Which statement best reflects the Blow-Up Technique in REBT?

• A. Clients suppress the fear to avoid discomfort.
• B. Clients minimize the fear and avoid talking about it.
• C. Clients exaggerate the fear to the point it seems ridiculous.
• D. Clients discuss the fear only in a calm, factual way.

Answer: (C)

In REBT, the Blow-Up Technique centers on deliberately inflating the feared outcome or emotion to an absurd degree to reveal how irrational the belief is. By exaggerating how bad things could get, the client can clearly see that the fear is overblown and unnecessary, making it easier to dispute and reframe the belief. The statement that best reflects this is describing how clients exaggerate the fear to the point it seems ridiculous.

This approach works because it shifts the worry from a fixed, convincing reality to a clearly exaggerated scenario that your evaluative thinking can challenge. It helps break the grip of the belief that the feared outcome is imminent or intolerable. In contrast, simply suppressing the fear, minimizing it, or discussing it in a calm, factual way doesn’t provoke the same recognition of irrationality or reduce the emotional charge in the same way. For example, imagining a minor mistake spiraling into a public disaster is the kind of exaggerated scenario used to spot the distortion and counter it with more balanced thinking.