Walter J. Matweychuk, Ph.D.

Some of the main and most useful principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) are pretty easy to understand. These core concepts include unconditional self-acceptance, discomfort and frustration tolerance, uncertainty tolerance, and having a flexible mindset towards ourselves, others and the world. The cardinal principal of emotional responsibility is not terribly difficult to understand as … Read more

Remember you make yourself upset about what others do or fail to do as well as the hassles and adversities that life throws in your way. It does not make you upset. You make yourself upset about it. This is the principal of emotional responsibility. When you accept and implement this REBT principal a a great deal in life … Read more

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) emphases the important role language plays in emotional disturbance. In REBT we encourage you to look for your rigid beliefs as it is psychological rigidity that lies at the core of emotional disturbance. We express our rigid beliefs with words like should, ought, and must. Using these words as we think about … Read more

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is unique in that it does not want you merely to feel better but it encourages you to ensure long term well-being by making a profound philosophical shift. This is a lofty goal but worthy of effort. To make such a profound philosophical shift do the following:   1. Accept the … Read more

Consider experimenting with the following. First thing each morning quickly make two lists. Make a “morning” agenda and an “afternoon” agenda. Attempt to place more uncomfortable and dreaded items on the morning agenda. Have your priorities. Consider what is important to you. That is what goes on the list.   Now here is the important part. … Read more

In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy relationships are harmed by a few mistakes which fallible humans are inclined to make (Ellis and Crawford, 2000). Although these mistakes are few in number they usually produce a tremendous amount of interpersonal tension between people. These mistakes are holding rigid beliefs as to how others act, confusing your opinion … Read more

Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy makes the assumption that the primary purpose of life is to maximize pleasure. In order to maximize pleasure and minimize suffering we advocate being a long term hedonist. This means living for both today and tomorrow. If one only lives for the pleasures of today then there is a good likelihood that … Read more

Let’s be honest. We all want to live well with our fellow humans but at times it can get difficult to do so. Humans are unique, hold different points of view and often we do not agree. When conflict occurs we often strive to influence the other person to adopt our point of view. We … Read more

One of the defining and liberating features of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is what we call the elegant philosophical solution. In our society people often attempt to inspire and help each other by uttering the phrase “This too shall pass.” This is approach is sometimes helpful but sadly in life some bad situations linger on and do … Read more

People create emotional disturbance by engaging in what REBT calls self-rating. There are two types of self-rating. One is when you self-down and the other is when you self-up.   Self-downing is when you hold beliefs like “I have to be the best, the top dog, and the standard I use to judge this is how … Read more