Walter J. Matweychuk, Ph.D. Change is never comfortable. However, with work and practice you can train yourself to semiautomatically remain minimally disturbed for the rest of your life. Train yourself to see that rejection is sad but not a holy horror. See that to error is human and strive to learn from mistakes and erroneous assumptions. Push yourself to … Read more
I wanted to share with my blog readers a great resource for college students. The resource is ULifeline.org and it is a place where college students can learn about various emotional and behavioral problems they encounter. The site integrates appealing videos and covers topics like alcohol and drugs, anxiety disorders, bipolar disorder, borderline personality disorder, … Read more
Research has suggested that nearly 25% of college students arrive on campus with pre-existing mental health, emotional, or behavioral problems. Surveys of college students show that only 20% of students would consider using the college counseling services available to them through their college counseling center. There are approximately 1100 suicides each year by college students … Read more
In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) we teach tolerance and unconditional acceptance of all people. I teach that people are people. There are no absolutes and there is no better place to apply this humanistic and sensible approach than to the area of human sexuality and identity. Humans are sexual beings with diverse identities and … Read more
There is an old Chinese proverb that says “Two thirds of what a person sees exists behind that person’s eyes.” REBT encourages people to see that rigid, absolute beliefs in the form of rigid musts and absolute shoulds lie at the core of emotional disturbance. If we think “This person absolutely should be as I want them … Read more
Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy offers hope for those who are shy and introverted. Shyness and introversion are words we use to describe people who experience anxiety in social situations. Due to this anxiety these people avoid attempting to join others in social situations and making friends. Very often shy and introverted people feel depressed as … Read more
The best way to understand low frustration tolerance and low discomfort tolerance (also known as discomfort disturbance) is to appreciate some of the beliefs that give rise to these self-defeating responses: · I must not be frustrated. I cannot bear to be frustrated. · I must be comfortable now. I cannot bear to be … Read more
How would you function more effectively in life if you followed the below advice? “Instead of telling myself that frustrating conditions absolutely must not occur in my life, I’ll convince myself that these conditions must exist when they do exist, that I can cope with them, that I can try to change them, and … Read more
Unhealthy anger is self-defeating. When angry we are inclined to say things we later regret, do self-defeating things, not consider the long term consequences of our behavior, and experience a reduction in our ability to think creatively. Anger also leads to violence. Anger might feel good in the short run but more often than not … Read more
The ability to effectively cope with rejection is an important part of emotional health. From cradle to grave rejection will inevitably occur as we cannot be everyone’s “cup of tea” in all circumstances. Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is an effective tool for coping with the inevitable rejections of life. When rejection occurs (whether that be … Read more
