Online Counsellor Essay Downloads

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02 Healthy and Unhealthy Aggression  by Dr. Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

"My dilemma is: How shall I vent healthy rather than unhealthy aggression against some in fact, most of the outstanding authorities on aggression?..."

03 How to Be Sexually Assertive Janet L. Wolfe, Ph.D.

"Sleeping Beauty slumbers until her desires are awakened and fulfilled by the kiss of her Prince; Rapunzel waits in her tower for the prince who will free her body from its imprisonment."

04 How to maintain and enhance your RET gains in therapy   By ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"If you work at using the principles and practices of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), you will be able to change your self-defeating thoughts, feelings, and behaviors and to feel much better than when you started therapy. Good! But you will also, at times, fall back-– and sometimes far back."

05 Humanism and Psychotherapy: A Revolutionary Approach - By ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"In speaking about humanism and psychotherapy, it is desirable first to define humanistic psychology. And that is not easy!"

06 Intellectual Fascism    By ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"If fascism is defined as the arbitrary belief that individuals possessing certain traits (such as those who are white, Aryan, or male) are intrinsically super ior to individuals possessing certain other traits (such as those who are black, Jewish, or female), and that therefore the "superior" individuals should have distinct politico-social privileges, then the vast majority or American liberals and so-called anti- fascists are actually intellectual fascists. In fact, the more politico-economically liberal our citizens are, the more intellectually fascistic they usually tend to be."

07 Is Psychoanalysis Harmful?     Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

"Many articles and books have been written which purport to show that psychoanalysis is an ineffective form of psychotherapy. Behavior therapists, existentialists, physical scientists, rational philosophers, Marxists, and many other kinds of thinkers have held that psychoanalytic therapy rests on unverified assumptions and that it is largely a waste of time."

08 Living With Disability: A Rational Approach Louis E. Calabro, Ph.D.

"Imagine, for a moment, the following experience:
You awake in an unfamiliar bed. Your spouse is noticeably absent. You hear the puzzling sounds of strange voices outside the door and decide to get up and investigate. Attempting to get out of bed, you reach for what appears to be a bed rail with your left arm and try to lift your left leg off the bed onto the floor. There is no response in either limb."

09 My Philosophy of Psychotherapy      ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"My approach to psychotherapy is to zero in, as quickly as possible, on the clients' basic philosophy of life, to get them to see exactly what this is and how it is inevitably self-defeating; and to persuade them to work their asses off, cognitively, emotively, and behaviorally, to profoundly change it."

10 Psychotherapy and the Value of a Human Being      by Dr. Albert Ellis

"Almost all modern authorities in psychotherapy believe that people's estimation of their own value, or worth, is exceptionally important and that if they seriously denigrate themselves or have a poor self-image, they will impair their normal functioning and make themselves miserable in many significant ways. Consequently, one of the main functions of psychotherapy, it is usually held, is to enhance the individual's self-respect (or "ego-strength," "self-confidence,"
"self-esteem," "feelings of personal worth," or "sense of identity") so that he or she may thereby solve the problem of self-evaluation."

11 Rational Acceptance of Death   by Dr. Albert Ellis  (Ask Dr Ellis series)

"Is there a rational way to accept death? My grandmother died a week ago. I am having a hard time creating rational thoughts in response to her death. It seems cruel and unjust that people should die. Can you help?"

12 Rational Emotive Imagery     Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

"Rational Emotive Imagery was invented in 1971 by Dr. Maxie Maultsby, Jr. and used effectively by him in his clinical work and that of his trainees. I found it to be quite useful but also found that it overlapped too much with REBT disputing because Maultsby usually had clients who did the imagery go back to their rational coping statements, which they had previously figured out with him, and use them to change their inappropriate negative feelings when they thought about an unfortunate Activating Event or Adversity. I therefore began to use Rational Emotive Imagery in a more emotive-evocative and less disputational way."

13 Rational Emotive Psychotherapy     ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"Rational-emotive therapy--often called RET for short--has many important similarities and differences with various other types of counseling and psychotherapy. Let me, following the excellent outline provided by Dr. Daniel Brown, briefly indicate some of these agreements and disagreements."

