-The only thing worse than losing the game is losing the game and then making myself miserable
More examples, adapted from Bloomquist, 1996:
-This is not helpful thinking. I am going to change my thoughts.
-Just because I cannot do _____, does not mean the world is going to end or that I am a bad
person. It would be more helpful to realize that I cannot do everything perfectly, and even if I
mess up, it is not the end of the world.
-I am too hard on myself. I am okay just the way I am; I make mistakes, but I also do many
-I am blowing this problem out of proportion. It is impossible for everyone to like me. Some kids
like me; others do not. My friends think I am okay.
-I am being irrational. I have no proof that I am going to have this problem all my life. I have to
wait until the future to find out.
As we can see, in the psycho-educational classroom we can use RET techniques for socio-
emotional growth, for personal help and therapeutic intervention, and for problem solving.
Therapeutic teachers help students develop emotional insight by teaching children to react to
troublesome events in a way that is compatible with rational thinking. Some strategies derived
from the rational-emotive approach that we can use in our classrooms are:
You are teaching cognitive mediation when you ask students who are talking, out of task, or out
of their seats, ―What you should be doing at this moment?‖
Manipulate the student’s belief about her performance in a given situation, making the child
believe that she handled the situation better than she actually did.
Tell the child that she succeeded in the task because she tried harder, and when she fails, tell her
that she needs to try harder.
