People often tell you to accept what you cannot change. In doing so, others prescribe acceptance and assume you can heed their wisdom, concluding that this is the process. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) can teach acceptance as a life skill necessary for coping with life’s most significant challenges and losses. However, although people may … Read more

Most people will agree that patience is a virtue. Patience is a virtue because life works out on its schedule, not ours. Good things take time and effort to come to fruition. Human nature finds it challenging to display patience while exerting effort until all the conditions for a favored outcome occur. Adding to the … Read more

REBT is a relatively straightforward model for analyzing and remedying self-defeating emotional and behavioral responses to adversity. People quickly learn the language of REBT, which is a strength, but it can also hinder the effective implementation of this powerful system of ideas. People often say REBT teaches that there are healthy negative emotions and will … Read more

I listened to a thought-provoking podcast about solitude while walking to my office on a cold Saturday morning at 6:45 AM. Increasing solitude has become a common aspect of people’s lives. Americans have reduced face-to-face socializing by 20%. (This trend may also apply outside the United States, but I cannot say for sure.) We are voluntarily increasing our isolation, … Read more

Three self-defeating ideas Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy works to disabuse people of are: I must not be frustrated as I pursue my strongest desires. I must do everything perfectly well. Everyone must approve of me.   REBT can help you live a purposeful life and enjoy the satisfaction of achieving your goals and dreams. Albert … Read more

I recently went on safari to Africa and observed a great deal of animal behavior. I wanted to learn something from the trip that would make me wiser. Here is what I took away that reinforced what I more or less already knew. Facing ongoing adversity is the natural condition of all living organisms from … Read more

Many people who try to use REBT do not accurately know what each letter stands for in the ABC framework. When this happens, they cannot effectively do self-therapy and achieve healthy negative emotions and self-helping behavior, two explicit goals of REBT self-therapy. REBT will not be effective until you clearly understand what each letter of … Read more

In the fall of 1983, while in graduate school, I first heard Albert Ellis speak at the Philadelphia Ethical Society. The lecture’s title was “21 Ways to Meet Potential Friends and Lovers.” I was in the audience with my girlfriend then, and she and I had a fun-filled evening listening to Ellis outline all the … Read more

In the spirit of the holiday season, I will give a free 90-minute Zoom lecture on Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) titled “Accepting What You Can Not Change – An Essential Life Skill” on Saturday, December 21st, at 9 AM in New York City. This free lecture is a gesture of appreciation to the growing Saturday Rational Emotive Behavioral Conversation Hour community. This … Read more

Sunday morning, December 1, 2024, New York City Okay, I will do a shame attack. I am a fallible human first, and a REBT psychologist second. Yesterday was a blow. For the past 225 weeks, I have had a volunteer for the weekly public demonstration on REBT. It was a surprise that none of the … Read more