14 REBT with a Christian Client          SANDRA D.M. WARNOCK, M.A.

ABSTRACT: In some cases a person's religious beliefs can cause or exacerbate emotional problems. Sometimes religious concepts can be used to ameliorate a client's problems. In dealing with Christian clients, the RET therapist can utilize the teachings and actions of Jesus in leading a client to recognize irrational beliefs. This paper illustrates and discusses rational teachings and actions of Jesus as regards four basic irrational beliefs and eleven underlying irrational beliefs.

15 RET abolishes most of the Human Ego          ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"Much of what we call the human "ego" has little or no legitimacy and, when conceived of and given a global rating, interferes with survival and happiness. Certain aspects of "ego" do have a verifiable existence and lead to beneficial results: for people do seem to exist, or have aliveness, for a number of years, and they also have self-consciousness, or awareness of their existence. In this sense, they have uniqueness, ongoingness, and "ego." But what they usually call their "self" or "totality" or "personality" has a vague, almost indefinable quality; and they cannot legitimately give it a single meaningful rating."

16 RET and achieving Self-Actualisation             by Dr. Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

CRITIQUE OF SELF-ACTUALIZATION THEORIES
The self-actualization theories of Maslow (1954, 1968, 1973), Rogers (1961), and other authorities have been seriously questioned by a number of critics. I shall now consider some of their major objections, to see how rational-emotive therapy (RET) theory and practice deals with them.

17 RET Behaviour Therapy Today           Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

In 1955, Albert Ellis started a revolution in the treatment of emotional problems with the introduction of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT). As REBT's reputation has grown, so has the number of people interested in learning more about it.

People hear about REBT in all kinds of ways - through college courses, workshops, in newspaper articles, or by word of mouth. Some of the things people hear about REBT are right on the mark. And some of what people hear is - well, a bit fuzzy. We decided to create this pamphlet to address some of the more common questions, confusions and concerns that have been raised about REBT.

18 RET Overcoming Self-Esteem    by David Mills with an afterword by Dr. Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

Why Our Compulsive Drive for "Self-Esteem Is Anxiety-Provoking, Socially Inhibiting, and Self-Sabotaging

"Twenty years ago, when a person complained of depression or unhappiness, helpful friends or therapists might have offered the following counsel: "Don't dwell on your own misfortune. Try instead to become creatively absorbed in outside interests and external activities. Stop obsessively contemplating your own navel. Develop rewarding interpersonal relationships. Get your mind off yourself. If you merely focus attention elsewhere, your self-centered emotional problems will die of neglect."

19 RET The No Cop-out Therapy                by Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

"Rational emotive behavior therapists will listen while you whine about your mother, but in the final analysis, they put you at the center of the universe, largely responsible for your own actions and feelings."

20. Showing People they are not Worthless           by Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

"Perhaps the most common self-defeating belief of disturbed people is their conviction that they are worthless, inadequate individuals who essentially are undeserving of self-respect and happiness. This negative self-evaluation can be tackled in various ways -- such as by giving them unconditional positive regard (Carl Rogers), directly approving them (Sandor Ferenczi), or otherwise giving them supportive therapy (Lewis Wolberg). I prefer, as I have indicated in my books Reason and Emotion in Psychotherapy and How to Stubbornly Refuse to Make Yourself Miserable About Anything -- Yes, Anything!, an active-directive discussion of the clients' basic philosophy of life and teaching them that they can view themselves as okay just because they exist, and whether or not they are competent or loved. This is a central teaching of rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT)."

21 Techniques for Disputing Irrational Beliefs               Albert Ellis, Ph.D.

"If you want to increase your rationality and reduce your self-defeating irrational beliefs, you can spend at least ten minutes every day asking your-self the following questions and carefully thinking through (not merely parroting!) the healthy answers. Write down each question and your answers to it on a piece of paper; or else record the questions and your answers on a tape recorder."

22 Unhealthy Love its Causes and Treatment              By ALBERT ELLIS, Ph.D.

"Let me start out with a few of my own prejudices. I have been engaged in research on the subject of love - and I mean love, not just sex - since 1938; that is, over fifty years ago. My first attempt at a Ph.D. thesis was on the love emotions of college girls; and although Columbia University did not let me proceed with this particular topic (because it was on love, and hence closely related to sex), I nonetheless completed the study myself and published it in a series of papers in psychological and sociological journals (Ellis, 1949a, 1949b, 1949c, 1950)."

