The Application of Maultsby’s Rational Behavior Therapy in Psychosis – A Case Report

The purpose of this paper is to present the applicability of Rational Behavior Therapy (RBT) for a patient with psychosis. RBT is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by an American psychiatrist, Maxie C. Maultsby, Jr. RBT teaches rational self-counseling to achieve emotive and behaviora...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of rational-emotive and cognitive-behavior therapy 2021-12, Vol.39 (4), p.695-711
Main Authors: Kałwa, Agnieszka, Wirga, Mariusz, Wirga, Aleksandra H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antipsychotics
Behavior modification
Behavior therapy
Behavioral Science and Psychology
Bipolar disorder
Case reports
Clinical Psychology
Cognition & reasoning
Cognitive ability
Cognitive behavioral therapy
Cognitive-behavioral factors
Community and Environmental Psychology
Coping
Counseling
Education
Hospitalization
Medical diagnosis
Mental disorders
Patients
Psychiatry
Psychological distress
Psychology
Psychosis
Psychotherapy
Psychotic symptoms
Public Health
Recurrent
Relapse
Remission
Remission (Medicine)
Schizophrenia
Suicidal ideation
Suicide
Symptoms
Treatment methods
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Summary:The purpose of this paper is to present the applicability of Rational Behavior Therapy (RBT) for a patient with psychosis. RBT is a form of cognitive-behavioral therapy developed by an American psychiatrist, Maxie C. Maultsby, Jr. RBT teaches rational self-counseling to achieve emotive and behavioral goals, reduce distress and the symptoms of the disease, improve functioning, improve treatment adherence, and prevent relapse. The challenges in applying cognitive behavior therapy in psychosis are described. We report the case of a 17-year-old patient who had been recently diagnosed with schizophrenia according to ICD-10 criteria, presenting with recurrent psychotic symptoms and suicidal ideation. Over 1.5 years, the patient was treated in an outpatient setting with antipsychotic medications and, intermittently, with RBT-based psychotherapy (by the first author). The therapy process was interrupted periodically due to temporary improvements in the patient’s status, non-adherence, or relapses, including one episode requiring hospitalization. Nevertheless, the treatment eventually resulted in a long-lasting remission. We present examples of the RBT techniques used in this therapeutic process and highlight this treatment modality’s unique features which support patients utilizing rational self-counseling skills to become more independent in coping with their problems. We emphasize that patients with a mental illness like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder also suffer from learned emotional disturbances that are amenable to treatment with cognitive-behavior therapies like RBT. In conclusion, we submit that with its self-counseling properties, RBT offers non-intrusive ways of helping people experiencing psychotic symptoms as part of their diagnosis and in prodromal or non-diagnostic states.
ISSN:0894-9085
1573-6563
DOI:10.1007/s10942-021-00391-6