I Had to Put In Some Work
When practicing Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I use personal responsibility and accountability (collectively “ownership”). For improved understanding, responsibility is defined as the quality or state of being responsible, such as a moral, legal, or mental accountability.
Here, “responsible” is defined as liable to be called to account as the primary cause, motive, or agent, and being able to answer for one’s conduct and obligations—something, such as the demands of conscience or custom, that obligates one to a course of action.
Also, “accountable” is defined as subject to giving an account—a statement explaining one’s conduct. Accountability is defined as the quality or state of being accountable, especially regarding an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one’s actions.
When providing psychoeducational lessons on REBT, a psychotherapeutic modality which arguably requires that one preferably should take personal ownership in order to reduce self-distress or self-disturbance, I lean heavily on both responsibility and accountability.
This is because I maintain that people have personal agency (a person’s ability to control one’s own reactions to activating events which are beyond one’s own dominion, especially when one’s response is limited by someone or something else). This is a matter of self-empowerment.
Now, when contemplating a disempowering scenario in which personal ownership was ostensibly rejected, I present the album Jacktown (601) (1995) by Jackson, Mississippi hip hop group Wildliffe Society. I used to listen to it quite a bit during the ‘90s and ‘00s!
A personal favorite track is “What’s Up Jack”, which was produced by Sleepy Nevilles. Admitting my drastically different worldview from then to now, I favored the sentiment of the track that tells the tale of carjacking (a robbery in which a motor vehicle is taken over).
Back when I befriended a number of gang members, I was familiar with their tales of carjacking. This violent crime often involved blunt objects, knives, or firearms which were used in commission of the offense. One of my friends allegedly carjacked someone using a screwdriver!
Also, theft was called “jacking.” Among other illegal acts, this behavior is known as putting in work, which one source describes as “[engaging] in gang-related activity” and “[engaging] in something dangerous or illegal, especially if it involves getting in a gang or a crew.”
Now, on “What’s Up Jack”, there’s a line that states “I had to put in some work.” The claim here is that one disempoweringly had no other option than to commit gang-related crimes, such as jacking in the form of carjacking. This now brings up a psychoeducational lesson on 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.
Noteworthy, with virtually any undesirable Action that occurs, it’s your unfavorable Beliefs which cause unpleasant distress or disturbance (Consequence). Given this framing of self-distress and self-disturbance, it’s worth noting that one REBT source states (page 71):
REBT conceptualizes [distress] as healthy even though it is intense. Other approaches to therapy have as their goal the reduction of the intensity of negative emotions. They take this position because they do not keenly differentiate between healthy negative emotions (distress) and unhealthy negative emotions (disturbance).
Now, REBT keenly distinguishes between healthy distress and unhealthy disturbance. Healthy distress stems from your rational beliefs about a negative activating event [Action], whilst disturbance stems from your irrational beliefs about the same event.
Complete elimination of distress is highly unlikely in an impermanent and uncertain world, wherein people conceptually suffer, struggle, and battle with, or merely experience hardship. Still, individuals often make matters worse for themselves by disturbing about such instances.
In particular, there are four predominate irrational beliefs which people often use to distress or disturb themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive scripts, think of the acronym GLAD.
For context, as it regards “What’s Up Jack”, the phrase “had to” is a demandingness term. It’s as though an individual who uses this narrative is expressing that one absolutely should, must, or ought to have behaved in one way or another. That’s a disempowering perspective!
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.
All these years since Jacktown (601) was first released, I’m glad that I no longer disempoweringly maintain that something as unproductive as jacking is acceptable. Now, I empoweringly rely on personal ownership!
Given the ending of “What’s Up Jack”, rappers from Wildliffe Society could’ve used this psychoeducational lesson. Specifically, the lyrics conclude, “I felt the gat [gun] in my back. The jacker got jack [jackshit: vulgar term meaning nothing at all or anything at all].”
If one jacks long enough, abandoning personal ownership while claiming self-entitled possession regarding the goods of others, then one may wind up with jackshit! Worse still, someone else may put in work on the jacker, thus leaving one dead. What’s up, Jack!? Is that what you want?
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
References:
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