Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy is a psychoeducational approach to both emotional problems and self-actualization. In my view, it is a philosophy or a way of life that applies to a wide range of everyday challenges and the accomplishment of goals that enrich your life. To use this philosophical approach, you first need to understand the core concepts. Achieving this intellectual understanding can be done by reading the Intermittent Reinforcement emails I send, watching my educational videos, and reading books on REBT. I always tell my patients you have to first understand the core ideas before properly implementing them to better your life.
Another great way of learning to help yourself with REBT principles and strategies is to watch other people struggle with this philosophical approach. When you watch another person learn REBT ideas and apply them, you can gain perspective on your doubts, reservations, and objections to its core philosophical ideas and perhaps relinquish them. Every Saturday, I hold a free Zoom meeting, where I have a conversation with a volunteer. We discuss how to understand and apply Dr. Ellis’s ideas. The conversation is not a scripted role-play but an open and honest discussion of a real problem a person is willing to share in a public forum. If you attend, you will get a chance to see how people, with my assistance, apply the ABC model to their problem and go on to identify their rigid and extreme ideas about their challenges, which underpin their self-defeating reactions. You will see how I teach critical thinking skills to examine the volunteer’s rigid and extreme thinking. You will observe the “resistance” people sometimes have to a self-helping idea I may advance. You will gain insight into how healthy negative emotions like concern and disappointment are useful when facing adversities. You will see how a person can transform rigid and extreme thinking into flexible and nonextreme thinking that leads to motivating and healthy negative emotions. Attendance is free, and this meeting starts at 9 AM Eastern, 1 PM UTC.
The philosophy of REBT asks a great deal from the person who attempts to adopt it. The return on this investment of effort is a form of emotional and behavioral liberation and self-direction that can have a far-reaching positive impact on a person’s life. Like anything else in life, there is a price to be paid for this emotional liberation. Watching others struggle with the cost of emotional self-control through the adoption of flexible and nonextreme thinking can be very instructive to you. I encourage you to attend my Zoom meetings and see for yourself.
If you would like to volunteer to converse with me, send me an email at REBTDoctor@gmail.com. Please briefly discuss the problem of daily living you wish to discuss with me. I will then write back and schedule you for an upcoming Saturday meeting.
General problems of daily living include:
1. Failures, losses, or undeserved burdens
2. Disapproval, disrespect, resistance, lack of cooperation, rejection, betrayal, or insufficient recognition
3. Interpersonal conflict with family, friends, colleagues, and neighbors
4. Procrastination and self-defeating indulgence
5. Deprivation of pleasure or states of discomfort (physical or emotional)
6. Coping with illness and death (your own or that of a loved one)
7. Uncertainty of all types such as health, financial, job, or relationship uncertainty
I hope you can join me on some Saturday. My goal is to disseminate this useful philosophy. Please feel free to suggest attendance to a friend or family member. To receive your Zoom invitation go to my website and register to receive my Intermittent Reinforcement emails. These are free emails which will contain the link and passcode to the weekly Zoom meeting. Click to register for my free emails: https://rebtdoctor.com/free-rebt-email-messages.html