In this article Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is proposed as a potentially important framework for the understanding and promotion of mental health in athletes. Cognitive-behavioral approaches predominate in the provision of sport psychology, and often form the backbone of psychological skills training for performance enhancement and maintenance. But far from being solely performance...

In a test of two key features of REBT, causal relationships between irrational beliefs and unconditional self-acceptance were experimentally investigated in a sample of 106 non-clinical participants using a priming technique. Priming participants with statements of irrational belief resulted in a decrease in unconditional self-acceptance whereas priming participants with statements of rational ...