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A Guide to Rational Living (平装)
by Albert Ellis, Robert A. Harper, and Melvin Powers
| Category:
Cognitive therapy, self improvement, self help |
| Market price: ¥ 168.00
MSL price:
¥ 158.00
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| Stock:
In Stock |
MSL rating:
 Good for Gifts |
| MSL Pointer Review:
Take notes, underline, review, and practice, practice, practice. This classic on cognititive therapy will change your life, as it have to many others. |
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AllReviews |
1 Total 1 pages 6 items |
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Micah Perkins (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
This is THE book on Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy, and in April 2006 was voted as the best introductory book to REBT by the REBT-CBT Forum on Yahoo.
Now in its third edition (1997), this is one of the first books that Ellis wrote about REBT. Written for the general public, but frequently used by practitioners, it describes all aspects of Ellis' theory and how to apply the theory to specific problems.
This book includes chapters on:
How Far Can You Go With Self-therapy? (chapter 1)
Thinking Your Way Out of Emotional Disturbance (chapter 5)
Overcoming the Influences of the Past (chapter 7)
Tackling Your Dire Need for Approval (chapter 10)
Reducing Your Dire Fears of Failure (chapter 11)
Conquering Anxiety and Panic (chapter 15)
Research Evidence to Support the Principles and Practice of Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (chapter 22)
This book is a moderate read, and is written for the person who wants to learn more about REBT, and who is willing to invest some time and effort in learning. Therefore, this book would not be for the person who wants a quick, easy read. Also, when buying this book, make sure that you get the third edition. Ellis has continued to revise his theory since originally publishing this book in 1961, and has made subtle changes along the way.
Overall, I prefer Ellis' writing style to most other authors. He is clear, leaving few unanswered questions. He describes his theory in a way that makes sense. No REBTer, or practitioner's, library is complete without this book.
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Patrick Greenan (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
The revolution I refer to is the one that followed in the wake of the original publication of this book in 1961. Ellis formally introduced his REBT therapeutic model in 1955, but at the time, few knew and fewer cared. However, this book would change that forever. No longer would we have to settle for self-help pablum like The Power of Positive Thinking, because now we had a piercing book for the masses that explained both clearly and thoroughly three things that no popular work had ever told us before. First, we don't just "get" upset, we "do" upset. Or, in other words, we make ourselves emotionally disturbed. Second, the authors plainly explain how we make ourselves upset. We create our own emotional disturbances mainly through our irrational (aka, unhealthy, self- defeating) thinking. And third, Ellis and Harper give us many effective techniques to combat these thinking patterns. The techniques suggested are divided into cognitive, emotive and behavioral categories, although in fact there is significant overlap for the simple reason, as the authors point out, that we don't just think or feel or behave in a vacuum. Rather, we are thinking/feeling/behaving beings, and this interplay, luckily enough, offers us many ways to a "profound philosophic change", which is the goal of this work. Easily, the most influential self-help book ever written and rightfully so! |
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Brad Torgersen (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
I read this book in about three days, on the recommendation of a therapist. Unlike the majority of other "self help" literature I had seen up to that point, this book didn't paint a dreary picture of spending year after year, wallowing in my own navel, forever progressing towards "health" without actually attaining it; as is often the case, especially in the 12 Step programs.
The Guide is a no-B.S. manual for approaching psychological and emotional disturbances and bad habits, hitting them "at the base of the flame" as it were, and providing the reader with a solid roadmap to navigating out of even extreme emotional and psychological problems.
Nothing replaces a solid therapist, but where many therapists try and sell you on the idea that you're going to have to spend a lifetime on the couch, the Guide emphasizes progress over all else, insisting that we are creators of our own thought processes and our own paradigms, instead of prisoners of the damage done to use by past harms, childhood, et al.
Now, if you're perfectly comfortable being addicted to "self help" and enjoy shelling out thousands every year just to sit in a therapist's office, traveling endlessly down past roads without actually moving a single inch into your future, then you won't want this book.
But if you are sick of yourself, or how you act, or how you think, or how you feel, and you want to know how to make some BIG changes and make them last, I think there has not been a better text written on the subject, both in terms of practical application and in terms of being time-tested and true. This is not a "fad" or a "cult" fix. This is bald, often brazen "slap you upside the head" wisdom which cuts through the touchy-feely jargon and endless murk, so that you can start feeling and acting better, right now, and make real changes in yourself, for now and for the future.
Want to know more? Read the damn book!!
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Richard Singer (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
Albert Ellis is definitely an authority in helping people change their irrational thoughts and beliefs. This book introduces the reader to techniques and practical steps to begin making change in their lives by altering the beliefs that can destroy our beings. Belief is a powerful phenomena, thus we must take hold of this power and use it to transform who we are and what we become. This book is highly recommended for anyone with the desire to change, as well as any clinician working with clients who wish to change their life. |
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Ben (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
If you are thinking about divorce, going thru a divorce, or are divorced already, and the reasons why are not because of physical abuse, cheating, severe psychiatric problems, or change in lifestyle, but because you are not "communicating" anymore and one of you can't "be themselves," around the other, then this is the book for you. It is an excellent tool for dealing with emotional and verbal abuse from both the abuser and abused's perspectives. It will point you in the right direction towards understanding yourself, having empathy for your partner, quitting the "blame game," achieving an excellent level of respectful communication, and ultimately peace of mind for yourself.
