Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy Volume 14, Number 4, Winter 1996 DISPUTING CLIENTS' IRRATIONAL BELIEFS Don Beal Eastern Kentucky University Ann Marie Kopec Pennsylvania Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy Raymond DiGiuseppe St. John's University ABSTRACT.. This paper describes and illustrates a conceptual framework de- veloped to assist novice REBT therapists with enlarging their disputational repertoire. First, four disputational strategies are described and illustrated. Then four disputational styles of presenting the strategies to t h e client are also described and illustrated. Then the disputational strategies a n d the dis- putational styles are combined within a conceptual framework t o assist the developing REBT therapist in generating a variety of disputes for a single IB. Finally, the conceptual framework is applied to the IB of the case of "Karen" from D r y d e n and DiGiuseppe's Primer on Rational Emotive Therapy to yield thirty-two separate disputes (sixteen disputes for the premise of t h e IB, and sixteen disputes for the derivative) of the IB. It h a s b e e n suggested t h a t the process of disputing a c l i e n t ' s irra- tional beliefs (IBs) lies at the h e a r t of Rational Emotive B e h a v i o r T h e r a p y (REBT) and the cognitive behavioral therapies a s w e l l (Di- G i u s e p p e , 1991). Additionally, a n u m b e r of authors have s u g g e s t e d t h a t t h i s activity m a y take up as m u c h as ninety percent of t h e thera- Don Beal is an Associate Professor, Department of Psychology, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY 40475. Ann Marie Kopec is the Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Institute for Rational-Emotive Therapy and maintains a private practice with Ferrell a n d Associates, Wilkes-Barre, PA. Raymond DiGiuseppe is Professor of Psychology at St. John's University and Director o f Professional Education at the Albert Ellis Institute. Address correspondence to Don Beal, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, Ix'-'/40475. 9.15 9 1996 Human Sciences Press, Inc.