Systematic Rational Restructuring

Systematic rational restructuring is a cognitive behavioral procedure developed

by psychologist Marvin Goldfried in the mid-1970’s. This procedure is

a variation on Ellis’s rational-emotive therapy; however, it is more clearly

structured than Ellis’s method. In systematic rational restructuring, Goldfried

suggests that early social learning experiences teach individuals to label

situations in different ways. Further, Goldfried suggests that emotional

reactions may be understood as responses to the way individuals label situations,

as opposed to responses to the situations themselves. The goal of systematic

rational restructuring is to train patients to perceive situational cues

more accurately.

The process of systematic rational restructuring is similar to systematic desensitization,

in which a subject is to imagine fearful scenes in a graduated

order from the least fear-provoking to the most fear-provoking scenes. In

systematic rational restructuring, the patient is asked to imagine a hierarchy

of anxiety-eliciting situations. At each step, the patient is instructed to identify

irrational thoughts associated with the specific situation, to dispute them,

and to reevaluate the situation more rationally. In addition, patients are instructed

to practice rational restructuring in specific real-life situations.