The book's prescription for dealing with your and your significant other's emotions, thoughts, and behavior (as outlined in many of the reviews already) is a difficult one to follow at first, seems counter-intuitive, and takes much practice, but it is very rewarding. To greatly improve your well being (become less disturbed, and then less disturbable), takes a lot of determination, and this book is very upfront about it. If you have been searching for something that has real practical, no nonsense direction for accepting yourself and others, and for dealing with conflict and your emotions (as there will ALWAYS be conflict between passionate people in a relationship), this is the book you have been looking for.
The philosophy outlined in the book can be applied to all of your relationships, most especially the one that governs all others, which is your relationship with yourself.
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Stephen Heersink (MSL quote), USA
<2007-01-08 00:00>
The field of psychology is in disarray. What began in the late nineteenth-century as an exploration into the dynamics of the mind (i.e., psyche) and human behavior has been torn asunder by the variant "schools" of psycho-dynamics. After years of psychoanalysis, more people found "relief" in Wayne Dyer's Your Erogenous Zones than benefitted from twenty years of Freudian or Jungian psychoanalysis. With the advent of TCAs and SSRIs, even more people found relief in a little pill than in two centuries of talk therapy. What we know or don't know about psychiatry and psychology is more baffling now than ever will. For whatever it is worth, the human psyche is more evasive than tangible, and I'm not sure more damage than good has been done under its various mentors.
I have come to believe that three aspects of human behavior are unquestionable: (1) What we learned as children plays a more significant role in human dynamics than we'll ever know; (2) no matter what era one lives in, there's always a degree of alienation, anger, and angst; and (3) that certain chemical imbalances in the brain play an important, if not vital, role in how we adapt to life in general, and to change in particular. Treatment of neurosis and affective disorders usually requires that we adapt better than we have, and "traditional" psychoanalysis has been found seriously wanting. That having been said, I want to evaluate two books outside that domain and within the domain of "self help" that appear to be of enormous benefit. They are: 1) Albert Ellis' and Robert Harper's A Guide to Rational Living, and 2) Elliot Cohen's What Would Aristotle Do?
Both books are in the domain of Cognitive, or Rational-Emotive, Behavioral Therapy (REBT). The more I've studied the historical, intellectual, and hermeneutic influences from the Hellenistic Period, the more I am convinced that the cognitive "therapy of desire" and the cognitive "treatment of upheavals of thought" play a significant role in how we adapt to our daily lives than anything approaching Freud or Jung will ever do. Simply by changing our attitudes, reactions, and plights against our most basic emotions, the more we are adept at, and adapt to, leading more successful, healthy, and balanced lives. Both A Guide to Rational Living and What Would Aristotle Do? are in this latter venue. Both books are invaluable in teaching the reader how to overcome obstacles in one's life in a way that is both realistic and therapeutic.
The first misconception to get over is that the passions (i.e., emotions) are somehow separate and distinct from our ratiocinative faculties of the mind. Both cognitive and evolutionary psychology have demonstrated, without argument, that the two function occur within the same mental framework (cf., Daniel Goleman's Emotional Intelligence, which locates all emotions in the amygdala). The second misconception to overcome is that emotions, qua emotions, are generally unhealthy, e.g., the Stoics. Take one example: The fright/flight response is an evolutionary response to fear that all of us animals, including human ones, have for self- preservation. This emotion, like many others, is key to our survival. As Martha Nussbaum argues cogently, even love and compassion are survival-oriented emotions (see her "Upheavals of Thought.").
Most debilitating emotions arise because we have not taught ourselves how to think/emote rationally. Both books argue and attempt to treat this. The difference between the two is that "A Guide to Rational Living" is less adept at how to change our rational control over our emotions, while "What Would Aristotle Do?" explicates the process in considerable detail. Either book is better than nothing, but clearly the later gives explicit directions on how to overcome irrational thinking. Aristotle (yes, him) distinguished between theoretical and practical reasoning over two millennia ago, and his assessment has not been devalued over time. In practical reasoning - the reasoning that determines how we act either ethically or emotionally, one begins with a universal premise, then supplying a particular premise, and then coming up with a conclusion or action. For example: "Do good, avoid evil" is a universal premise; than add the particular premise: "If I am good to John, he'll be good to me." In this case the universal premise is probably correct, but the particular premise is fallacious. Just because I love John does not mean he'll love me. When John fails to be good to you, the usual response is something like, "he hates me," "because he hates me, I am no good," "you idiot, I did my best, and you didn't reciprocate," etc. Sometimes, it's because of a faulty universal premise: "If I'm good, others should be good."In either case, both universal and particular premises are irrational. First, no one is wholly good, and secondly, even if one believes himself good, doesn't mean someone else is.
Both books illustrate the fallacies of such arguments. And, once one sees the fallacy of this kind of argument, the more one feels anger, frustration, and depression dissipate. I personally think, What Would Aristotle Do? brings out these fallacies more clearly, but both books touch on the same irrational beliefs that lead to the same irrational emotions. Whether it is the universal premise or the particular premise, or both, that cause our fallacies and lead us into emotional grief, it is, after all, our faulty thinking that leads us to disappointment, anger, frustration, depression, etc.. Learning how to detect and correct such premises is what both books are about. What Would Aristotle Do? tends to be more attractive to those who are more "rational" about their thinking process, whereas A Guide to Rational Living tends to more attractive to those who are more emotive. Both books will get you to the desired end. And either book will "get you there" for less than one-fifth the price of a single psychoanalysis. And, for those seriously depressed, another book worth considering is Feeling Good: The New Mood Therapy, which also uses CBT to alleviate much distress. I wasn't impressed with it as I was the other two. But whatever you do, invest in at least one of these books; unhealthy emotions and depression are not necessary, as each shows.
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1 Total 1 pages 6 items |
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