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How to make yourself happy and remarkably less disturbable.
By Albert Ellis. California: Impact Publishers, 1999, 194 pp., $14.95.
Ellis’s book, How To Make Yourself Happy And Remarkably Less Disturbable, is a suitable resource to recommend to clients and to implement in psychotherapy. Ellis’ goals in writing the book are to explain his assumptions about human thinking patterns and to teach techniques of Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT), which he believes lead individuals to reduce emotional disturbances and increase overall happiness.
Ellis believes that individuals are born fallible and have strong tendencies to engage in irrational thought processes such as having absolutistic demands and self-defeating tendencies. For instance, he claims that individuals create “must,” “ought,” and “should” statements and make them into strong desires and grandiose demands. Consequently, not meeting these desires and demands often results in unhealthy negative feelings. Ellis introduces and explains the distinction between healthy and unhealthy negative feelings. According to Ellis, healthy negative feelings, such as disappointment and sorrow, encourage individuals to change undesirable events. Unhealthy feelings are those that make individuals feel anxious, depressed, and self-hating and also create destructive behaviors, such as avoidances, addictions and compulsions. Ellis notes that converting irrational beliefs into rational ones will lead to “healthy feelings and actions” (p.27) that will enable individuals to fulfill more personal goals and be less annoyed and frustrated. He states that the processes discussed above will occur through the use of his step-by-step guide to using REBT.
Ellis points out that thoughts, feelings, and actions are interrelated. He states that when you feel, you have thoughts and actions, and when you put yourself in action, you have thoughts and feelings. He emphasizes that they should not be thought of as having separate existences. He suggests using various methods to reduce irrational thought patterns. For example, Ellis points out that Rational Emotive Imagery (REI) can be used to change unhealthy negative feelings to more healthy ones. He explains that REI helps people think and feel better. REI involves closing one’s eyes and imaging the worst possibilities that could arise in a situation and expressing feelings of disappointment for the behavior rather than for oneself. Ellis recommends the use of REI until one stops blaming oneself for their behaviors. He mentions that reinforcement and operant conditioning can be used to increase the likelihood that one will engage in REI. This technique could be useful in therapy with goals of reducing feelings of self-pity due to behaviors that cause distress.
Overall, assets of Ellis’ book are that the information he relays about his philosophy about human thought processes and the rationale for REBT are parsimonious and his techniques are easily teachable and generalizable to all situations. Ellis’ inclusion of explanations of the rationale behind his techniques and exercises including step-by-step explanations of how to eliminate and replace thinking patterns could be advantageous to individuals participating in cognitive-behavioral treatment. Clients can gain a better understanding for their treatment rationales, one of the goals of starting off psychotherapy.
In addition, a strength of the book is that although Ellis assumes that humans are irrational, he does insist that individuals are capable of reducing or eliminating irrational thoughts and he attempts to motivate readers to use his techniques to elicit such change. Therefore, Ellis’s book could help in meeting another goal of treatment: installation of hope. In addition, Ellis’s book could provide clients with an understanding of potential changes in cognition with the utilization of REBT techniques thereby increasing recognition of what is expected of themselves and their roles and their psychotherapist’s roles in eliciting such change. Recognition of expectations and roles could help foster a therapeutic alliance, another goal of therapy.
Another positive feature of the book is Ellis’ discussion of how he uses humor to help patients overcome their irrationalities. He explains that often, making fun of clients’ irrational beliefs helps them realize how they exaggerate the significance of many things. Benefits of the utilization of humor in psychotherapy include the possibility that clinicians may be able to assist clients to think less seriously and more rationally about life circumstances.
A limitation of the book is that it may not be an effective resource for all individuals. Reading this book would most likely be of little value for people of low intellectual functioning, for psychotics, for children, and for people who need direct guidance in exploring and evaluating feelings and irrational beliefs. It is probable that one-on-one REBT could be beneficial for individuals who often create absolutistic thoughts and engage in self-pitying and behaviors that cause emotional disturbances, but reading the book alone may be insufficient in helping individuals identify and dispute their irrational thoughts. Perhaps reading the book alone could benefit individuals who wish to be less disturbed and “happier” but do not experience depression, anger, and anxiety to the extent that it causes impairment in functioning. Individuals, particularly those who may experience depression, anxiety, self-hate, and rage may benefit from having an overall understanding of the tenets and techniques of REBT by reading the book, thus potentially making it easier to understand and participate in the treatment process. Reading Ellis’ explanation of irrational thoughts and description of techniques designed to produce changes in thought patterns and practicing steps of REBT could complement sessions that are cognitive-behavioral in nature.
Psychotherapists can recommend this book to clients who are involved in treatment that is based on cognitive-behavioral approaches and who are motivated to do homework so that they can get a comprehensive understanding of tenets of this perspective and utilize the steps and self-help forms included in the book for use outside of psychotherapy. Psychotherapists can reinforce what is learned in treatment sessions by assigning the exercises in the book and discussing the effort clients put forth in doing homework and practicing to change irrational thinking beyond the treatment setting. Ellis points out that a great deal of work and practice is required to help individuals change their “self-defeating thoughts, feelings, and actions” (p. 128). It would be advantageous for individuals to use his book as a resource for practicing the steps of REBT and ultimately becoming accustomed to independently using his techniques to maintain rational thoughts and avoid future irrational thoughts.