The Rational Practitioner
Sport and exercise psychology has grown exponentially as an academic discipline and profession in the past decade. It attracts people from three major academic areas: sport science, psychology, and counselling/psychotherapy. Further, the number of trainees registered onto one of three formalised training pathways to becoming a sport and exercise psychologist and to seek accreditation with the Health and Care Profession Council has proliferated over the last five years. As part of this pursuit, sport psychologists must develop proficiencies in the application of psychology to athletes, coaches, and various other key stakeholders involved in sport. The dominant approach to sport and exercise psychology practice is the cognitive behavioural approach, that stems from cognitive behavioural therapies (CBTs). CBTs are the most widely used counselling approaches in the world.
Through this approach developed rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT), a cognitive-based theory and therapy that incorporates many of the techniques that defines CBTs to this day (e.g., cognitive restructuring, rehearsal, imagery, self-talk).
There are currently various books on the market that provide “how to” guides to using REBT in clinical populations but no book to address sport and performance as a context in which to apply REBT, and currently there is no book that adapts REBT for use with athletes. In this new book; The Rational Practitioner: Rational Emotive Behaviour Therapy in Performance Setting, we do not simply regurgitate what has gone before; the author develops innovative concepts that are particular to the performance milieu, whilst sticking rigorously to core theory. This book is fundamental to applied practice. Practitioners can choose to train in many psychotherapies, but CBTs are at the core of sport psychology. REBT is becoming a dominant CBT approach in sport, because it has been demonstrated to be efficacious and applicable in sport and other performance settings.
This book offers practitioners, scholars, and researchers of sport psychology and REBT, theoretical and detailed practical information from experienced and qualified practitioners using and researching REBT in performance settings. This book provides a comprehensive portrayal of REBT applied within sport and performance and will be key readings for current and trainee sport and exercise psychologists, but also to current psychologists from other disciplines who wish to work with athletes and other performers.