Don't Get Caught Lackin'

[DISCLAIMER]

When providing psychoeducational lessons on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I teach people about the ABC model of self-disturbance (how people upset themselves through use of irrational beliefs). Now, I’ll address a finer point of this psychotherapeutic model of wellness.

For context, REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate how when an undesirable Action occurs and you Believe an unhelpful narrative about the event, it’s your unfavorable assumption, not the occurrence itself, that causes an unpleasant Consequence. That negative outcome is disturbance.

In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to disturb themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive Beliefs, think of the acronym GLAD.

It’s worth noting that the two forms of should, must, and ought-type demands with which people most often self-disturb are associated with use of absolutistic and conditional should beliefs. Generally speaking, these serve as rigid commands used toward oneself, others, and life.

An absolute must narrative is, “You absolutely must do as I say!” A conditional should narrative is, “Either you should do as I say, or you should be punished!” Significantly, in REBT literature, demandingness of this sort is said to function as a primary appraisal mechanism of disturbance.

Global evaluations (i.e., self-downing, other-downing, and life-downing), low frustration tolerance (also known as frustration intolerance), and awfulizing (e.g., terrible, horrible, etc.) function as secondary appraisal mechanisms. Together, GLAD will make you sad or mad, etc.

Noteworthy, with my approach to care for mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”), I invite people to consider mental scripts which are rational (in accordance with both logic and reason) – especially regarding events which correlate with strong feelings.

Logic is the interrelation or sequence of facts when seen as inevitable or predictable, and reason is a statement offered in explanation or justification. As such, I often use syllogisms (deductive schemes of formal argument consisting of a major and a minor premise and a conclusion).

Importantly, a syllogistic statement, proposition, or belief may be logical while simultaneously unreasonable. In this case, even though the logic consequentially follows (the conclusion is a necessary and inevitable result of previous facts or premises), it’s considered irrational.

While still functioning as prescriptive rather than descriptive, flexible use of recommendatory, preferential, ideal, empirical, moral and ethical, and legal ought beliefs won’t inevitably cause disturbance, as they may align with distress. Thus, rigidity versus flexibility makes a difference.

As well, a rigid form of irrational belief results in self-disturbance (e.g., rage) while a flexible form of rational belief results in self-distress (e.g., righteous indignation). Ergo, what one thinks, feels (i.e., emotions and sensations), and behaves reveals what type of beliefs are being used.

Addressing how people upset themselves with unhelpful attitudes, the ABC model incorporates Disputation of unproductive philosophies of life in order to explore Effective new beliefs. Whereas rigid beliefs cause self-disturbance, flexible beliefs result in an un-disturbed condition.

Remarkably, natural forms of distress are tolerable (e.g., mild anxiousness, sorrow, frustration, annoyance, disappointment, etc.). Even though unnatural forms of disturbance are also tolerable (e.g., enragement), my approach to REBT seeks the outcome which is more likely to be endured.

Now, I offer a finer point of understanding in regard to the ABC model. In particular, I invite you to consider use of a hypothetical syllogism.

Form –

If p, then q; if q, then r; therefore, if p, then r.

Example –

Major premise: If I routinely practice REBT, then I’ll likely self-disturb less.

Minor premise: If I’ll likely self-disturb less, then I’ll probably have a better life.

Conclusion: Therefore, if I routinely practice REBT, then I’ll probably have a better life.

In my youth, having befriended gang members, there was a saying about being caught off guard referred to as having been “caught slippin’.” As an example, when person X who had a weapon confronted person Y who didn’t have a weapon, person Y was said to have been caught slippin’.

These days, the term for this is “caught lackin’.” With this context, on his album No Matter What (2022), rapper OT the Real released the track “Lacking” which features Hardo. The chorus states the following:

Back to the money, it’s all action

All shooters, and they all trappin’

Come through, there’s only one rule

Don’t get caught lackin’ (Caught lackin’)

[x2]

The distorted inference used by OT the Real is “don’t get caught lackin’” which ostensibly suggests that one absolutely mustn’t get caught lackin’. In common parlance, it implies that the rapper’s rigid rule is that getting caught without a means to defend oneself is forbidden.

Do you maintain that this is a rational belief? Providing a psychoeducational lesson on the ABC model, I now invite you to consider OT the Real’s inflexible demandingness belief through use of a hypothetical syllogism (if p, then q; if q, then r; therefore, if p, then r):

If you come through (p), then there’s only one rule, as it relates to carrying a weapon (q). If there’s only one rule, as it relates to carrying a weapon (q), then you failing to maintain a firearm means that you’re lackin’ (r). Therefore, if you come through (p), then you failing to maintain a firearm means that you’re lackin’ (r).

In consideration of this hypothetical proposition, suppose you come through OT the Real’s location while delivering the mail, transporting ordered food, or dropping off a customer who uses your rideshare service. In compliance with your employer’s rules, you don’t have a weapon.

You’ve thusly violated OT the Real’s rigid rule (i.e., don’t get caught lackin’). What consequences may befall you when violating this inflexible demandingness proposition that you likely don’t even know exists? Better yet, why must you endure such an outcome at all?

Again I ask, do you maintain that OT the Real utilizes a rational belief? Following through the logic, do you deserve to be shot when delivering a pizza to the rapper’s location while being caught slippin’? I argue in the negative. Still, there’s a deeper lesson worthy of consideration.

Is the onus of whether or not one mustn’t get caught lackin’ upon the visitor or the visited of a particular location? Because we live in the real world, I encourage people to take personal responsibility and accountability (collectively “ownership”) for their own actions.

Thus, hypothetically, if you visit an area (p), then you may not want to get caught lackin’ (q). If you may not want to get caught lackin’ (q), then you may want to (within legal limits) arm yourself (r). Therefore, if you visit an area (p), then you may want to (within legal limits) arm yourself (r).

From this ideal-world versus real-world view, you can take personal ownership for your own actions rather than rigidly demanding that people mustn’t also use inflexible demands regarding your transportation of firearms to their area. Ergo, preferably (flexibly) don’t get caught lackin’.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

Photo credit, fair use

References:

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