Here's an example of a real situation that might explain the difference between REBT and CT. There was a teenage girl that sought counseling because she was convinced that people rejected her and made fun of her because of her red hair. She was convinced that most people really disliked red hair. An REBT therapist would directly contradict her beliefs. He/she might say, "That's simply not true." They might try to use some humor by wondering aloud if a popular redheaded celebrity would agree with them. They might encourage this girl to talk back to her beliefs...really get angry and dispute that belief loudly. They might enourage her to make a tape of her disputation to listen to three times a day, etc.

A CT therapist, on the other hand, probably wouldn't directly contradict what the girl said about redheads, but would ask for any evidence she had for the belief, and any evidence she had against the belief. Or, they might ask her to do an experiment for homework...for example, tell her to go through a stack of fashion magazines and make a note of how many of the models are blonde, brunette, and redhead and compare that to how many people have those haircolors in real life. (The hope was that the girl would see that even though redheads make up only 2-4% of the population, they make up nearly 20% of the fashion models...good proof against the idea that people dislike red hair.)

I tend to like CT myself. To my way of thinking, if the person arrives at the new conclusion themselves, it means a lot more than just taking the therapist at his/her word.