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Hopeful Anticipation vs. Disturbing Expectation

  • Writer: Deric Hollings
    Deric Hollings
  • 7 days ago
  • 6 min read

 

When providing psychoeducational lessons on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I encourage beliefs which are rational (i.e., both logical and reasonable). Yet, I don’t fully reject irrational beliefs. For instance, the American Psychological Association (APA) defines hope as:

 

[T]he expectation that one will have positive experiences or that a potentially threatening or negative situation will not materialize or will ultimately result in a favorable state of affairs.

 

Hope has been characterized in the psychological literature in various ways, including as a character strength; an emotion; a component of motivation that is critical to goal attainment; a mechanism that facilitates coping with loss, illness, and other significant stresses; or an integrated combination of these features.

 

Here, it may be worth defining other terms. Of note, the APA defines anticipation as “looking forward to a future event or state, sometimes with an affective component (e.g., pleasure, anxiety).” Also, the APA defines expectation as “a state of tense, emotional anticipation.”

 

Essentially, anticipation is an excited, hopeful, and open-minded looking forward to the future without irrationally believing that one needs to control the outcome. I posit that this form of hope is irrational, because there’s no valid evidence suggesting that an anticipated outcome will occur.

 

Additionally, expectation often functions as an inflexible belief that specific events will happen, often leading to self-upset if or when reality differs from one’s hope-laden expectations. Thus, anticipation tends toward joy, while expectation tends toward a personally required projection.

 

Admittedly, I remain irrationally hopeful about many anticipated matters (e.g., I’m hopeful that my clients will attain an improved level of functioning and quality of life). Yet, I don’t unhelpfully expect that such outcomes will certainly happen. This is because I practice REBT.

 

REBT uses the ABC model to illustrate that 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. This is known as distress or disturbance.

 

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

 

Imagine that I used disturbing expectation. A client with whom I work doesn’t show improvement (Action) and I Believe, “I’m the worst therapist ever [G], and I’m sick of how ineffective I am [L]! My effort is so abysmal [A] that I should just quit trying [D]!”

 

Whereas I may’ve been hopefully anticipatory about helping the client, I’d likely self-upset when using a disturbing expectation that was followed by inflexible GLAD scripts. With the latter, I’d probably experience sorrow and contemplate quitting my profession (Consequence).

 

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.

 

To disturb oneself with a rigid expectation is as unhelpful as demanding that it must rain, simply because you brought your umbrella outside. Life doesn’t work that way! In this vein, inflexible hope concerning other aspects of your existence may not be entirely helpful.

 

Favorably, I’m irrationally and flexibly hopeful regarding my clients. In particular, I use hopeful anticipation that they will improve their lives through my assistance. All the same, I don’t use disturbing expectation by placing an unnecessary rigid qualifier on the help I offer to others.

 

Now, I invite you to consider this psychoeducational lesson regarding your own life. If you choose to make use of irrational hope, then fine. Still, I encourage you to flexibly use anticipation while being mindful of inflexible expectation. Either way, hope is irrational.

 

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

 

As a psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues ranging 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, Designed by Freepik, fair use

 

References:

 

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2018, April 19). Anticipation. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/anticipation

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2018, April 19). Expectation. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/expectation

APA Dictionary of Psychology. (2018, April 19). Hope. American Psychological Association. Retrieved from https://dictionary.apa.org/hope

Hollings, D. (2025, October 19). Adhering to invisible scripts. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/adhering-to-invisible-scripts

Hollings, D. (2026, February 14). Anxiety: Stress don’t affect us, that’s just a part of what living is. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/anxiety-stress-don-t-affect-us-that-s-just-a-part-of-what-living-is

Hollings, D. (2024, November 15). Assumptions. Hollings Therapy, LLC. Retrieved from https://www.hollingstherapy.com/post/assumptions

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