Albert Ellis was one of the early practitioners of what is generally referred to as "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy". Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, or CBT, centers around the idea that one's thoughts and beliefs are what drive emotions and behaviors. If someone has an emotional or behavioral problem, the goal of CBT is to change thought patterns that fuel the undesired emotional or behavioral experience.

One of Ellis's contributions to the CBT field was the "ABCDE" model. He said that an individual experiences an "Activating Event" (A), then has a belief or thought or interpretation of that event (B). This leads to an emotional consequence (C). Say for example that someone passes you in the hall and does not acknowledge you when you say hello. The person passing you is the activating event. Your interpretation of that event may be "he just ignored me!" This may lead to the emotional consequence of you feeling angry. Ellis went on to say that if the emotional consequence is undesirable one needs to dispute their current belief that is causing the emotional consequence (D). In this example the person may tell themselves that the guy in the hall simply may not have heard them say hello. With practice the new beliefs can have a more desirable effect (E) on the person's emotions. I guess you could say it is as simple as ABC...DE!

As well as being a pioneer in the field of mental health, Ellis was also an atheist. He is quoted as saying "...for that again, is what all manner of religion essentially is: childish dependency". I always find this fascinating because he ended up advocating for the use of faith in his ABC model. Later in his life Ellis came to the conclusion that to bring about desired emotional change, a person not only had to challenge their way of thinking with new, rational beliefs, but they had to hold those new beliefs with conviction, to "forcefully agree" with and apply those beliefs, thus adding an "F" to his ABCDE model. He likened this forceful agreement to faith.

If you think about this, you will understand why an atheist would be pushing for the use of faith (admittedly he emphasized faith in facts rather than religious tenets). When you have believed something your entire life, that belief is very strongly held and has embedded itself into your worldview and your sense of self. That belief has strongly influenced your emotional experience. Here's an example: say you grow up in an abusive home where it is emotionally or physically dangerous for you to speak up. You learn very quickly and very well to keep your mouth shut. Now as an adult if someone says to you that you have a right to your opinion, this may seem ridiculous, untrue, even dangerous. And it will definitely feel dangerous. This person may feel an intense amount of fear if they try to speak their mind to a spouse or co-worker. It will be difficult for the person to easily believe that they have a right to express themselves. If they wait for it to feel right or to feel safe, they may be waiting a long time. When they try to act on the new belief and actually express their opinion, their entire being may riot against them and try to keep them quiet. They can't "see" that it is okay to express themselves. The only way they may embrace the idea is through faith.

Faith is a many-faceted thing, but one aspect of faith is that it involves belief in the absence of physical evidence. I have never seen God, and yet I believe in Him. It is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. When dealing with mental health issues, we inevitably are asked to believe something, to have faith in something, that does not feel "true" to us. We can't see it. I asked a client once to address their tendency to over-check themselves in the mirror by going an hour without looking at their makeup or outfit in the mirror. They recognized that this was what they wanted, to stop over-checking, but when it came time to do what I had asked it was considerably difficult for them. Every part of them screamed "you have to check yourself, what if something is out of place, what if you embarrass yourself?” In that moment it did not make sense or 'feel right" for them to not check themselves. They had to trust that not checking was safe in spite of what their body and mind were telling them. They had to trust that it would not lead to the catastrophe they imagined would occur if they did not check. They had to forcefully hold on to the fledgling new belief that they were trying to adopt. They had to exercise faith. When they did that, when they endured the hour of not checking, they were able to see that they survived not checking and did not experience a catastrophe, and in fact they experienced a decrease in their anxiety as they continued to avoid checking themselves.

I think about why God works through faith. “The righteous will live by faith” and all that. When I read Ellis and see what he has to say, when I witness the faith that it takes for people to challenge old beliefs and habits, I realize that God calls for us to live by faith because it is only through faith that we are able to change and heal. It is for our good that faith is required, because faith is how we escape the chains of beliefs that we have held onto for years and years. And let’s face it – God is asking us to believe some pretty hard-to-believe things. In fact the word gospel, “good news”, is more accurately translated as “nearly-too-good-to-be-true news”. He wants us to believe that He loves us in spite of who we are and what we have done. He wants us to believe that we are guaranteed every promise that He has ever made because of Jesus. He wants me to actually believe that I can do ALL things through Jesus. He didn’t say that so I could put a Bible verse on a pretty background and post it on Facebook. He said it because it is true. And yet when I go to do something that I don’t think I can do, my whole being tries to psyche me out and crush me with self-doubt. It is only through faith that I persist and continue trying and continue hoping that God’s strength in me, the same power that raised Jesus from the dead, will work through me what I have as yet never been able to work for myself. It is through faith that I see God’s power manifest in my life.

So faith works. It is not one of the things that works – it is the only thing. It is the key to change in counseling. Faith that you have the right to speak your mind. Faith that you will not be rejected by people once they get to know you. Faith that you will not die if you have a panic attack. It is what is required in the natural world as well as the super-natural. This is why I love what Ellis said about his “F”. In his pursuit of truth, he revealed that what is required for people to change is the very thing that God prescribes.