Walter J. Matweychuk, Ph.D.

In the future, I plan to curtail my use of the terms awfulizing and terriblizing, using them rarely. Instead, I will refer to this self-defeating evaluative process as end-of-the-world thinking. I suspect talking about this pernicious evaluative way of thinking as end-of-the-world thinking will be more helpful to people in understanding how to spot it and … Read more

In my work as an REBT psychologist, I often help people attempt to live a satisfying and meaningful life despite having a severe medical illness and disability. I frequently say to my patients that lawyers try to get you off the “hook,” and medical doctors try to “cure” you. When they both fail, they send … Read more

In developing REBT, Albert Ellis drew heavily on the discipline of General Semantics. In General Semantics, there is a recommendation that people do what is called “dating.” When we date, we link our conclusions about what has occurred to the date it happened to avoid overgeneralizing and stay in sync with the current facts. For example, examine … Read more

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) teaches people to reason in a healthy way. When people hold flexible attitudes towards their goals and values, they avoid unhealthy emotional reactions. They suffer less and relate to others more effectively. REBT trains you to think in a self-helping way that maximizes your chances of getting along well with … Read more

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy places a great emphasis on teaching people how to accept what they cannot change. In REBT, we teach you to question your rigid attitudes that may exist in your head but have no basis in nature. For example, people with significant medical illness may say that they must not have the … Read more

During the Q&A period after a recent REBT demonstration, a young woman asked what therapy she should pursue. I quickly acknowledged my bias in recommending REBT therapy and pointed out the reasons why, in my view, she should seriously consider a REBT psychotherapist. An Efficient, Sensible, Self-Empowering Approach REBT helps people learn to help themselves … Read more

I sometimes refer to REBT as a system of ideas for human flourishing. Ellis developed REBT as a psychotherapy and refined it throughout his 60-year career working with numerous individuals. He was not an academic, but a tireless real-world clinician who had an estimated 180,000 hours of direct contact with clients, helping them solve their … Read more

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) encourages people to adopt realistic attitudes to have healthy emotional and behavioral reactions to life’s difficulties, deprivations, disappointments, losses, and injustices. In REBT, rational attitudes are best thought of as flexible, non-extreme, realistic, and adaptive attitudes. In REBT, we also teach that there are no utopias, no superhumans, no perfect … Read more

Intolerance is a global issue, not confined to any one nation, one political party, one politician, or one group. It manifests in various forms and is directed at different targets, leading to divisions among family, friends, neighbors, and colleagues. Even before the assassination attempt on President Donald Trump when he was running for his second … Read more

For those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, September signals the end of summer. The relaxed, easy days of summer make way for drier, cooler weather. Some people enjoy the end of hot, humid days. Others, especially students, are sad to say goodbye to days spent on family vacations, at the beach, or in summer … Read more