The first book that applies the insights of rational-emotive therapy to the recovery from problem drinking.

In this illuminating book, Ellis provides a lively and insightful explanation of the differences between self-esteem and self-acceptance. Emphasizing the importance of self-acceptance, he examines this theme in the thinking of great religious teachers, philosophers, and psychologists. He then provides exercises for training oneself to change self-defeating habits to the healthy, positive approach of self-acceptance. These include specific thinking techniques as well as emotive and behavioral exercises.He concludes by stressing that unconditional self-acceptance is the basis for establishing healthy relationships with others, along with unconditional other-acceptance and a total philosophy of life anchored in unconditional life-acceptance.

CLASSIC SELF-HELP FROM A RESPECTED PIONEER OF PSYCHOTHERAPY All of us worry about something, big or small, every day. But much of the emotional misery we feel is an overreaction, and it can be significantly reduced, using the techniques you'll find in this landmark book. World renowned therapist Dr. Albert Ellis, who created Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), believed that anger, anxiety, and depression are not only unnecessary, they're unethical, because when we allow ourselves to become emotionally upset, we're being unfair and unjust to ourselves. Thinking negative thoughts is a choice we can refuse to make. Applying the proven, time-tested principles of REBT is a simple, logical way to find true mental health and happiness. REBT acknowledges the power of emotions, but it also helps us understand which feelings are healthy and which are not. This classic book teaches you how to: *Retrain your brain to focus on the positive aspects of your life and face each obstacle without unnecessary despair *Control your emotional destiny *Refuse to upset yourself about upsetting yourself *Solve practical problems as well as emotional problems *Conquer the tyranny of shoulds ...and much more, providing all the tools you need to take back your life-and your happiness. If you can refuse to make yourself miserable, you're that much closer to making yourself happy-every day.

Updated resource for practicing therapists from the father of rational therapy. Modern cognitive-behavioral therapy has its roots in the rational approach created by Ellis in the 1950s. Now known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Ellis's systematic integrative approach has grown and matured into a powerful mainstream psychotherapy. Hundreds of thousands of patients have benefited from the active interventions of therapists using REBT. Includes a thorough description of REBT theory and procedures, case examples, exercises. Major themes include: The Theory of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy; The Practice of REBT; The Main Cognitive Techniques of REBT; The Main Emotive and Experiential Techniques of REBT; The Main Behavioral Techniques of REBT; The Integration of REBT with Other Psychotherapies; Summary and Conclusions.

No individual--not even Freud himself--has had a greater impact on modern psychotherapy. --Psychology Today

CLASSIC SELF-HELP FROM A RESPECTED PIONEER OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

From social anxiety to phobias to post-traumatic stress disorder, sources of anxiety in daily life are numerous, and can have a powerful impact on your future. By following the rules of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), created by world renowned therapist Dr. Albert Ellis, you can stop anxiety in its tracks if you will admit this important fact: Things and people do not make you anxious. You do. Your unrealistic expectations produce your needless anxiety. Yet not all anxiety is needless...

Healthy anxiety can ward off dangers and make you aware of negative things that you can change. Unhealthy anxiety inhibits you from enjoying everyday activities and relationships, causes you to perform poorly, and blocks your creativity. Using the easy-to-master, proven precepts of REBT, this classic book not only helps you distinguish between healthy and unhealthy anxiety, but teaches you how to:

-Understand and dispute the irrational beliefs that make you anxious
-Use a variety of exercises, including rational coping self-statements, reframing, problem-solving methods, and Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA), to control your anxiety
-Apply over 200 maxims to control your anxious thinking as well as your bodily reactions to anxiety

...and much more, including examples from dozens of cases Dr. Ellis treated successfully. Now you can overcome the crippling effects of anxiety--and increase your prospects for success, pleasure, and happiness at home and in the workplace.

