Ellis argued that one definition of emotional disturbance was to take yourself, others, and life either too seriously or not seriously enough. When we take ourselves too seriously, we link our ego to respect from others and to the quality of our performances and personal traits. We are prone to disturbed emotions like unhealthy anger, … Read more
Persistence is an essential ingredient of achievement. Intelligence and creativity are necessary ingredients as well. Still, without the ability to persist in the face of frustration, you will not develop your potential or achieve challenging goals, which are the ones that bring the most satisfaction. Persistence can help compensate for a degree of insufficient talent in … Read more
Below is an ABC analysis of a problem that plagues many people – Perfectionism and Avoidant Behavior (A) Adversity: I can’t do this task as well as I would like to do it. I will do it later. (B) Basic Attitude: I must do the task perfectly well. I cannot bear to do it less than perfectly … Read more
Join Drs. Windy Dryden and Walter J. Matweychuk on January 17, 2026, for an informative Zoom REBT Masterclass on self-development, where you’ll learn practical tools for overcoming obstacles to enable you to get the most out of yourself and for helping clients get the most out of themselves! This class is open to both nonprofessionals … Read more
In Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), shame is viewed as a self-defeating negative emotion. The perspective we take is that people feel shame (and its associated lighter emotion of embarrassment) when one of three conditions is inferred by the individual feeling shameful: The person believes something shameful or socially undesirable has been revealed about themselves … Read more
I use Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) in my own life. Albert Ellis, the originator of REBT, taught that the best practitioners of REBT are those who effectively implement it in their own lives. His advice makes sense. Using it in my own life both improves the quality of my emotional life and helps me … Read more
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
