"From the often credited 'creator of psychology's cognitive revolution,' Albert Ellis' comprehensive guidebook for practicing therapists includes thorough discussions of theory and procedures, case examples, and dozens of exercises. Modern cognitive-behavioral therapy has its roots in the rational approach created by Albert Ellis - the 'father of rational therapy' - in the 1950s. Now known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), Ellis' systematic, integrative approach has grown and matured into powerful mainstream psychotherapy. Hundreds of thousands of patients have benefited from the active interventions of therapists using the REBT model. Major themes in this user-friendly manual: theory of REBT, practice of REBT, cognitive techniques, emotive and experiential techniques, behavioral techniques, integration of REBT and other therapies." - Back cover.

Albert Ellis was one of the most influential psychotherapists of all time, revolutionizing the field through his writings, teachings, research, and supervision for more than half a century. He was a pioneer whose ideas, known as Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), formed the basis of what has now become known as Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT), the most widely accepted psychotherapeutic approach in the world. This book contains some of Ellis’ most influential writings on a variety of subjects, including human sexuality, personality disorders, and religion, with introductions by some of today’s contemporary experts in the psychotherapy field. The 20 articles included capture Ellis’ wit, humor, and breadth of knowledge and will be a valuable resource for any mental health professional for understanding the key ingredients needed to help others solve problems and live life fully.

The most well-known and respected psychotherapist of our time offers a "three-pronged" system for maintaining--or regaining--emotional health, consisting of healthy thinking, healthy emotions, and healthy behavior.

With a new foreword by Raymond DiGiuseppe, PhD, ScD, St. John's University "Albert Ellis has written many books on his favorite topic Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. Although he writes on that topic very well, he often does not write about generic psychotherapy. REBT is an integrative form of psychotherapy. Following this model, psychotherapists can incorporate many diverse techniques and strategies to change clients' dysfunctional behaviors and emotions . Much of what Al identifies as good REBT in this book is just good psychotherapy. Because people so universally identify Al with REBT, people may generally overlook his wisdom as a clinician. Having worked with Al for more than thirty years, I have been fortunate enough to learn from him. Much of the knowledge I learned from Al and cherish the most is not necessarily about REBT theory. They concern wise ways of thinking about clinical problems. That is why, out of all Al's books, this is my favorite. This is Al Ellis, the clinician." -- From the Foreword by Raymond DiGiuseppe, PhD, ScD, Director of Professional Education, Albert Ellis Institute; Professor and Chair, Department of Psychology, St. John's University Now available in an affordable paperback, this edition takes a look at the underlying causes of resisting cognitive-emotional-behavioral change and the methods used to overcome them. Written in present-action language, Ellis gives an overview of the basic principles of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy and Cognitive Behavior Therapy. Ellis charts the changes in the field that have taken place in the 20 years leading up to 2002, when this edition was originally published. The book also integrates recent therapies into REBT, including psychotherapy, solution-focused therapy, and recent findings of experimental psychology.

This book reveals how the principles of rational living identified by Albert Ellis, one of the world’s most influential and popular psychologists, can be used by anyone to achieve lifelong happiness. Reveals the 11 principles of rational living that when put into practice can consistently increase levels of personal happiness Includes selected excerpts from Ellis’ writings, revealing the difference between the psychological architectures of emotional unhappiness and human happiness Presents verbatim transcripts of private counseling sessions, as well as public lectures and demonstrations with people addressing a wide range of personal issues Offers insights into how ‘rationality’ can be used by anyone to reduce the intensity of negative emotions, to increase the frequency of positive emotions and to promote life satisfaction

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.

Examining the thinking of great religious teachers, philosophers, and psychologists, the founder of one of the world's most successful forms of therapy teaches readers how to accept themselves--and others--unconditionally.