Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy for Individuals With Deafblindness and Progressive Vision Loss.

This article focuses on exploring the effects of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), an evidence-based cognitive-behavioral intervention, on emotional distress, irrational and rational beliefs, and adjustment to progressive vision loss in individuals who are deafblind. Using a multiple baseline design, three female participants with varying progressive visual and hearing impairments received a 6-week REBT intervention via videoconferencing, with results showing improvement in emotional distress and belief patterns for two participants, while one showed minimal change. The study highlights the need for tailored accommodations in therapy for this population and suggests that motivation, environmental factors, and comorbidities may influence treatment outcomes. Given the limited research on mental health interventions for individuals who are deafblind, the findings support further investigation with larger, more diverse samples and longer intervention periods to better understand REBT’s efficacy in this context.