Extending the goals of behavior therapy and of cognitive behavior therapy

For the past half century, traditional behavior therapy has done a credible job of helping clients to alleviate their dysfunctional feelings and behaviors and to maintain this improvement. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), and some other forms of cognitive behavior therapy (CBT), have added to behavior therapy's record of success by including cognitive and philosophic restructuring techniques that aim to help some clients not only to eel better, but to become less disturbed and less disturbable. Unlike more traditional forms of behavior therapy, REBT and CBT often lead to profound and more lasting attitudinal change in clients that include anti-musturbation, unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, high frustration tolerance, anti-awfulizing, and minimal overgeneralizing. Such lasting attitudinal changes, and understanding the processes and mechanisms by which they are achieved, may enhance and extend the goals of behavior therapy into the next millennium.