Abstract
Psychologists and other mental health professionals often serve as mentors to graduate students, interns and junior professionals. Mentor relationships are often long-term and emotionally complex and ideally involve provision of both career and psychosocial functions which prepare proteges for careers in the profession. Although experienced and accomplished, mentors often fall prey to a range of irrational thinking which may compromise their effectiveness in the mentor role. In this article we briefly define mentoring, describe the practices of effective mentors, highlight the irrational beliefs that most often prove troubling to mentors and outline several strategies for effectively coping with these beliefs. We hypothesize that routine and overt disputation of mentor-related irrational beliefs will enhance both the effect and enjoyment of mentoring.
Similar content being viewed by others
REFERENCES
Beal, D., & DiGiuseppe, R. (1998). Training supervisors in rational emotive behavior therapy. Journal of Cognitive Psychotherapy, 12, 127–137.
Burke, R. J. (1984). Mentors in organizations. Group and Organizational Studies, 9, 353–372.
Busch, J. W. (1985). Mentoring in graduate schools of education: Mentor's perceptions. American Educational Research Journal, 22, 257–265.
Clark, R. A., Harden, S. L., & Johnson, W. B. (1998, August). Mentoring relationships in clinical psychology doctoral training: A national survey of recent graduates. In N. J. Reich (Chair), Mentoring Relationships in Graduate Psychology Training. Symposium conducted at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association, San Francisco, CA.
Collins, P. (1993). The interpersonal vicissitudes of mentorship: An exploratory study of the field-supervisor-student relationship. The Clinical Supervisor, 11, 121–135.
Cronan-Hillix, T., Gensheimer, L. K., Cronan-Hillix, W. A., & Davidson, W. S. (1986). Student's views of mentors in psychology graduate training. Teaching of Psychology, 13, 123–127.
Dreher, G. F., & Ash, R. A. (1990). A comparative study of mentoring among men and women in managerial, professional, and technical positions. Journal of Applied Psychology, 75, 539–546.
Ellis, A. (1957). How to live with a neurotic. New York: Crown. (Rev. Ed., 1975, North Hollywood, CA: Wilshire).
Ellis, A. (1962). Reason and emotion in psychotherapy. Secaucus, NJ. Citadel Press.
Ellis, A. (1969). A weekend of rational encounter. In A. Burton (Ed.), Encounter (pp. 112–127). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Ellis, A. (1976). The biological basis of human irrationality. Journal of Individual Psychology, 32, 145–168.
Ellis, A. (1977). Fun as psychotherapy. Rational Living, 12, 2–6.
Ellis, A. (1983). How to deal with your most difficult client-you. Rational Emotive Therapy, 1, 2–8.
Ellis, A. (1987). The impossibility of achieving consistently good mental health. American Psychologist, 42, 364–375.
Ellis, H. D. (1992). Graduate education in psychology: Past, present, and future. American Psychologist, 47, 570–576.
Hardy, C. J. (1994). Nurturing our future through effective mentoring: Developing roots as well as wings. Journal of Applied Sport Psychology, 6, 196–204.
Jacobi, M. (1991). Mentoring and undergraduate academic success: A literature review. Review of Educational Research, 61, 505–532.
Johnson, W. B., DiGiuseppe, R., & Ulven, J. (1999). Albert Ellis as mentor: National survey results. Psychotherapy, 36, 305–312.
Johnson, W. B., & Nelson, N. (1999). Mentor-protege relationships in graduate training: Some ethical concerns. Ethics and Behavior, 9, 189–210.
Kinnier, R. T., Metha, A. T., Buki, L. P., & Rawa, P. M. (1994). Manifest values 54 Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy of eminent psychologists: A content analysis of their obituaries. Current Psychology: Developmental, Learning, Personality and Social, 13, 88–94.
Kram, K. E. (1988). Mentoring at work: Developmental relationships in organizational life. New York: University Press of America.
Levinson, D. J., Darrow, C. N., Klein, E. B., Levinson, M. H., & McKee, B. (1978). The seasons of a man's life. New York: Ballentine.
Murray, B. (1997, May). Unique mentor programs bolster students' careers. APA Monitor, p. 50.
Newby, T. J., & Heide, A. (1992). The value of mentoring. Performance Improvement Quarterly, 5, 2–15.
O'Neil, J. M. (1981). Toward a theory and practice of mentoring in psychology. In J. M. O’Neil & L. S. Wrightsman (chairs), Mentoring: Psychological, personal, and career development implications. Symposium presented at the annual meeting of the American Psychological Association. Los Angeles, CA.
O'Neil, J. M., & Wrightsman, L. S. (1981). The mentoring relationship in psychology training programs. Unpublished manuscript.
Phillips-Jones, L. (1982). Mentors & proteges. New York: Arbor House.
Robinson, E. H. (1994). Critical issues in counselor education: Mentors, models and money. Counselor Education and Supervision, 33, 339–343.
Roche, G. R. (1979). Much ado about mentors. Harvard Business Review, 57, 14–28.
Speizer, J. J. (1981). Role models, mentors and sponsors: The elusive concepts. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 6, 692–712.
Stafford, B., & Robbins, S. P. (1991). Mentorship for graduate social work students: Real and ideal. The Journal of Applied Social Sciences, 15, 193–206.
Torrance, E. P. (1984). Mentor relationships. New York: Bearly.
Walen, S., DiGiuseppe, R., & Dryden, W. (1992). A practitioner's guide to rational-emotive therapy (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Wilde, J. B., & Schau, C. G. (1991). Mentoring in graduate schools of education: Mentee's perceptions. Journal of Experimental Education, 59, 165–179.
Woods, P. J., & Ellis, A. (1997). Supervision in rational-emotive behavior therapy. In C. E. Watkins Jr. (Ed.), Handbook of psychotherapy supervision (pp. 101–113). New York: Wiley.
Wright, C. A., & Wright, S. D. (1987). The role of mentors in the career development of young professionals. Family Relations, 36, 204–208.
Zey, M. G. (1991). The mentor connection: Strategic alliances in corporate life. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Johnson, W.B., Huwe, J.M. & Lucas, J.L. Rational Mentoring. Journal of Rational-Emotive & Cognitive-Behavior Therapy 18, 39–54 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007713804708
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1007713804708