First developed in 1955, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is the original form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and one of the most successful psychotherapeutic techniques in the world. Its founder, world-renowned psychologist Albert Ellis, now offers an up-to-date description of the main principles and practices of this innovative and influential therapy.REBT emphasizes the importance of cognition in psychological disturbances. Its aim is to help patients recognize their irrational and destructive beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, and to restructure harmful philosophic and behavioral styles to achieve maximal levels of happiness and productivity. In this book Dr. Ellis points out the most recent revisions of the original therapy and examines the use of REBT in treating specific clinical problems. Among the topics considered are depression, stress management, addiction, marital problems, the use of hypnosis, disposable myths, and many other obstacles to mental health.This fascinating look at REBT by its internationally recognized creator will be of inestimable value to professionals and laypersons alike.

Albert Ellis, the renowned creator of one of the most successful forms of psychotherapy - Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) - offers this candid self-assessment, which reveals how he overcame his own mental and physical problems using the techniques of REBT. Part memoir and part self-help guide, this very personal story traces the private struggles that Ellis faced from early childhood to well into his adult life. Whether you are already familiar with Ellis's many best-selling psychology books or are discovering his work for the first time, you will gain many insights into how to deal with your problems by seeing how Ellis learned to cope with his own serious challenges.In his early life, Ellis was faced with a major physical disability, chronic nephritis, which plagued him from age five to nine and led to hospitalization. This experience then caused the emotional reaction of separation anxiety. At this time he also suffered from severe, migraine-like headaches, which persisted into his forties. Later in life, he realized that some of his emotional upset was the result of initially taking parental neglect too seriously. Active and energetic by nature, he gradually learned that the best way to cope with any problem, physical or emotional, was to stop catastrophizing and to do something to correct it.As Ellis points out in all of his work, when faced with adversity, we must realize that we have a real choice, either to think rationally about the problem or to react irrationally. The first choice leads to healthy consequences-normal emotions such as sorrow, regret, frustration, or annoyance, which are justifiable reactions to troubling situations. The second choice leads to the unhealthy consequences of anxiety, depression, rage, and low self-esteem. When we recognize irrational beliefs as such, we must then use our reason to dispute their validity. Ellis goes on to describe how these techniques helped him to cope with many other adult emotional problems, including failure in love affairs, shame, anger, distress over his parents' divorce, stress from others' reactions to his atheistic convictions, and upset due to his attitudes about academic and professional setbacks.Honest and unflinching yet always positive and forward-looking, Ellis demonstrates how to gain and grow from trying experiences through rational thinking.

In this overview of one of the most successful forms of psychotherapy - Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) - its creator and chief advocate, Albert Ellis, explains at length the principles underlying this therapeutic approach and shows how beneficial it can be, not only for therapy but also as a basic philosophy of life. As the title indicates, REBT promotes an attitude of tolerance, an open-minded willingness to accept the frailties, less-than-ideal behaviors, and unique characteristics of both others and ourselves. Ellis persuasively demonstrates that lack of tolerance of our own imperfections can easily lead to emotional disturbances and unhappiness. And intolerance of others, which fails to account for the great diversity of human personalities and behaviors, can become a serious disruptive force in today's highly diverse, multicultural global society.To counter such negative tendencies, Ellis advocates the adoption and practice of three basic attitudes of tolerance: (1) Unconditional Self-Acceptance (USA); (2) Unconditional Other-Acceptance (UOA); and (3) Unconditional Life-Acceptance (ULA). He discusses the philosophical foundations of these principles and then devotes a number of chapters to comparing REBT to spiritual and religious philosophies. He points out the dangers of fanatical tendencies in religion while also showing how the basic principles of REBT are similar to some ancient religious philosophies such as Zen Buddhism and the Judeo-Christian Golden Rule. In addition, he criticizes certain secular philosophies for their extremism, including Fascism and Ayn Rand's Objectivism, and he also discusses the ramifications of applying REBT in the social, political, and economic sphere.In emphasizing how easy it is for all of us to think, feel, and act intolerantly, Ellis brilliantly shows that tolerance is a deliberate, rational choice that we can all make, both for the good of ourselves and for the good of the world.

