotional reactivity, maladaptive behavior

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