Round and Round Again, Deep Inside My Head
When listening to an electronic dance music (EDM) DJ set by Kristen (formerly Kris May), I heard her spin the track “Lucy” (2024) by Cherry Tooth and Miss Dre. The lyrics state, “Round and round again, deep inside my head. Round and round again, where there is no end.”
When hearing the lyrics, I contemplated a psychoeducational lesson on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)—my preferred approach to care for mental, emotional, and behavioral health (collectively “mental health”). I’ll now share this lesson with you.
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 distress or disturb themselves: global evaluations, low frustration tolerance, awfulizing, and demandingness. When contemplating these unproductive scripts, think of the acronym GLAD.
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.
One matter worth understanding when practicing the ABC model, as it regards “Lucy”, is that automatic thoughts and beliefs sometimes go “round and round again, deep inside my head,” and continue uninterrupted “round and round again, where there is no end,” unless you intervene.
This wouldn’t likely prove challenging if one’s thoughts and beliefs were helpful. “You’re doing well, so keep it up,” you may favorably tell yourself. Nevertheless, unhealthy self-disturbing thoughts and beliefs are the focus of the ABC model (e.g., I can’t stand it), not helpful content.
Therefore, I invite you to disrupt your “round and round again” beliefs by disputing the unhelpful narratives you tell yourself. If you can achieve healthy self-distressing thoughts and beliefs (e.g., I can stand it, even though it’s difficult), then you’ve attained success with REBT.
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 EDM-influenced REBT psychotherapist—promoting content related to EDM, 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:
Apple Music. (n.d.). Cherry Tooth. Apple Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/artist/cherry-tooth/1696961356
Apple Music. (n.d.). Miss Dre. Apple Inc. Retrieved from https://music.apple.com/us/artist/miss-dre/1318854872
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