First developed in 1955, Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT) is the original form of Cognitive Behavior Therapy and one of the most successful psychotherapeutic techniques in the world. Its founder, world-renowned psychologist Albert Ellis, now offers an up-to-date description of the main principles and practices of this innovative and influential therapy.REBT emphasizes the importance of cognition in psychological disturbances. Its aim is to help patients recognize their irrational and destructive beliefs, feelings, and behaviors, and to restructure harmful philosophic and behavioral styles to achieve maximal levels of happiness and productivity. In this book Dr. Ellis points out the most recent revisions of the original therapy and examines the use of REBT in treating specific clinical problems. Among the topics considered are depression, stress management, addiction, marital problems, the use of hypnosis, disposable myths, and many other obstacles to mental health.This fascinating look at REBT by its internationally recognized creator will be of inestimable value to professionals and laypersons alike.

America is greying. One in three people will be fifty or older by the end of this decade. Although Baby Boomers have made great strides in changing some of the negative stereotypes associated with ageing, ageism is still prevalent throughout society. These deeply ingrained, harmful prejudices can be changed to benefit everybody, argue Drs. Albert Ellis and Emmett Velten. They believe that everyone can - with the right attitudes, tools and hard work - invent their own lives, not just live out the scripts provided by an ageist society. Written in a humorous and interactive style, Optimal Aging should help readers recognize and combat harmful attitudes that hold them back and develop more productive attitudes. The authors address everything from finances to health, personal relationships to retirement planning, dating to coping with loss. Ellis and Velten's methods and tools come from researched, practical forms of self-help and psychotherapy, particularly rational emotive behaviour therapy (REBT). Optimal Aging seeks to help people: break free of negative stereotypes and prejudices about age; feel happy and committed to life and living vitally; get more of what they want and less of what they don't want out of their longer lives; apply their knowledge and common sense to cope with the practical hassles of older age and to capitalize on its opportunities; cultivate attitudes that will help them plan and act in their own interest; resolve disappointments about past failures and unfulfilled expectations; and create new roles and experiences.

This candid autobiography, the last work by renowned psychologist Albert Ellis, is a tour de force of stimulating ideas, colorful descriptions of memorable people and events, and straightforward, no-nonsense talk. Ellis, the creator of one of the most successful forms of psychotherapy--Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)--recounts the memorable episodes of his life; discusses how he coped with emotional problems at different stages of life; describes his love life; and subjects his own self-description to a ruthlessly honest critique. The heart of Ellis's book is his analysis of the psychological leitmotifs that have appeared again and again throughout his life. He describes the aim of this autobiography as follows: As far as I can, I shall present my bad and good, stupid and intelligent, weak and strong points. Why? Because, following H. G. Wells's recommendation, I want to go as all-out as I can. I want to acknowledge my idiocies--and use REBT to feel sorry about but unashamed of them. I want to make the point--again a central tenet of REBT--that all humans are fabulously fallible--including, of course, me. We have no real choice about this, but we can unconditionally accept ourselves--our so-called essence or being--with our fallibility. That will momentously help us, probably encourage us to acquire unconditional self-acceptance (USA) and possibly inspire other people to give it to themselves, too. With a concluding chapter by Ellis's widow, Debbie Joffe Ellis, describing the final years of his life, this is the definitive summation of the life and work of one of psychology's most successful thinkers and practitioners.

With a New Foreword by Raymond A. DiGiuseppe, Ph.D.

CLASSIC SELF-HELP FROM A RESPECTED PIONEER OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

Anger. It's one of our most basic, and often most destructive, human emotions. And in today's world, it's a constant, escalating force, from road rage to domestic abuse, from teen violence to acts of terrorism. More than ever we need effective ways to live with it, understand it--and learn to deal with it. This landmark book from world-renowned psychotherapist Dr. Albert Ellis, creator of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), shows you how.

