Walter J. Matweychuk, Ph.D. Remember to apply the ABC model to any negative state affairs you encounter today. Before you unpack your emotional upset, pause and take a deep breath through your nose and exhale your breath slowly out through your mouth. Make this your first act when you encounter adversity. Then break down the emotional episode by identifying: (A) Adversity: The negative state … Read more
People ask me to help them with their avoidance behavior. There are many different unhealthy reasons someone may put off doing what would be good for them to do now rather than later. Today I will address only one of those reasons. Still, this reason is sufficiently present that I suspect many will profit from … Read more
In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, we encourage the adoption of unconditional self-acceptance and unconditional life acceptance. With these powerful ideas, we can acknowledge our strengths and weaknesses and the good and bad aspects of life and choose a healthy view of ourselves and life. When it comes to aging, we can apply both unconditional self-acceptance … Read more
Do you know anyone who takes themselves too seriously? Be honest. Might you be one of those who display their human fallibility in this off-putting way? Perhaps you do not do this consistently but fall prey to this psychological state from time to time in the presence of some people you are threatened by or … Read more
Thirty-four years ago, at the end of my interview for gaining entry into the REBT training fellowship, Albert Ellis asked me if I had any questions for him. I then asked, “What is the weakest aspect of REBT?” In asking this question, I exposed my youthful grandiosity. My master plan was to attempt to improve upon his … Read more
REBT is a parsimonious philosophy, but as leading REBT psychologist, Dr. Windy Dryden has written, “REBT is simple, but not simplistic.” No concise sentence or paragraph captures the totality of this powerful philosophy. Different ways of explaining REBT can emerge from a deep and accurate understanding of REBT philosophy. Because REBT is parsimonious, it is tempting to … Read more
Albert Ellis, the originator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, argued that the best practitioners of REBT were those who did not merely see it as a technique to be applied only to one’s clinical work with patients. Instead, he argued that the best practitioners of REBT used it routinely in their own lives. It is … Read more
“To begin depriving death of its greatest advantage over us, let us adopt a way clean contrary to that common one; let us deprive death of its strangeness; let us frequent it, let us get used to it; let us have nothing more often in mind than death. At every instant let us evoke it … Read more
Because of its philosophical roots, REBT is a cognitive-behavioral therapy that has something to offer even during a geopolitical crisis like the one we are currently experiencing. Recent events present the opportunity to feel anger, despair, and anxiety. I will assume you are an individual who adamantly opposes the current aggression in Ukraine. I will … Read more
All people have goals, purposes, and values. Pursuing these things produces a sense of accomplishment, satisfaction, and personal meaning. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is unique in its emphasis on rating the progress one makes towards these personal goals, purposes, and values while encouraging the elimination of the rating of the self or the person. REBT promotes the … Read more