23 What Really Causes Psychotherapeutic Change              By Albert Ellis and Hans H. Strupp (1997)

"In the Fall, 1967 issue of VOICES: The Art and Science of Psychotherapy, the editors have continued and augmented the policy of having most of the major articles discussed by a therapist of a somewhat different persuasion than the writer of the article. This, I think, is an excellent idea: for it gives something of a two-sided approach to each paper. It also leads to interesting results: since in most instances, the discussant tends to conclude that although the therapist reporting on his particular manner of treating phobias (which was the central theme of this issue of the journal) seems to have obtained valid results — his patients probably changed for different reasons than the ones which he emphasizes."

24 Why the World should not be FAIR                   Virginia Anne Church, J.D., Ph.D.

"Judge Justice had always believed the world should not be fair, and justice (or mercy) must triumph. This was his slogan, in fact, during his election campaign. The first day on the Bench, Judge Justice discovered a problem with that concept. After two days on the bench he, being a rather open-minded, realistic sort of person, discovered that there was, literally, no such thing as fair!"

25 Why you should never feel Guilty                 Andrew Derrington

"Negative emotions are unhealthy and irrational, and you can learn to think your way around them..."

26 Overcoming Test Anxiety      by Rose Oliver, Ph.D.

"We are a test-addicted society. As information and social complexity increase, human ingenuity devises increasing numbers of tests with which to promote, retard, admit, exclude, reward, license, label, honor, advance, permit, categorize, discriminate for and against a wide variety of people for a wide variety of schools, skills, occupations and professions. We test mental abilities and motor skills; we test for emotional stability and emotional difficulties; we test for learning abilities and learning deficits."

27 Break out from the vicious circle of Anxiety           Windy Dryden, Ph.D.

"I have worked as a counselling psychologist for over ten years. One of the most common problems that people consult me on is anxiety when the source of that anxiety is unclear to them. When people are anxious about specific things in the world, like dogs, spiders or other people's negative reactions, then at least the person knows what he or she is anxious about. However, a lot of people are anxious about being anxious and this is so common and yet so frequently misunderstood that such lack of knowledge leads to more anxiety."

28 Long Term Weight Management                Myles S. Faith, Ph.D.

Does this scenario sound familiar to you? You're sitting around the house, feeling bored. You feel like doing something; you think of phoning someone, but there's no one available. So you walk around your place and, sooner or later, mindlessly amble into the kitchen where a treasure chest of food awaits your arrival.

29 Rational Divorce Counselling       SUSAN R.WALEN, Ph.D. and BARRY A. BASS, Ph.D.

"There have always been many things you can do short of actually ending an unhappy marriage_buying a house, having an affair, and having a baby are the most common, I suppose. Nora Ephron, Heartburn"

30 How not to give yourself a (relationship) Headache   by Janet L.Wolfe, Ph.D.
When Your Partner Isn't Acting the Way You'd Like

"Bill and Sandy have been quietly reading in the living room for an hour. At bedtime, Sandy comments sarcastically, "Gee, we sure had a great, intimate evening together -- as usual!" Bill is stunned but, rather than risk rocking the boat any further, quietly gets ready for bed and turns over and goes to sleep, while Sandy tosses for another hour, feeling angry and depressed."

31 RET and Labour Management Training    by Dr. Albert Ellis, Ph.D. and Dominic DiMattia, Ed.D.

Summary: Rational Effectiveness Training is a method of teaching basic principles of interpersonal relations to groups of individuals and is particularly applicable to all levels of management in business and industry, to labor officials, to military personnel, and to others who work in the area of "people contact." It differs significantly from sensitivity training, group psychoanalysis, and conventional management training courses. It specifically shows members of the training session how to eliminate fears of failure, how to be more tolerant and less hostile, how to gain their own unqualified self-acceptance, and how to achieve high frustration tolerance. Rational Effectiveness Training differs from most group training in that directiveness, activity, structuring, authoritativeness, and homework assignments are employed. An illustrative protocol demonstrates some of the details of how Rational Effectiveness Training actually works.