Presented in a simple step-by-step program that anyone can master, the proven, time-tested principles of REBT teach you to manage and even eliminate anger, without sacrificing necessary assertiveness. Here you'll discover:

*What exactly is anger, and must you feel it?
*How you create your own anger*Methods of thinking, feeling, and acting your way out of anger
*Why holding on to anger is sometimes fun--and how to let it go
*How to use REBT to cope with tragic events that are far beyond our control

...and much more, including numerous real-world case studies, plus a comprehensive, critical analysis of the various approaches to this age-old problem. Whether at home or at work, in a personal or political context, this breakthrough approach will enable you to take control of the anger that can stand in the way of success and happiness.

This essential primer, amply illustrated with case examples featuring diverse clients, is perfect for graduate students studying theories of therapy and counseling, as well as for seasoned practitioners interested in understanding how rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) has evolved and how it might be used in their practice.

Created in the 1950s by the legendary Albert Ellis, rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) teaches clients to challenge their irrational thinking. REBT is based on the simple idea that it is not external circumstances that make a person happy or unhappy, but rather internal thoughts about events or oneself. Thinking, feeling, and behavior are seen as linked and influencing one another. Because changing one's thinking is usually the simplest tactic in a given situation, it tends to be the focus of therapy, alongside the humanistic core REBT philosophies of unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, and unconditional life-acceptance. Because changing one's thinking is usually the simplest tactic in a given situation, it tends to be the focus of therapy, alongside the humanistic core REBT philosophies of unconditional self-acceptance, unconditional other-acceptance, and unconditional life-acceptance.

This second edition includes updated clinical research, as well as a thorough examination of the important distinctions between REBT and cognitive-behavior approaches.

In Better, Deeper, and More Enduring Brief Therapy Albert Ellis, the founder of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, describes how REBT can help clients significantly improve in a short period of time and effect a profound philosophical-emotional-behavioral change-more often that can be achieved with other popular forms of therapy. In a comprehensive, accessible format, Dr. Ellis offers his theories, practices, verbatim sessions, and other materials that help describe how REBT can be a valuable asset in psychotherapeutic treatment.

No individual--not even Freud himself--has had a greater impact on modern psychotherapy.--Psychology Today

With a New Foreword by Kristene A. Doyle, Ph.D.

CLASSIC SELF-HELP FROM A RESPECTED PIONEER OF PSYCHOTHERAPY

Life can get tough. From unemployment--or overwork--to divorce or remarriage, the challenges of newly blended families, not to mention everyday hassles, stress can feel non-stop. To top it off, technology confronts us with a barrage of seemingly urgent tasks 24/7. It's no wonder things and people can make you lose your cool. In this landmark book you'll find a very specific, powerful skill set designed to help you keep any scenario from pushing your buttons--and it works.

Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), created by world-renowned therapist Dr. Albert Ellis, provides you with realistic, simple, proven techniques that will significantly reduce your stress levels and help you react effectively, whether the circumstances are professional or personal. Discover:

* Ten beliefs we use to let people and situations needlessly push our buttons
* A powerful alternative to the kind of thinking that upsets us
* The Fatal Foursome--feelings that sabotage you
* How to change your irrational thinking using four key steps

Whether you're dealing with colleagues, parents, kids, friends, or lovers, How to Keep People From Pushing Your Buttons will show you how to enjoy an active, vibrant, successful life.

Don't get mad or get even--get placid using these techniques for defusing difficult situations. --Booklist

In the best of all worlds the people we live and work with parents, friends, co-workers and bosses, would be thoughtful, caring stable, reliable.. But the truth is that in the real world many of us have to deal with difficult people. This book will show you how to initiate change in those and you'll get powerful psychological tools to insulate you from their nutty ways.

This book surveys the use of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) to prevent and treat a variety of childhood disorders. Beginning with a review of the underlying theory and principles of REBT, the book includes chapters on problems including depression, anxieties, anger and conduct disorders, and ADHD. Finally, the book focuses on the application of REBT in childhood disorders, from working with parents and teachers to group therapy and beyond. Plentiful case studies illustrate the concepts under discussion. The book will interest school psychologists, counselors and social workers, marriage and family therapists, and child clinical psychiatrists and psychologists.